When I talk to people about this here Funny.co.uk website that we run and I tell them what it's all about I often get a response along the lines of "Oh yeah! I love stand-up comedy!".

"Great!  A fellow fan!" I think, and proceed to rattle off about a load of the better known "stars" of the circuit that I have had the pleasure of seeing live, only to be met with a blank expression and "um... yeah...  I like V Graham Norton, and that Ali G is really funny".

The more of this I experience, the more I realise what a hard job is had by those men and women who slave away running the many comedy clubs that the UK has to offer.

Here's the puzzling thing;  everyone (within reason) loves comedy, and almost as many have a favourite stand-up comedian, but if you ask around your friends and colleagues to find out who's been to a comedy club you'll be hard pressed to find somebody who went to one once a couple of years ago, let alone somebody who is a regular patron.

WHY?!?  Why is it so rare for a nation of comedy lovers to go and see comedy in it's natural habitat?  There are a number of possibilities that I believe may hold the answer to this question.

1.  The Knowledge
Many people don't actually know that comedy clubs exist, or at least aren't aware that they exist in the numbers that they do.  As such, going to one has never been a consideration.  If you live in a major city then there IS a comedy club near you.  If you live in a big town then chances are that you have a local one too.  In fact, unless you're an outer-hebredian recluse or some-such remotely located person, there is probably a comedy club running at least once a month within a half hours drive from where you're sat on your arse right now, reading this.

2. The Image
If you've never been to a comedy club then chances are you have an innacurate image of them.  Many associate them with shitty working men's clubs full of BNP supporters watching fat old men in large-lappelled suits slagging off ethnic minorities.  Comedy clubs have not been like that since that sort of comedian was accepted and on the telly.  Look at all the comedians you love today, and then think where they honed their craft. In the comedy clubs, which are precisely where the Lee Evans's, Jack Dee's and Eddie Izzard's of the future are slogging it out right now.  This is your chance to see them before they hit the bigtime, if even for no other reason than to show off to your mates in a few years time as you tell them "Yeah, I saw him years ago before he made it big!".

3. The Television
It might be number 3 on this list, but it's probably the number 1 enemy of live comedy.  In my regular arm-twisting activities, and occasional other torturings, to persuade people to go to a comedy club I all too regularly come up against the brick wall that is "But I can watch stand-up comedy on TV". No. You can't.  Having never seen comedy properly you may think you can, but you are living a lie.  

It's hard to explain to the uninitiated.  Stand-up comedy is, in my humble opinion of course, done a disservice in some ways by television.  I have seen a fair few comedians both live and on TV and those who have been brilliant live have seemed just mildly amusing through the distance of television and the snipping of editors scissors. 

It may be the ticket to fame and fortune, the holy grail, for many stand-ups but it is not where they excell.  At the risk of sounding like I'm inviting you to enter the Matrix, it has to be said that the difference made by the atmosphere and intimacy of live comedy can not be described, only experienced.

I'm not saying that if you go to a comedy club you will experience some kind of spiritual epiphany, but take the red pill and there is a strong chance that you will find yourself producing a lot more laughter than the box in the corner was ever able to coax out of you.

So what are you waiting for?  Ask around, find out your nearest club (which incidentally Funny.co.uk will be making a lot easier in the very near future) and experience comedy as it should be.  It's a great night out, it'll cost you less than any poncy nightclub, and if you were going out for a drink there will usually be a bar so why not be entertained at the same time?