Rob Coleman of Custard Comedy: ‘Comedy is the most exciting art form I know’

Custard Comedy puts on comedy nights at various venues around Cambridge – including Comberton and Cottenham Village Halls, Impington Village College, The Yard in Ely and the annual Shelford Feast.

The man behind the business is a stand-up himself, and his name is Rob Coleman. We put some questions to him.

Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what Custard Comedy is, when it started, how it started and where the name came from...

Hi, my name is Rob Coleman and I’m the founder and blame-taker-in-chief of Custard Comedy.

The business has been running for a little over 15 years and we book comedians and promote and run comedy nights.

We predominantly work with venues in Cambridgeshire but more recently we’ve also branched out into the East and North Midlands.

Custard began by accident. I was running a cycle spin class at Comberton Sports and Arts and bumped into Richard Brown, who was the venue manager and who I’d known previously through booking bands into the Boat Race on East Road.

I told him I was doing stand-up, he asked me if I fancied running a night in Comberton, and here we are.

The name was the result of my then-partner and I working our way through a dictionary until we found a name that had a hard consonant at the start, wasn’t too long, and sounded a little bit silly.

What makes Custard Comedy different from other ‘comedy providers’?

To me, live comedy is everything. I’m sure I’m missing out on audiences by not having a Custard brand on TikTok, but there’s nothing like the visceral thrill of a show where the crowd are a few feet away – you never quite know how things are going to turn out.

Comedy is more the moment than the money; it’s the most exciting art form I know.

I try and develop long-term relationships with my venues and work with people who share the passion and are prepared to commit for the long haul rather than just see it as a short-term exercise.

My best nights are the ones which have been running for years, where the audience is full of regulars and you really get to know each other. It’s like having an extended family.

How long have you yourself been doing stand-up? What do you enjoy most about it?

I’ve been performing for about 17 years and I can safely say that when comedy goes well nothing else in my life has given me anything like the same highs.

Equally, when comedy goes badly, nothing else in my life has given me anything like the same lows, but we don’t need to talk about those…

Making complete strangers laugh is a wonderful way to make a sort of a living, even if the late nights, long drives and craving the next high don’t make it an entirely healthy ‘career’ to choose.

What I love most of all is MCing. People will share extraordinary details of their lives with you and you need to be quick on your feet to get the most out of the situation without making anyone feel awkward.

Get it right, and you can end up in some magically unexpected places.

What have been some of the most memorable Custard Comedy nights since you started out? Which comics have really left their mark on the Custard Comedy stage?

The first ever Custard night will always stand out. I’m still working with Richard, Kit and Phil and they’ve been a huge support over the years.

Having 100 people sit through biblical rain to watch Marcus Brigstocke at The Willow Tree in Bourn is a highlight, as was watching the wonderful Matt Price elevate comedy to an almost spiritual event in front of a mesmerised audience in Kedington.

The annual Shelford Feast show is always a joy – 500 up-for-it gig-goers up for it on a Wednesday is hard to beat. And just for being consistently lovely, the audiences and team at Impington Village College…

In terms of comics who have left their mark, I saw Laura Lexx quite early on in her career and used her as a compere a lot while we could still afford her. She’s still the MC most requested by venues.

We once booked Sarah Millican for the most junior spot on the bill at Shelford – no idea what happened to her…

Who are your favourite stand-ups and who would you like to get for future comedy nights?

It would be invidious to pick out any names, so let’s do that. Roger Monkhouse probably makes me laugh more than anyone on the circuit, closely followed by Scott Bennett and Zoe Lyons.

I’ve been using Brennan Reece a lot to MC the nights which are above my pay grade and he’s an exceptional compere.

In terms of future nights, there are a whole slew of excellent club acts who should be on telly, but if I had the money I’d book Ross Noble, Gary Delaney and Sarah Millican (slightly higher up the bill this time).

What do you make of the current comedy scene in the UK?

I suspect, although I have absolutely no empirical evidence of this, that the UK is best place in the world to work in the comedy industry.

Our history, number and breadth of clubs and quality and quantity of comics is unrivalled.

Like any industry it has its ups and downs; the recent late arrival of sunshine after so much wet weather appears to have sent everyone a little bit mad, and the Euros devoured all the audiences.

Both the above are mere summertime flings, though, and numbers will come back up in the autumn.

Other ongoing issues include the fees, which haven’t really risen properly in over 10 years and the lack of female comics, who currently make up less than 10 per cent of all acts.

The industry needs to think about what it is that puts women off starting or staying with comedy.

Longer-term, I’ll be interested to see how TikTok and its ilk affect the scene. It’s definitely easier to build a following than it was years ago, but you miss out on learning the essential tools of how to be a live comic.

How many venues does Custard Comedy cover? Are there plans to add more?

Currently I have 15 venues, and this year I’ll run more than 60 shows across them. Add in the shows at which I just perform and I’m out around 100 nights a year.

I’m always looking to add more venues to my portfolio, so if anyone’s interested, get in touch!

For more information on Custard Comedy, and to see when and where Rob’s next comedy night is, visit custardcomedy.co.uk, or email Rob at robcoleman100@gmail.com.