OyOyster Whitstable Comedy Club

East Quay, Whitstable

Tucked away in a popular fish restaurant along beach monthly servings of laughs, gasps and the finest Whitstable beer for comedy fans are being dished up.

The OyOyster Whitstable Comedy Club takes place at the East Quay on the first Thursday of every month attracting Britain’s best comics.

Compered by Whitstable stand-up Nick Wilty the club has become a haven for live comedy fans after the end of comedy nights at The Horsebridge Centre building a reputation as a favourite for performers looking to escape The Big Smoke.

On a blazing hot Thursday, the club hosted Sol Bernstein, billed the oldest working Jewish comic in the world, and Mandy Knight, perhaps the most sexually aggressive female stand-up on the circuit.

Starting with Sol, the 84-year-old escapee from Nazi Germany shuffled on stage warming up the audience with a cascade of quickfire gags and one-liners.

Proving age is no barrier, he’s returned to pubs and clubs after 25 years in semi-retirement gigging in nursing homes almost as though he’s slammed his foot off the brakes and back on the accelerator.

His energy sees him use the entire stage to pace up and down although he does tells the audience it’s partly to help his sciatica and if his body is crumbling his mind remains sharp as ever.

The set covered a wide spectrum of issues from the problems in the Middle East to the cultural differences between Whitstable and neighbours Herne Bay where he was booed off recently for addressing the crowd “Hello Whitstable.”

Often stopping for a chat with the audience, he picked out one woman to proposition which led her to tell a friend during the interval “He annihilated me!”

If Sol was played the charming, comforting grandfather then Mandy played the sex-starved auntie.

Emerging on stage dressed as she puts it in a “pair of curtains” pleasantries are ditched as she dove head first with a raucous tirade of insults and compliments often mixed in for good measure.

Picking out her targets in the audience she flips seamlessly from flattering a quartet of older ladies, terrorising a 18-year-old boy and ribbing a pair of bald men who should have been looking after the waltz.

Over-sexed and under qualified she told the audience about her recent break-up with an imaginary boyfriend and her unsuccessful bid for the Tesco manager job after blasting customers for too many biscuits in their trolley.

Bringing to an end a filthy, funny and feverish set stopping briefly to sip water under the glare of the lights she showed she can more than hold her own among the comedy machos.

Final word belonged to Nick Wilty who thanked the audience for coming. Whatever the weather this comedy club could become the hottest ticket in town.

• OyOyster Comedy Club takes place on the first Thursday of every month. Click herefor more details.