The Joker Comedy Club held its first ever show in a small room above a pub near Southend on Sea in July 1986.

Although the evening was far from a financial success, the line-up included Bob Mills, a couple of local acts who we have been unable to trace and a chap called Lee Evans.

An article in the local newspaper prompted Chas Mumford, the manager of the Cliffs Pavilion, to offer the Joker Comedy Club a new home, in the basement of the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea.
Southend-on-Sea became one of the few places outside of London where people could see alternative comedy.

Joker Comedy Club soon became established as a regular hotbed of the Uk comedy talent.

Over the past 36 years, the club has presented literally hundreds of the Uk’s new comedians and dozens of today’s household names.
In 2014, the club moved to its current home at the Chalkwell Park Rooms situated in the Chalkwell Park itself in Leigh on Sea.
Although alternative comedy has now reached a far wider audience, the Joker Club will continue to present raw comedy in its natural environment where the beer is flowing, the audience is buzzing and the acts are live….