A raunchy, chaotic, and full-on comedy experience: Stamptown

Stamptown is an event that defies description…

On paper Stamptown is a raunchy, chaotic, and full-on comedy experience; it’s a late-night variety show featuring the best alternative performers on the international scene. Hosted by the bad boy of clown, Zach Zucker, this show has packed out rooms at Netflix Is A Joke, Edinburgh Fringe, SXSW, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Glastonbury, The Roxy, Off-Broadway in New York City, and the inaugural JFL: London at the O2 Arena. Now it’s heading back to London’s Soho Theatre for an eight-night extravaganza.

Stamptown spokesperson:

“Stamptown is the brainchild of award-winning clown and producer and winner of the 2020 Chortle Comedian’s Comedian award Zach Zucker who tours original comedy shows worldwide. A graduate of École Philippe Gaulier, he is one half of Norwegian-American comedy duo Zach & Viggo, the alter-ego of New York’s greatest comedian, the aforementioned Jack Tucker, and was named one of Vulture’s prestigious Comics You Should And Will Know 2023, He is a lead in the TBS reboot of The Joe Shmoe Show hosted by Cat Deeley and produced by Dave Kneebone (Tim & Eric, Eric Andre, Nathan For You) and will be appearing in two films alongside Kiernan Shipka and Jim Gaffigan in 2024.”

Cult sensation Stamptown isn’t just a mixed-bill comedy show, it isn’t just a variety show, it isn’t just an anarchic, rebellious and shocking night out, and it isn’t just a live production company responsible for producing some of the most exciting live comedy shows in recent years (Jordan Gray, Randy Feltface, Emily Wilson, Martin Urbano, BriTANicK, Zach & Viggo, Huge Davies, Michelle Brasier, Mark Silcox, Moses Storm, Annabel Marlow and many more) although it is all those things.

Because when audiences step into Stamptown, they step into an entire Stamptown world. The ‘Stamptown Cinematic Universe’. Here, returning characters, sketches and skits are developed between performers that cannot be performed anywhere else; they work only in collaboration with each other, created in the moment, and led by a core ensemble of recurring performers including Zach Zucker, Natalie Palamides, Courtney Pauroso, Viggo Venn, BriTANicK, Josh Glanc and more.

Zach Zucker’s alter-ego; Master of Ceremonies Jack Tucker – “a bona fide legend in the Upstate New York regional stand-up comedy scene” – was born in Stamptown, but as the host of the night, he has become one with the show, and now, whilst he can check out any time he likes, he can never leave.

Some characters, like Josh Glanc’s Spanish F*ck-boi, were developed for a different show, innocently visited Stamptown, and now, befriended by Jack, live only within the city walls. Others, like Natalie Palamedes’ Nate had their conception on hallowed Stamptown ground, but escaped into the night to go and win the Best Newcomer Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2017.

Want to see the irreplaceable Marshall Arkley drill through parts of his body that you really want to advise him not to? It’s only gonna happen at Stamptown. Want to know why Dylan® is feeling like a star and can’t stop his shine? Well, you can’t without visiting Stamptown, because it can’t exist without the show. Want  a clearer explanation of what the f*ck actually goes on inside this clandestine counter-culture clubhouse? Well … I can’t tell you because it doesn’t make any sense outside of Stamptown. But inside those city walls, it’s beautiful.

Stamptown is an ensemble-led variety show that somehow manages to maintain a cohesive narrative arc, held together by Jack Tucker’s symbiotic relationship with the tech maestro, Jonny Woolley. The soundscape at Stamptown has a mind of its own, and the connection between audio and visual creates an organic sense of story, completely unique to each performance. Everyone is welcome at Stamptown, and guest spots are frequent, but performers beware: There is no option to perform your tight 10 minutes in the usual way, you have to let the others join in, you have to, there is no choice, assimilation is inevitable.

Writing about Stamptown can feel like dissecting the frog. What started out as a composite comedy night has morphed into a vaudevillian-fever dream: 90 minutes of pure spectacle and exclusively made up of “you had to be there” moments. It’s the Studio 54 of comedy. Nothing makes sense outside of Stamptown, but everything makes sense inside it. It is a living and breathing art installation masquerading as a comedy night.

Past guests include Karen Gillan, Reggie Watts, David Cross, Bastille, Lolly Adefope, Sam Campbell, Aisling Bea, Mae Martin Rosie Jones, Catherine Cohen, Thanyia Moore, Jamie Demetriou, Flo & Joan, Riki Lindhome, Daniel Sloss, Kemah Bob, Alex Edelman, Hannah Einbinder, Jazz Emu and many, many (many) more…