Dabber’s Social Bingo, London’s best-loved alternative Bingo Hall has been on the hunt for its 2022 ‘Next Top Bingo Caller’. After a perilous journey through a bingo-based-battle, four fearless contestants won the heart of their audiences, and jury alike.
Now the contestants have been whittled down from 16 to a final four. But who will prevail in the final battle to become THE bingo caller of the year on July 3?
Gone are the days of dusty old hosts mumbling "two fat ladies - 88" into the microphone, now callers get a chance to truly work the room and are encouraged to bring their talents, to the stage.
Hosted by BBC New Comedy Award finalist, Sikisa Bostwick, the exciting finalist judging panel will be made up of entertainment industry professionals including: Ally Wolf, Producer and Programmer at The Clapham Grand; Kate Daughton, Ex Head of Comedy at the BBC and Co-Founder of Boffola Pictures; Miles Baron, Chief Executive of Bingo Association, and Rhiannon Wilkins, Arts Curator at Lattitude Festival/Festival Republic.
Audiences are invited to come down to witness the final and get a chance to cheer along as the lucky winner is announced on July 3rd. And as the ultimate victor, they will win £1000 courtesy of sponsors: Malibu, plus a 12-month contract with Dabbers Social Bingo and luxurious hotel stay, as he/she/they will get the opportunity to reinvent, transform and revamp the sought-after and glorious position of Bingo Caller.
Meet the finalists:
Kitty Cassis is a tale-teller beautician and a clairvoyant in her spare time, she is the high-spirited and lively creation of character comedian, Aimee Cooper.
In 2020, Kitty Cassis and partner Jemima created Your Next Episode (Apple Podcasts), a podcast they both co-host. In 2021, she reached the finals of Brighton Grin new act competition. Aimee is a character comedian, actor, storyteller, singer & mum from Tunbridge Wells.Kitty has performed at Glastonbury & Lovebox, Brighton & Edinburgh Festivals as well as featuring in some self-confessed “utterly cringeworthy stuff back in the late 1990s” when she explains her showreel was on VHS & she touted this around Manchester and London without much success.
More recently her work has consisted of online parody sketches & she has become a regular on the cabaret/variety circuit with her character acts Jemima and Kitty Cassis.
Edgar and Jaynine are the nightmare creation of Jonathan Oldfield and Lorna Rose Treen. They are excited tourists from the US of A who are here in the UK on the journey of a lifetime. Armed with disposable cameras, socks and sandals, and a list of ‘best things to do in London’ they’re invading Dabbers Bingo to bring all the glitz and glamour of small town mid-west America!
Jonathan Oldfield is a comedian and actor who trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and with John Yorke Storytelling. He was a 2019 BBC Carleton Hobbs Award Finalist, winner of the Newton Blick Award, and recipient of the Patricia Routledge Bursary.
Lorna Rose Treen is a character comedian, clown and general idiot from Birmingham. (UK, not Alabama.) She's NATYS (New Act of the Year) Finalist 2022, one of Raze Collective’s 2021 Queer Creators, and a graduate of the Soho Theatre Labs. She’s working on her debut character comedy show ’Skin Pigeon’, premiering on the Bill Murray in August later this year.
Jonathan and Lorna are based in East London. They met performing with the longest running improv troupe at the Edinburgh Fringe, The Improverts, and created dark comedy clown duo Jam Sandwich. They frequently perform together across the comedy and cabaret scene as well as with improvised true crime documentary troupe Criminally Untrue.
Crudi Dench is the drag persona of Matt Stallworthy. Originally from Liverpool, Matt started drag in York while at university. "Crudi's vibe has definitely developed from the northern women that I was surrounded by growing up in Liverpool and met while in York". While in York, he helped set up 'Haus of Dench' a group of drag performers creating spaces for LGBT+ Creatives to showcase their talents, including the cult cabaret / club night Lip Sync Lollapalooza.
Performing as Crudi Dench has led to many superb and strange experiences from working with the Cheeky girls and Rupaul's Drag Race Winner Sasha Velour, to performing on top of the Matterhorn in Switzerland and being embroiled in a national TV scandal, and is now ready to take on the challenge of becoming Dabber Next Top Bingo Caller.
Matt is also part of the improv troupe Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody, an Edinburgh Fringe favourite which has recently finished a nationwide tour.
When not on stage, Matt works as a University Event Coordinator during the day, swapping wigs and heels for logistics and risk assessments. “Managing crowds at open days is definitely a different skill set from managing crowds at cabaret bars and comedy clubs! But with both I hope to leave guests happy and smiling”. Matt has recently moved to Brighton following the tail end of the pandemic and has just finished a run at of his show Drag Queens vs. Zombies during the Brighton Fringe. “Brighton is a great city for performing in and I’m very excited to be bringing my distinctively Northern flavour of drag to the South Coast”
Ferrari Roché is a new character building on Stephanie Ware’s Kent roots and growing up in the midst of the 90’s Rave scene. Stephanie Ware graduated with a diploma in Acting from The Bridge Theatre Training Company in 2001. Stephanie has over 12 years’ experience in character comedy and hosting and has worked the comedy scene as various characters such as Duchess de Beauvoir, Sidney & Percy, a musical duo and her critically acclaimed character, Eva Von Schnippisch.
She is the UK’s No.1 Oktoberfest host and has performed all over the UK in such venues as the Underbelly Southbank Spiegeltent, the Clapham Grand, and The Curtain Members Club, including many other popular venues in the UK. Stephanie excels in clowning, comedy and physical theatre and for 3 years travelled the length and breadth of Spain and Portugal in a travelling clowning troupe teaching English through theatre to all ages.
Her quick wit and improvisation skills have steered her towards becoming a cabaret compere, and she has performed extensively in the UK, Europe and the UAE. In early 2016, she wrote her first one-woman musical ‘How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII’. Since wowing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival audiences and winning the ‘Vault Festival Spirit Award’.
Finals – competition date
DATE: 03/07/2022
TIME 12:00 - 16:00
Dabbers Social Bingo
Address: 18 - 22 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7DB
Tickets here.
