Thursday 17 October 2019

Linda Smith & Henry Normal - Monkhouse October 17 1988

A legendary line up graced the stage of The Monkhouse Comedy Club in Leicester in October 1988. Linda Smith headlined, supported by Henry Normal.

The club was run and hosted by Alan Seaman, who can take credit for booking the acts, most of whom also stayed overnight on the floor of his flat in Clarendon Park, and myself. I did the posters, including this one, produced with a mix of Letraset, freebie typesetting (which I would get done alongside official jobs at the design company I worked at, and much photocopying.

The shows took place every month above The Magazine pub on Newarke Street Leicester. Don't look for it, it's not there any more (demolished in the 1990s to make way for the Newarke Business Centre).

Linda Smith was easily the funniest act we'd had that year, and went on to be the star of radio 4's The News Quiz, before her untimely death to cancer in 2006. Henry Normal, then a performance poet, went on to work with Steve Coogan and co-found Baby Cow Productions, one of the most successful television production companies in the country. In 1988 they were both playing above a pub in Leicester for less than fifty quid each.

More on Linda Smith
More on Henry Normal

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here


The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre will be touring near you sometime. Catch up with them on Facebook for the latest. 

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