Igor Thompson - The Monkhouse Feb 20 1989

If there was ever a contender for the title of Nicest Man In Comedy, it would have to be Dave Thompson. Or, as he was billed back in 1989 when he headlined at The Monkhouse Club, Igor Thompson.

Dave is best known, by many, as Tinky Winky. I'm sure he's got over it now, but for a long time Dave couldn't go anywhere without being reminded of the time that he was sacked from the Teletubbies because, bizzarely, his "interpretation of the role was not acceptable".



Here Dave headlined a line-up who, I'm afraid, evade my researches. Theatro D'Existentiale, if you google them, turn up the suggestion "did you mean teatro di existentiale?". Which, when you opt for it, turns up infinite articles in French and Italian about subjects from Beckett to the Journal of Anthropology, but nothing I can find about a performance troupe who'd have graced the stage of a Leicester comedy club in the late 80s.

UPDATE: After sharing this blog post on Twitter, Charmian Hughes has responded to say that she was Teatro D'Existentiale (I seem to have mis-spelled their name on the poster). She Tweets that she "invented teatro after getting into trouble with theatre de complicite for breaking mime vow of silence". So now you know.

 Eddie, sadly, one needn't even start googling. Memory doesn't serve as to his performance, or indeed his existence. And no I'm pretty sure it wasn't a stand up set by Iron Maidens' skeletal mascot.