The Comedy Experiment

The Comedy Experiment is back at Caroline of Brunswick in Brighton, and if you've never come across it, it's one of those things that works better when you know the format. It's a live comedy club that runs three times a month, and unlike most of the city's stand-up, it happens in the afternoon rather than late at night.

That's the first thing to get your head around: the timing. It starts at 16:00 and wraps up before 18:30, so you're in and out well before the evening rush. It's a proper afternoon session, and the whole thing is built around that. The venue is Caroline of Brunswick, at 39 Ditchling Road (BN1 4SB), which has its own dedicated comedy space, so it's not just a few chairs tucked into a corner of a pub.

The draw is the line-up. They bring in a well-known TV comedian for each show, so you're getting a name you'll recognise rather than a random roll of the dice. It's live stand-up in the traditional sense, with the drinks running all afternoon—happy hour prices throughout the session, so you can keep a drink in your hand from the first joke to the last without it costing you a fortune.

And that's the other bit that makes it easy: it's free. Entry is free, so there's no ticket to book or price to worry about. It's aimed at a general adult crowd, and because it's an afternoon slot, it's a good shout if you fancy a laugh without committing your whole evening to it. You're in by 16:00, out by 18:30, and you've still got the rest of your night ahead of you. If you're around Brighton and fancy a bit of comedy on a weekday afternoon, this is a straightforward way to do it.