Comedy clubs battle over logos

Manchester’s Frog and Bucket comedy club is taking legal action against a rival open mic night.

The venue has issued a cease and desist letter against a competition called Kick The Bucket, whose logo features a frog kicking a bucket.

Solicitors said the promotion of the night infringed the long-established club’s trademarks, and produced supporting evidence to suggest that punters could confuse it with a Frog and Bucket night.

Kick The Bucket is to be held at the Wiend Bar in Wigan on February 28 – days after the Frog and Bucket celebrates its 25th birthday – and  boasts of life-changing prizes for what they call ‘Wigan’s king of comedy’.

The prize on the first night is £40.

Frog and Bucket bosses are particularly concerned that the new night is to be compered by Jimmy O’Neill, who performs offensive old-school comedy as Jimmy O The Wigan Joker. He has been blacklisted from many venues over his material.

He hit the headlines in 2017 over a homophobic rant he made about the Wigan Pride, and has admitted ho having a conviction for racial abuse.

Jessica Toomey from the Frog and Bucket said: ‘We In no way wanted any association with a night run by Jimmy O and allow this night to tarnish the reputation of the club.  

‘The connection and the link possibly made undermine our weekly Beat the Frog, and the Wiganers are trying to trade on our reputation by association. Furthermore, the whole misogynistic title King of Comedy irritates the hell out of me.’

The Wiend Bar  and promoters Michael Pagett and AVL Enterprises have been given until tonight to remove its branding or face further action.

The venue claimed they were entirely unaware of the Frog and Bucket, telling  Chortle: ’We didn’t even know who they were until last week and to be quite frank we don’t really care who they are.’

Asked if they would comply with the ‘cease and desist’ letter, a spokesman added: ‘Absolutely not. The only similarities are that they both contain a frog and a bucket. 

‘The nights are not the same, the bars have different names, the whole theme of the logo is completely different, their cease and desist was amateurish and unprofessional and wasn’t from a legal team or lawyer. 

‘Did they send Kermit the frog a cease and desist? What about Freddie chocolate? They don’t own frogs nor do they own buckets.  Put simply, my only comment on this matter is "Ribbit ribbit".’ 

O’Neill has made a number of online videos complaining about the gay equality movement.

In one shot on the day of Pride, he called gay people ‘bummers’ and said that paining a statue with the rainbow flag of the LGBT community made it ‘look like a gay rapist’

And he pondered: ‘When it’s ethnic awareness day are we going to see some big red rubber lips and an afro stuck on it?’

On another video he was upset about a ‘gay flag’ over Wigan Infirmary, complaining: ‘All this rainbow shit in schools and now in hospitals.’ He was also annoyed by ‘two fellas hugging each other’ on a bank advert

‘I’m not homophobic,’ he added.

Following the storm over his views about ‘the gays’ in 2017 he complained about political correctness and insisted he was only questioning the use of council money.

He stood as an independent councillor in last May’s council elections, attracting 379 votes.

In a campaign video he acknowledged he was controversial, adding: ‘The controversy, however, only stems from my honesty and the willingness to say what other people think.’

And he confessed: ‘In 2010 I was convicted of racial abuse. I racially abused a white man by text message of Scottish ancestry.’ 

He added: ‘I have many black and gay friends who agree with my views.’

Chortle has approached O’Neill fpor comment.

Published: 1 Feb 2019