The Establishment Club, the legendary haven for satire founded by Peter Cook, is to become a television show with a modern talent show twist. Fronted by Keith Allen the Club will take the form of a Routemaster bus and will be travelling to five cities in search of talent to recruit for a new television show based on the Establishment Club format, to be broadcast on Russia Today.
The Establishment Club Road Trip - which is arriving in Bristol on Wednesday 9th August - is calling on the sharp wits and brave performers to come along. Keith Allen will be judging along with Victor Lewis Smith and producer Mike O’Brien, who revived the club in central London in recent years (see picture). The best of the performances will go up on the Establishment Club website. The bus will then travel to Brighton, Edinburgh, Manchester and Newcastle.
Keith Allen says:
“The comedy circuit is in desperate need of a cattleprod in the bollocks, and to then be slapped about a bit with a fetid badger cadaver, just to make sure it’s fully alert. The Establishment Club is taking to the road to search for exciting new talent to deliver the beating the British comedy scene, kinky bugger that it is, so desperately craves.
“We want fresh voices- angry, passionate, original, razor sharp. We want state of the nation stuff- whether it’s anecdote or poetry, performance or something else that doesn’t fit any of the boxes. We aren’t interested in a dissertation on social justice, and if it’s a diatribe about the Daily Mail, it better be stroke-inducingly funny.”
Those who are not able to make it to the bus are invited to submit their performances via the Establishment club Road Trip website- est.club. The best performers will stand a chance of becoming a regular contributor on a new satire show to be produced by acclaimed filmmaker Victor Lewis Smith and broadcast on RT.
Victor Lewis Smith says :
"In recent years, mainstream broadcasters seem to have given up on investing in edgy and boundary-pushing satire. Instead, support for bold new voices in comedy has come from a seemingly unlikely source- RT. Tom Walker is known for his strangely compelling spoof rants as fictional news reporter Jonathan Pie, a role that he first platformed on RT. Satirical current affairs show News Thing makes Have I Got News For You look like Blue Peter, just without the coked-up presenters.
“And now, The Establishment Club is delighted to be working with RT on a revival of its ground-breaking format. The legacy of Peter Cook has found a new home!”
When and where:
9TH August- Bristol
Anchor Square 10am-6pm
15th August- Brighton
Jubilee Library Square 9.30am-6pm
23rd August- Edinburgh
Castle Street 10.30am -6pm
30th August- Manchester
Exchange Square 10am-6pm
6th September -Newcastle
Grainger Street 10am-6pm
