A new comedy night is coming to the historic Plaza Cinema in Waterloo

A new comedy night is coming to the historic Plaza Cinema in Waterloo, bringing comedy back to the venue for the first time since the 1950s.

Crosby comedian Andy Roach came up with the idea of a different kind of show at the cinema after launching his first regular night in the town earlier this year.

He found that dates at Rock Salt bar and restaurant were getting sold out quickly, with comedy fans ending up on a waiting list for tickets, so he decided to look around for somewhere larger and the Plaza fitted the bill perfectly.

“Rock Salt can only hold about 36 so our nights there, on the first Thursday of the month, were selling out,” he explains. “I started to look around for other possible venues and the Plaza sprung to mind so I had a chat with the manager Martin to see if it was possible.

“He told me they were looking to do more alternative events alongside the regular film screenings just to offer people something extra so we were able to plan the first one for June 4.”

Andy says the Laugh Hard Comedy Club be the first night of its kind at the Plaza for more than 60 years, although it’s very much in keeping with the history of the venue.

When the Plaza first opened back in 1939, as well as movies, it often welcomed some of the top variety artists of the time onto its stage to perform.

For its debut date, Laugh Hard Comedy Club has a line-up of well-known names from the comedy circuit. The headliner will be Scott Bennett, who appeared on Live at the Apollo last year and has been supporting John Bishop on tour.

The night, which will be hosted by Andy, will also feature Anna Thomas who is the BBC New Comedian of the Year, Mike Newall who’ll be a familiar face to Britain’s Got Talent fans, Karl Porter and Peter Edge.

There’ll be breaks between acts where audiences can head to the bar for a drink so it’s sticking with a club format.

“We’ll be taking on the Plaza’s main screen, but I want to keep it to a comedy club night feel so it’ll just be the stalls, not the circle, which has around a 200 capacity,” says Andy.

“We could have opened up the upper level, and obviously lots of comedians have that when they’re on tours and in Arenas, but I think you do lose something of the intimacy and I want to use this night to just keep things rocking in the area and create a really nice atmosphere for comedy.”

Tickets have just gone on sale for the first night, which is on the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend, and there’s been a really positive response.

Andy’s already planning ahead and, if everything goes well, he’s intending to do more Laugh Hard Comedy Club events at the Plaza.

“It’s something which I’d like to be able to put on two or three times a year so I’ll be working with Martin around the cinema’s schedule to see where the big film releases fall through the year, look in the diary and see when it could work again.

“As well as being a great space for us, things like this also help in terms of bringing in extra finances to support the cinema too and it’s just something else for people to stay and do locally.

“Thursdays at Rock Salt are going really well, we get a lot of people who come every month which is nice and most of the audience is from the Crosby and Waterloo area.

“There’s lots happening in the city centre with comedy, Hot Water Comedy Club is brilliant and I perform there regularly, but not everyone wants to go into the city centre so the Plaza nights will just offer something different hopefully.

“And the venue itself is lovely, it’s got the classic canopy outside, and you do get a sense of history just being in there that you don’t get with other clubs.”