Rome and Away: Michael Monkhouse discovers Rome’s Comedy Club.
Rome and Away with Michael Monkhouse.
It’s no fun finding the funny in Rome, where Benny Hill is considered cutting-edge and the satirical face of the eighties’ ‘Not The Nine O’Clock News’ has condensed into the groansome loathsome face of Mr Bean.
Stand-up? Forget it. Politics? That’s funny enough already, no need for a Signor Bill Hicks to tell us. And sitcom? Never mind ‘Friends’, ‘Frasier’ or ‘Fawlty Towers’, we had ‘Casa Vianello’, a show about a couple who – ha ha – don’t get on at all. It started at the beginning of time and finished when the actors did the honourable thing and snuffed it one by one.
Fortunately, all this is changing and it’s due in no small part to Rome’s Comedy Club. Intrigued and incuriosito, I tracked down co-founder Marsha Salvatore – herself a talented, experienced actress-comedian – to find out more…
So how did it all begin?
When Marsha saw fellow comic voice Stephanie Tyrell splicing up vegetables and hurling abuse at the bloke who left her for another man. On stage, of course. More particularly, on the stage of Gaby Ford’s English Theatre of Rome, the other (I counted) opportunity for Rome’s comedic mouths and arena for mirth-merchants as strong as Sarah Kendall, Steve Day and Alexis Dubis. Marsha had wanted to do stand-up and somehow bring comedy to the Eternal City simply because it wasn’t happening. So in true punk DIY ethic, she and Stephanie decided to do it themselves, spurred on by said theatre’s hilarious Matt Reynolds.
The idea was simple: pre-prepared open mike, last Friday each month, seven to nine performers doing what the hell they liked – improv, sketch, stand-up, songs – for three to five minutes. As long as it was funny, of course. They kicked off in a room the size of a microchip at Abbey Theatre, which isn’t a theatre, it’s a pub. That’s open mike for you. And it was, technically speaking, a belter. For the acts as well.
The success shifted them to a larger venue near Campo dei Fiori, namely Grotta Pinta, next time around. There were also gigs at the Druid’s, which is a pub, not an archaic religious sect, and boasts all the excitement of a London / New York open mike shenanigans.
Anyway, word spread and soon English speakers were joined by those struggling with the language: more Americans. And Italians too. In fact anything and everything from shy first-timers to ex-pats to seasoned pros. The audience grew at the same time, mingling the UN, embassies and other ex-pat groups. The fun took a further turn as film-maker (real film-maker, not just someone on MySpace) Marco Vallini started recording monthly laugh-along sketches – written mostly by Marsha and Stephanie, but also by other performers like some asshole called Michael Monkhouse. Yet another boon is acting/comedy coach Terianne Falcone (www.actinginenglish.com), who helps newbies fiddle with their bits and overcome stage fright. Terianne is one of those rare birds (sorry) who can transform a clanger into a classic, fun into funny – and she’s one hell of an MC too.
Marsha is delighted that the Club is now in its third season at Grotta Pinta with ever more performers, ever more audience, and ever more laughter. The acts range from new faces cutting their comedy teeth via well-loved circuit faves to regulars such as Francesco De Carlo, Thom Bevan, Ryan Co Francesco and Edoardo Ferrari. Oh, and the tossbag Michael I mentioned earlier.
So, plans for the future? Of course, plans for the past would be silly. Anyway, the show’s sticking to its roots of making people wee themselves and letting new performers give it a whirl. But they’ve also yielded a further group, Rome’s Cocktail Comedy Club, working mostly in Italian but with funds to welcome professionals from abroad. Last week I bust my breeches to Diane Spencer there and after the initial shock – well, check out the previous article.
Meanwhile, Rome’s Comedy Club remains the original English Comedy show in Rome exhibiting its local talent. Eternal Laughs in the Eternal City. And I for one am eternally grateful.
Oh, and if you find yourself in said city – give it a go, you’ll have a ball. As Marsha enthuses: “We’ve had some amazing surprises, like 50-year-old tour guide Hilary Bockham and 30-year-old writer Virgina Apicella. And yeah, putting amateurs on stage is risky, but we’ve had some professionals that weren’t so funny either.”
See you there? Or at romescomedyclub.tumblr.com.
