SuffolkNews speaks to Kirsty Hudson, founder of Comedy Market in Bury St Edmunds, and comedian David Eagle ahead of Theatre Royal show

It’s not every day I get the opportunity to talk to a comedian, unless of course I have a chat with myself in the mirror (which worryingly does happen quite often).

Jokes aside, I was thrilled to jump on the opportunity to talk to Kirsty Hudson, the founder of Comedy Market in Bury St Edmunds, which has been running at The Hunter Club for over a decade and at the Theatre Royal for more than a year.

My delight reached new heights (rhyme intended) when Kirsty, who is also a comedian, said I could speak to one of the funniest and most in-demand acts on the comedy circuit, whose name was David Eagle.

It was an absolute pleasure meeting David, who comes from the world of folk music and is a member of three-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winning band The Young’uns. However, I did not cover myself in glory when introducing myself.

I went in for the handshake with David, only to recall he’s blind, so after lingering for a second or two, I carefully moved my hand away. As I did so, David must have sensed I’d gone in for the handshake so promptly put his hand out for one only to then work out I’d put my hand away.

With the gracefulness of a dying seagull, I managed to calmly-ish smooth over my slight mis-shake (pun very much intended).

Ahead of the comedy evening at the Theatre Royal which I attended last week, I sat down with David and Kirsty and asked the two comics how they dealt with hecklers.

Kirsty said: “I say to people, don’t talk to the acts, because they’re going to be funnier than you. But I as an MC, welcome hecklers and I can manage that quite well.

"If I’m performing as a comic, I’d be kind of annoyed but I would work it and make it fun or silly and it would be fine, but hecklers are generally very rare nowadays.

"I think all audiences want you to do well. Very rarely, do you get a hostile or a nasty audience because if everyone does really well, it makes people's nights so much better."

David added: “A lot of the time when people heckle, they’re normally shouting out something positive. They sometimes do it because they’ve entered the spirit of the night so much they almost don’t even realise they’ve shouted out.”

The folk musician started doing comedy in 2018 after people told him he should try stand up due to his regular talks and exchanges between songs. The more likely reason was probably just to try and get rid of him (David’s words, not mine).

Since entering the world of comedy, he has been surprised by how nice it is and that it is hardly the gladiator-esque, competitive industry he thought it would be. In fact, David has discovered he feels quite at home on stage.

He said: “Making people laugh and then hearing it coming back is such a rewarding thing. There’s so much travel involved in our job, but it kind of makes it all worthwhile because the laugh you get at the end of it.

“There’s so much comedy in the bleakness of life really.”

Kirsty added: “For me, comedy is everything and I love it all so much. I love being on stage, the vulnerability and the connection with people. I just think laughing is the best thing ever as it makes the world feel a bit safer, just to laugh at it.

“To be honest, there is comedy in everything really, there’s always something funny to find. My husband is a really good source of material because he’s such a twit.

However, it is not all sunshine and rainbows for the two comics, who discussed a couple negative sides as well.

Kirsty said: “There are still people that don’t think women are funny and I think that opinion is boring. If you're funny you're funny – gender, class and race hasn’t got anything to do with it, so when I try and book acts I try and be diverse wherever I can.

“Travelling and coming back from gigs late is always exhausting too. Trying out new material is sometimes something I always get anxious and nervous about which is challenging.

“But it's such a privilege to go on stage in front of people who have given their time to see you, I just feel so grateful I get to do it.

“With David, as someone who can’t see, I think it's incredibly brave to go on stage as I think I would feel quite vulnerable.

“I can't complain about being blind, when I'm going on stage making a living talking about being blind,” David amusingly added.

With an evening of comedy ahead of me, I was looking forward to seeing David open the show, followed by Samantha Day, Katherine Kenway and finally Shazia Mirza, with Kirsty amusing the audience between the acts as the MC.

After running Comedy Market for more than 11 years, Kirsty was ecstatic when she was asked to bring her comedy club to the Theatre Royal two years ago.

She said: “I’m so chuffed to be able to work at the Theatre Royal, it's absolutely brilliant and the most incredible theatre to work in.

“In terms of the aesthetics it's honestly gorgeous, with amazing tech and staff as well.

“It’s just a real privilege to bring Comedy Market here. We’re very lucky.”

Moving forwards, David is touring a few village halls in Somerset and wants to make his performances feel so natural that he can tell a story rather than churn out several quick jokes in a row.

He said: “I would love to get to the point where I can just talk about a funny thing that happened to me today, without saying a funny thing that happened to me today, sort of thing.”

Kirsty wants to keep gigging but is also introducing a new comedy night at the Hunter Club towards the end of March.

She said: “I’m really excited about it and audiences can pay what they want for it.

“I want to give newer acts the chance to perform in a professional, open mic setting but also give older acts the opportunity to try out newer material as well. Honestly, it should be great fun."