Manchester's Frog & Bucket celebrates its 25th birthday

Jason Manford and Johnny Vegas performed surprise sets at Manchester’s Frog and Bucket this weekend as the venue celebrated its 25th birthday.

Both comics made appearances at the venue early in their careers, as did Peer Kay. And John Bishop’s first gig was here.

Over the last quarter-century, the venue has sold a million tickets and had 4,000 acts grace its stage.

Founder Dave Perkin said: ‘Over the last 25 years I’ve been honoured to witness such amazing talent emerge from Manchester. I’m excited for the next 25 and another one million customers, 4000 acts and a whole lot of laughs.’

Jessica Toomey – his daughter who now runs the club – added: ‘The anniversary feels very poignant; thinking of how much Manchester has grown over that time, how much the comedy scene has changed and the sheer volume of talent that has graced our stage - some who, sadly, are no longer with us.  I’m very excited to see where the next chapter will take us.’

Others on the bill to mark the 25th birthday were Alex Boardman, Steve Royle, Kiri Pritchard- McLean,  Phil Ellis, Josh Jones, Tony Burgess. Steve Harris and Steve Shanyaski – who took to the stage for an unscheduled set to fill in for a late-running Manford, despite being the worse for drink

Published: 28 Feb 2019