A commemorative blue plaque has been unveiled on the wall outside the Frog and Bucket Comedy Club in Manchester. The plaque is dedicated to the “memory of all the comedians who died onstage” during the club’s 21 years. Owner Dave Perkin is pictured with the plaque.

Luminaries who have cut their teeth in the Oldham Street venue include Peter Kay, Johnny Vegas, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Dave Gorman, Chris Addison, Lucy Porter, Jack Whitehall and Ross Noble. 

John Bishop famously did his first-ever gig there on an open-mic night. He has said that “without the Frog and Bucket, I would not be a professional comedian today. It was a great place for me when I started out and remains just as good.”

Dave Perkin recalls how some acts have fared better than others. “One time an open spot took to the stage only said ‘hi’ before dropping the mic, running off stage in tears and straight through the front doors. Never to be seen again.”

Other more established acts have also had their problems, says Perkin: “I once had to red light a regular act because he was being so rude to a family in the audience. I got on stage to apologise but the grandmother still attacked me at the bar.”

Local comic Mick Ferry has witnessed some strange sights. "One guy got heckled and so stage dived onto a table of glasses. He got kicked out but returned another week, took his shoe off, passed it around and got everyone to spit in it. Then he put it back on."

The club started life around the corner at the Britannia pub on Newton Street with a capacity of just 60. Three years later it moved to its current premises at the end of Oldham St, on the edge of Manchester's hip Northern Quarter in a larger venue with a capacity of 200.

Sally Lindsay performed here when she was dabbling in stand up before getting her Coronation Street break when she was spotted in the club by Granada, while Royle Family creator Caroline Aherne and her ex-husband New Order's Peter Hook would pop in to cheer on the acts.

Perkin’s daughter Jessica Toomey, who now works at the club, recalls another memorable night recently when Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize winner Phil Ellis was performing: “He was so frustrated by a female heckler that he tried to climb up the atrium wall to get into the sound booth above the stage. He lost his footing at quite a height and was left dangling - the audience were screaming - eventually a doorman brought a pair of ladders to rescue