Pod almighty (From Surrey Comet)

Pod almighty

9:38am Friday 27th October 2006 in Comedy By Nancy Groves

Ricky Gervais has one. Peter Kay, too. Even Russell Brand puts his about when the BBC aren't busy censoring him.

It's called a podcast and it's coming to a generic MP3 player near you. After all, where musicians go, comedians must follow and the latest to jump on the bandwagon is Kingston's own Crack Comedy Club.

"It was a music publisher friend who suggested it," explains promoter and comedian, Barry Castagnola.

"He suggested it would be good publicity for our weekly show and the club. It's also a bit of exposure for the acts that perform. There's a big online community out there who are interested in downloading comedy so it makes sense to tap into it."

It certainly does. The Office star Gervais made the Guiness Book of World Records last year with an average of 261,670 downloads per episode in the first month of his podcast. By the end of the first series, that figure had risen to 541,329.

Crack has smaller ambitions, namely to make available a potted version of its Sunday night gig at the Grey Horse on the internet.

Last week's gig is already available on iTunes featuring clips from Stuart Goldsmith, Mowten, Joe K and Jeff Innocent. But surely Crack is at risk of stealing away its own audiences?

"Well, it's edited down to half an hour at most," says Castagnola. "We can't include everything and the visual jokes have to be cut out. But it's great for people who can't make it down, as well as for my family abroad."

Best of all, he says, it forces comedians to constantly improve and refresh their material rather than putting out the same 10-minute set at every club. And that means Castagnola, too.

The busy comic does five nights' stand-up a week, as well as TV work, while his sitcom idea has just been optioned by Hat Trick Productions, the company behind Father Ted.

Ironically, the only person who won't be able to listen to the Crack podcast is Castagnola, after his iPod and laptop disappeared when his house was recently burgled. Anyone who fancies donating a new one is welcome, he says.

Crack Comedy Club with Brendan Dempsey and Sully O'Sullivan, The Grey Horse, 46 Richmond Horse, Kingston, October 29, 8pm, £6/£4.

Call 020 8541 4328, visit crackcomedy.com.