Local comedian and promoter Daniel Inniss presents his inaugural column talking all things comedy in the Steel City.
May I take this opportunity to thank the staff at Exposed Mag for asking me to pen this monthly comedy column. For all of you who don’t know me, I’m Daniel Inniss, a stand-up comic and promoter who has gigged up and down the country at some amazing venues. I also have three comedy nights in the great city of Sheffield at Yellow Arch, Hagglers Corner and The Ship Inn.
My journey into comedy came about through a friend of mine challenging me by saying, “You think you’re funny? Why not do a gig for charity?” – and off we went! My first show was raising money for Cancer Research UK in front of 197 people at Bramall Lane (sorry all you Wednesday fans!).
I was hooked. But following that first show, I found that there wasn’t a lot on offer gig-wise for a new comic to learn their trade in Sheffield, so Oli Clarke and I decided to start our own nights. It snowballed from there. Tom Douglas – another fab comedian and promoter – is also doing wonderful things in the city and getting some of the brightest talent down to Picture House Social, the Yorkshire Comedy Award winner for Best Independent Venue.
You think you’re funny? Why not do a gig for charity?
Four years after we started, the Sheffield comedy scene is now a vibrant one. This isn’t because of what we have done individually but as a collaborative effort, and we are now getting great acts through that have been allowed to showcase their considerable skills and gig at some great nights around the city.
That said, Oli and I are admittedly proud to have recently been awarded Best Promoters of the Year at the inaugural Yorkshire Comedy Awards; it’s fantastic to have been voted by our peers for our hard work & desire to entertain people.
Over the coming months, I’m going to be talking to comics who are gigging or have gigged in the city, as well as giving a few insights into what’s going on each month on the local comedy scene.
Just last month I gigged at Yellow Arch and it was amazing to see that the venue was standing room only. Oli did a great job of hosting the night, even though he was boiling hot and looking like Ronnie O’Sullivan in his snooker clobber, plus there were seven other cracking comics from around the country.
Our audiences are magnificent here and we always appreciate them coming out and making these nights so special. The fact that well-established comedians like Jon Richardson and Matt Forde have come to our venues highlights how far we have all come, but we will never become complacent as this means so much to so many people!
So, I urge you, one and all, if you haven’t seen much local comedy and fancy a slobberknocker of a night, then check out one of the free comedy nights listed this month. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you all soon!
