Cluub Zarathustra
MediumTheatre, television
Years active1994–1997
GenresCabaret, Sketch, Monologues
Notable works and rolesCluub Zarathustra, Attention Scum!

Cluub Zarathustra was a fringe comedy cabaret act and troupe active between 1994 and 1997. It began as a comedy club in Islington, London, twice went to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was eventually given a Channel 4 television pilot. It is also the subject of a 2012 book called You Are Nothing.[1]

Cluub Zarathustra was set up by comedians Simon Munnery and Roger Mann.[2] Its remit was to showcase unconventional and avant garde comedy, without the acts ever resorting to traditional comedy.[2]

Stewart Lee soon joined and helped in the vision and organisation of the Cluub. Other members were Johnny Vegas,[3] Julian Barratt, Loré Lixenberg, Richard Thomas, Richard Herring, The Iceman, Jason Freeman, Sally Phillips and Kevin Eldon.[1][4]

It directly led to the television series Attention Scum! and to the production of Jerry Springer - The Opera.[5]

Book

The Cluub is the subject of You Are Nothing, a history book written and researched by Robert Wringham and published in 2012 by Go Faster Stripe. It is suggested in the book that Cluub Zarathustra was the progenitor of much British comedy from the 1990s to the present day.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Cavendish, Dominic (5 July 2014). "Cluub Zarathustra: where British comedy was reborn". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b Wringham, Robert (4 September 2012). "Cluub Zarathustra: British Comedy's Weirdest Secret". splitsider.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  3. ^ Herring, Richard. Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast Episode 71 – Johnny Vegas. Leicester Square Theatre: British Comedy Guide.
  4. ^ Wringham, Robert (31 May 2012). "Cluub Zarathustra: British Comedy's best-kept secret". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  5. ^ Thomas, Richard (2 May 2023). "'Jerry was freaked out' – the writer of Jerry Springer: The Opera on their showdown". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  6. ^ "Go Faster Stripe". Retrieved 14 October 2016.
Category