Laughed? I even bought a round.

Last night we went to the Clapham Grand to watch a recording for the Paramount Comedy Channel of some stand up comedians and it was all free.

If you click on to Clappers and e-mail Frances Fuller, she will send you buckshee tickets for an assortment of shows. All you have to do is turn up. After further research, I discovered quite a few websites all giving away tickets to a lot of the top shoes being recorded now.

Why hadn't I thought of this before, I ask myself? What a cheap night out and me being a mean old bastard,I just lapped it up. There was some cause for consternation though. When I was eventually persuaded under pain of pins in my eyes to get the beer in, my wallet was relieved of six quid for two pints.

Three quid a pint? You could tell that we were in the London.

The evening started with me breaking all speed limits to get home from work by three thirty to catch the three fifty two train to London (Victoria). Achieved that with minutes to spare and seconds from a coronary. What a euphoric feeling to arrive in the big city just as everyone is going home. Time for the trough. There is a nice Bella Italia restaurant just outside Victoria Station and after stuffing ourselves with some delicious pasta, back onboard a local train to Clapham Junction.

The Grand is literally over the road from the station and we arrived with ten minutes to spare before doors opening.

We queued. The wind whistling down Clapham High Street last night was enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey and Mrs.K had neglected to bring my comfy, wooly hat. Being rather lacking in the follicle department, my ears were suffering at what was the least, severe frostbite.

As we got there reasonably early and when the doors eventually opened, we were able to get a table close to all the action.

The Grand is one of those timeless old music hall theatres. Not exactly tiny, but I would describe as intimate. I mean, you could spit from the bar and hit the backcloth if you hawked up a good 'un.

The compere for the evening was Hal Cruttenden. An extremely funny guy. We could just have listened to him all night. He nurtured a good rapport with the crowd all evening and had us all in stitches.

For the life of me, I cannot remember the names of all the comics. There were eight in number and only one disappointed in the rib tickling stakes. Several times through the evening we had tears in our eyes and after over three hours of cracking observational comedy we staggered out into the chill air for the journey home.

Our sides ached and the tear ducts were suffering a drought, but what an evening.

BTW. The show is called 'The World Stands Up', but we could not find out when it is being shown.