I can’t get away from comedy even when I try. I popped to Barcelona this weekend for a quick winter break and on Friday night was pointed in the direction of a quiet bar in the old town. I left early to have a wander around and the next street along saw a sign beckoning me to have a closer look: “Stand Up Comedy In English”.

I wandered down the alley to the Gaelic pub. Downstairs the Barcelona Comedy Club was putting on its first-ever night of English comedy. I asked who was on, optimistically hoping for names I'd know. I was told "about six or seven acts" by the man on the door, who later turned out to be one of the comics, Joch Diaz, who had a nice line in angry, self-mocking yarns.

Stand-up is not completely new in the city though. They have other English gigs and an established  Spanish/Catalan scene – remember that story about audiences being charged per laugh* last year? And they have had big British acts at the Barcelona Comedy Festival.

Alarm bells started to ring. Was this the Spanish wing of Inkey Jones’ London operation?** I have a philosophy that one should beware of clubs that don't announce line-ups at the door. But the price was hard to resist - 5 Euros (£4) you get a free drink and the basement room looked a lot cosier than a lot of Edinburgh venues. What’s not to like?

Of course I didn’t recognise of any of the comedians. One was introduced as “You may have seen him in…” and I thought there might be a slim chance of someone I’d know until the compere continued "…The Walking Dead when he played an extra”. I won't dissect the acts too much here. Firstly that would be unfair as they are so raw. Secondly I'm supposed to be on holiday.

Another who did musical spoofs in a voice so quiet you could barely hear the punchlines was called Art Nouveau (pictured). He was introduced with a big build up. I’ve tried googling Art Nouveau and all I can find are pictures of vases. Maybe I got the name wrong. The audience did have a tendency to clap over the introductions, but generally the crowd was friendly and appreciative and didn’t give the acts a hard time. It was comedy as a relaxed, good night out rather than a life-changing experience. Which is fine along as it is not the only type of comedy around. 

If nothing else the club showed that the genre of stand-up is pretty global these days and still growing. It seemed like early days for this bunch, who came from countries from as far afield as Mexico in the case of Marco Morgante. Presumably not just for this gig though. One act, Michael Mak from Romania, told a story about getting the Hungarian word for “police” mixed up with the word for “dish rag” with alarming consequences. So that’s a Romanian telling a gag about Hungary in English in an Irish bar in Barcelona. Now that’s what I call multi-cultural.

*I investigated that club. They only did it for a short time and it sounds like a canny publicity stunt to me.

** Definitely not.