Holly Walsh, Queen of Happy Mondays Shares Her London To Do List
Hey, funny girl, what’s on your To Do List?
We caught up with impish joke-smith Holly Walsh, star of many a funny TV show and MC of our favourite local comedy night, and asked her some Paxman-esque questions. That got dull, so we moved on to fun things…
Tell us about your favourite secret/offbeat places in London…
The Rivoli Ballroom is one of the most beautiful places in London. It’s absolutely stunning and the swing nights there are so fun. You don’t have to be good at dancing, it’s kind of intuitive, and there are tonnes of brilliant dancers who kind of get you involved. I think it’s one of the most fun nights you can have around our neck of the woods.
Oh, ALSO – there is a table tennis table in the basement of EAT on St. Martin’s Lane. That, my friend, is a good way to spend an afternoon.
What offbeat events are on your To Do List in the next month or so?
Well – I would heartily recommend Colin Hoult’s Real Horror Show, October 24 & 25 at Leicester Square Theatre. He is one of the most inspiring people around (he’s also doing Happy Mondays next spring).
What are your favourite things to do for free or little money in London?
Walk around the South Bank. The Royal Festival Hall has loads of great free concerts etc. and it’s a terrific place to write. I saw Beiruit there for free there one afternoon (I’d been “asked to leave” a temp job earlier that day and it made me feel a bit better about being unemployed).
What’s your ultimate London confession?
I fell asleep in a pub in London Bridge and they asked me to “move on”.
What event or product of your own would you like to pimp on To Do List?
Happy Mondays at the Amersham Arms. I’ve been MCing it for nearly 5 years and I am immensely proud of it. In the last year we’ve had Sarah Millican, Greg Davies, Andy Parsons, Milton Jones, Doc Brown and loads of others. It’s like, a fiver, and – I hope – a proper local comedy club.
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like: nice pubs, film marathons, not doing real marathons, bad comedy, plays/musicals with shorter second halves, and the Oxford comma.
