I’m a Huddersfield lad who came to the Steel City in 1994. I’d climbed the greasy pole working in recruitment and ended up as a regional manager, with Sheffield being one of my branches. I began spending a bit of time here through work and quickly discovered an affinity with the people and the place. I saw a lot of parallels between where I grew up and Sheffield in terms of the people: honest, genuine people who had no problem calling a spade a spade but were also capable of showing a lot of love. I felt a genuine warmth in this city.
I was so enamoured that I made the move to come down and live here, moving to Hackenthorpe initially, where I’d spend time mixing with locals in the gym at Woodhouse or enjoying some banter in the pubs of Birley Moor Road. Being a Huddersfield Town fan and never having a preference between the Steel City clubs meant that I got off lightly with the resident Sheffield United and Wednesday fans. I could talk football with either group without it getting too confrontational, which is always handy in social situations!
“I felt a genuine warmth in this city.”
I did, however, once manage to insult the entirety of a pub in one fell swoop. My mate, Paul, poured this black sauce all over my chips. He asked me to taste it and I, being none the wiser, just replied, “Well, it tastes like Worcestershire sauce to me.” The pub immediately went silent. I was lucky to get out alive! That, as you might’ve guessed, was my first time trying Henderson’s Relish and a big lesson learned in Sheffield culture. Plenty more were to follow as I spent time visiting local institutions like the Leadmill, City Hall and Yellow Arch.
I continued living in South Yorkshire, soaking up all it could offer me for another eight or nine years. It was around this time I had my ‘sliding doors moment’, as they say. I signed up with my friend, Jordan, to perform in a charity comedy night at Bramall Lane. I was always someone who liked to entertain, a bit of a class clown who enjoyed making people laugh. There were eight weeks of comedy training before you performed a five-minute set in front of hundreds of people. Some people were doing it as a one-off, but some of us, including me, had ideas about perhaps pursuing stand-up further if it went well – and, of course, having the added motivation of raising a load of money for charity while finding out.
Thankfully, the set went down very well. What was meant to be five minutes ended up lasting for about fifteen! At the time I was working for Sheffield Council and a good chunk of my material came from some of the experiences I had in that job (and as any local knows, most Sheffielders need no encouragement to have a laugh at the council’s expense!).
I was always someone who liked to entertain, a bit of a class clown who enjoyed making people laugh.
After coming away, I’d decided that this I what I wanted to do. I started going all over the place to perform at stand-up comedy nights, driving over to Leeds or Manchester just to get a five-minute slot. It’s a tough slog and that’s what initially influenced myself and my friend, Oli Clarke, to start seeing if there was any scope to setting up our own comedy nights in Sheffield. Oli started a night at Toolmakers, I was offered the chance to start a night at Millowners Arms. Things quickly snowballed and we now run five regular comedy nights in the city: Yellow Arch, Hagglers Corner, The Ship Inn, The Red Lion and Baby Comedy Club.
The thing is, I don’t think we could’ve done it in any other city. The people of Sheffield are the perfect audience for live comedy: they’re respectful, don’t take themselves too seriously and have a great comedy IQ. It’s that natural Yorkshire wit, I think, and you hear the same feedback from comics from across the country. The people that make up the comedy scene here – the promoters, comics and venue owners – have created this fantastic, helpful community. It’s for this reason that we have so much potential, in a wider sense as a city, yes, but also in terms of the comedy scene. It all comes down to the people, you see, and I’m so grateful to live here – a Huddersfield lad who loves Sheffield.
As told to Joseph Food
