The Comedy Store Live

Strap yourselves in for an evening of side-splitting entertainment on the SU Lawn courtesy of The Comedy Store.

With an awesome line-up planned, this could be the best £10 you spend all Freshers' Festival!

If you're not able to make it to campus, you'll be able to bag an online ticket for an incredible £5.

If you need any more persuading, here's a look at who will be providing the lolz:

Dane Baptiste

Original and provocative, Baptiste is hailed as one of the most exciting acts to break in years. The London born stand up made comedy history in 2014 as the first Black British act to be nominated for a comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for his debut stand up show Citizen Dane. Following this nomination, the show enjoyed incredible success at London’s Soho Theatre completing two sold out runs with additional dates added due to phenomenal demand. His second stand up show Reasonable Doubts was again met with huge critical acclaim and performed to sold out audiences at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, with his first nationwide solo tour following in 2016. In 2018 Dane set out on a massive world tour, covering numerous territories, with his smash hit third stand up hour G.O.D. (Gold. Oil. Drugs.) about our global pursuit of wealth, power and pleasure.

His extensive TV credits include Tonight at the London Palladium (ITV1), Live at the Apollo (BBC Two), Live from the BBC (BBC Three), Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (Dave), Mock the Week (BBC Two), 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4),  The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV2), Roast Battle (Comedy Central), Comedians Giving Lectures (Dave), Comedians Solve World Problems (Comedy Central), and during the 2020 lockdown Baptiste performed on The Big Night In (BBC One) for Children in Need and Comic Relief. He has also hosted Live At The Apollo (BBC Two), Live from the Comedy Store (Comedy Central) and created, wrote and starred in his own sitcom Sunny D (BBC Three/One), which was the first black sitcom commissioned by the BBC in 20 years and is now being reformatted for US markets.

Nabil Abdulrashid

Born in London but raised in Northern Nigeria to a medical doctor father and a politician/businesswoman mother, Nabil Abdulrashid was privately schooled in the UK. His set covers being a middle-class educated man yet simultaneously a street smart urban youth and being a black Muslim in South London. He reached the live semi finals of Britain’s Got Talent in 2020 with a Golden Buzzer.

Kae Kurd

Smart, sharp and brilliantly astute, Kae Kurd is a young British-Kurdish stand up making a serious name for himself. He is recognised as one of the UK’s fastest rising comedy stars, creating and curating content across a range of platforms. His debut stand up special Kurd Your Enthusiasm was another huge success receiving over 100K views when released on YouTube, with joe.co.uk’s Creative Director noting “It’s intriguing – and exciting – that a performer with such a slick mainstream swagger is able to weave so many socio-political issues into his act.”

TV credits include Live at the Apollo (BBC Two), Don’t Hate the Playaz (ITV2),The Tez O’clock Show (Channel 4) Know Your Rights (own series on Channel 4 OD), Comedians Solve World Problems (Comedy Central), Three Guys Eat (BBC Three) and BBC Asian Network’s Big Comedy Night.

MC Ria Lina

Fearless, provocative and very funny, Ria Lina is a highly accomplished comedian, writer, actor and one of the hardest working performers in the business. A hugely admired act on the UK comedy circuit, she commands respect from the moment she walks on stage and delivers with natural ease, energy and fierceness. Ria is the only female Filipina comedian in British stand up and headlines at major clubs in the UK and internationally.

Ria has every degree up to a PhD in Virology under her belt so it’s not only her comedy that is highly intelligent and no subject is too taboo. Her audacious routines always pack a punch and are brimming with charm and biting wit.

This multi-award winning artist has performed for audiences across the world and has been the finalist in multiple comedy competitions. She won Best Comedy Show at the Greater Manchester Fringe and was a finalist in Amused Moose Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe. Ria can be seen on Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer for BBC World Service, BBC Scotland and BBC Asia.

Ticket information

All ticket types are now on sale to all students!

£10 per person (sold as table packages, no individual tickets will be available)

Capacity: 448

£5 per person (watch online) - available to all students from Monday 14 September.

Tickets will go on sale in two phases:

Returning students: Monday 14 September

New students: Friday 18 September

To facilitate the ticketing structure required to put on our events, we have had to introduce multiple ticket types.

You'll see tickets labelled with (R) for Returning students or (F) for First-Year / Foundation Year students, 2, 4 or 6ppl (the number of people you are booking a table for), plus a time slot to ensure staggered arrivals.

Please note, if you previously completed a Foundation Year and are now going into Year 1 of your undergraduate degree, you are classed as a First-Year student rather than a Returning student.

If you see "product sales limit reached" when trying to add a product to your basket, this means that those tickets have sold out and you should try adding an alternative time slot or table size.

• Following updates to government guidance, the maximum table booking permitted will be six persons (from multiple households).

• Tickets will be available for groups of 2/4/6 students and you will be allocated your own table for the duration of the event.

• To guarantee entry to the event, ALL members of your table booking MUST show up together at your designated time slot.

• Upon arrival, you will be required to provide Test and Trace details, via your student number, for all individuals on your table. 

• You and your guests simply need to turn up with your College Card and photographic proof of age ID (driving licence, passport, PASS card or government ID).

• To ensure new students have a chance to form social/household groups before they commit to buying tickets, we will be holding back 50% of tickets and putting them on sale to first-year students only on Friday 18 September.

• Should any tickets remain unsold, these will be made available to all students 48 hours before the event start time.

• Tickets will only be available in advance for all events, there will be no opportunity to purchase tickets on the door.

• All ticket holders must be students at Royal Holloway – no external guests are permitted at these events.

Covid-secure measures

All activities and events will be conducted in accordance with the relevant guidance published by the UK Government. Changes have been made to the operation of all events and venues to comply with social distancing guidance.

Entry

Staggered timings – you will be allocated a specific arrival time on your ticket. You must ensure you arrive during your slot to ensure all individuals can safely enter the event.

Test and Trace - at the point of entry to our venues, you will be required to provide details to support the NHS Test and Trace system via your student number. Entry will not be permitted if you do not provide these details.

Hosts – at the event a staff team of hosts will manage arrivals, ensuring groups are seated at the correct table, explain how to order drinks and house rules, and control access to different areas of the venue.

Wristbands – you will be issued a wristband on entry which will identify your allocated table.   

One-way flow – all events and venues will have clearly marked flow routes to ensure students are directed to their allocated zone, have access to their specific toilet facilities, and are able to return to their zone in a socially-distanced manner.

Toilets

Localised facilities – portable toilets have been sourced to provide additional capacity at all our venues, and adequate facilities in all outdoor event spaces.

Cleaning – portable toilets will be cleaned regularly to maintain hygiene standards, cleaning kits will be located at each localised facility to enable students to maintain hygiene standards, and touch points will be cleaned regularly by staff throughout the event.

Sanitiser stations – these will be located at all venue and event entry points, localised toilet facilities, and where appropriate the entry to allocated zones.

Social distancing

Mapped zones – all events and venues have been mapped to create one-way routes with colour-controlled zones where required and full table plans.

Rule of Six – following updates to government guidance, the maximum table booking permitted will be six persons (from multiple households). All events and venues will operate on the basis of tickets being sold to groups, no individual tickets will be on sale.

Walkways – clear marked one-way walkways will be used to move around the venues and events, providing further space between bubbles. Individuals will be expected to wear face coverings when moving in walkways.

Food & Drink service

Table service – this will be the only format of service at all events and venues, there will be no availability to order at the bar.

Mobile app – all orders will be made through our contactless ordering system available on all smartphones.

Staff ratio – the staffing ratio will be increased to accommodate the changes in operation over the Freshers’ Festival period, in support of table service, capacity management and cleaning.

External contractors – where external food contractors are engaged to support events, their menus will be available on mobile ordering apps to support contactless ordering.

Customer control

Defined capacity – each activity, event or venue will have a defined capacity that will be controlled via advance ticket sales, pre-bookable tables, and the management team for the area. The capacity will be published on the website and will be available at the entry to each area.

Supervised sections – each event will be broken down into smaller zones, colour coded where appropriate and managed by a delegated host.

Staff ratio – we have increased the ratio of security staff to customers to ensure these events can be delivered safely.

House rules – All students must abide by the Venues Code of Conduct. Anyone failing to adhere to social distancing rules will be ejected from the venue.

SIA (Security Industry Authority) staff – will be employed to manage ingress and egress and support the management team in monitoring expected conduct.

Event curfew

Bar closure – bars will close one hour before the event is scheduled to end.

Curfew – ticketed events will close at 01:00, all other events will close at midnight.

Leaving our venues

Staggered – where tables have completed their drinks within the allotted drinking up time they will be asked to make their way home, naturally staggering egress from the event. Where zones are used, each zone will be asked to make their way home in turn to stagger flow.

Managed – SIA staff will manage the egress of students from all events.

House rules

All students must abide by the Venues Code of Conduct when attending our events. Any breaches of these rules will be dealt with immediately with details reported to the Venues Disciplinary Panel.

All events are subject to immediate closure where behaviour is not compliant with expected conduct.

Accessibility

As your Students' Union, we're keen to promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities and to take the necessary steps to meet their requirements - that's why we've ensured that everything we do is accessible to as many of you as possible.

All of our venues are wheelchair accessible via shallow ramps; you can find out more about our venues and view our AccessAble pages by heading to our Accessibility page.

If you or someone you know requires access to special facilities, please email venues@su.rhul.ac.uk and our friendly team will do their best to meet your needs.