CULTURE CLUB
Vanessa Ward, founder of Wine Gums Comedy, tells Edition how she went from a career in teaching to curating one of the city’s best-loved comedy gigs What’s so funny?
Hosting regular stand-up shows at the NCI Centre in Arbury and Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester, Wine Gums has established itself as a leading light of the local comedy circuit since forming in 2015. The woman behind it – Vanessa Ward – came to the scene later in life, discovering her knack for stand-up after retiring from a teaching career. “When I finished work, I took a gap year and went travelling on my own. When I got back, I found I really missed certain bits of it – especially the young people I used to work with,” she explains. “I went to see the comedian Jo Caulfield, and I was sitting near the front. She was telling these jokes about her husband, and I thought – I could do that!” Soon after, she signed up for a six-week comedy course in London, where she had the opportunity to practise the craft each week. “The other students were all in their 20s, and they would make me do really rude stuff and then die laughing!” she chuckles. A friend of Vanessa’s offered her a gig at their pub in Kent, where she set about creating a monthly event that brought together her favourite up-and-coming comedians. Among her first crop was Sindhu Vee – then virtually unknown – who would go on to become a regular on our screens in shows such as Have I Got News for You , Sex Education and Matilda the Musical . From there, she was offered a slot at Cambridge Wine Merchants, which was where the Wine Gums concept was born. Always careful to look after the acts, paying
them well and treating them to nice food and drink, she’s found this approach has paid dividends as the event has evolved. “I’ve found that people – even when they become quite famous – remember me! They’ll say, ‘You gave us fish and chips and lovely wine! Of course we’ll come back to Wine Gums!’” As things scaled up, the event moved to the Grad Pad on Granta Place, which saw comedians including Stuart Goldsmith and Tom Lucy grace the stage, before the pandemic put a halt on all live events. “At that point, I was thinking about giving it up. I started getting in touch with outdoor venues – writing to golf clubs and cricket clubs – but didn’t have much luck. Then I reached out to The Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester. They were really up for it, and so lovely.” Vanessa is still committed to unearthing fresh talent, travelling up to Edinburgh each year for the Fringe, where she makes an effort to see every show she can; bringing the best of the bunch to the Wine Gums crowd. On the comedy scene in Cambridge more broadly, she says there are green shoots all around. “When I started six or seven years ago, it was just the Junction and the odd open mic; now there’s definitely more little clubs coming up which is fabulous.” Catch Wine Gums at The Orchard Tea Garden where you can watch shows on 16 June, 14 July and 15 September. Keep an eye out for upcoming gigs at the NCI Centre, to be announced.
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK JUNE 2023 19
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