Fun on a Monday at Waterend Barn, St Albans

LOCAL lad Chris Norton Walker will be returning to Funny First Mondays in St Albans next week.

Chris is a professional comedian who has lived in St Albans all his life and Monday's performance at the comedy club at the Waterend Barn follows his appearance there in April.

He is a former pupil of both Bowmansgreen JMI in London Colney and Francis Bacon School before moving to Sandringham to study for his A-levels.

He took lead parts in performances of Grease and Guys and Dolls as well as helping out with other major productions but soon discovered that comedy was in his blood.

He went on to do a BA in Drama at DeMontfort University and spent his spare time performing at gigs in and around Leicester.

Chris has been gigging in London for 12 months and has got to the final of the Laughing Horse's Big, Big, Big New Act competition, narrowly missing out in the semi final of the New Act of the Year.

He is currently attending the Central School of Speech and Drama, studying for an MA.

Headliner on the night will be Matt Welcome who rarely leaves more than 20 seconds between punchlines with his gags just keeping on coming. He is a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe and a TV and Jongleurs regular.

The evening will be opened by Juliet Meyers with her chatty mix of silliness and edginess. She has won outstanding reviews for her brand of cerebral, observational and gag-driven comedy.

Completing the line-up will be London comic Andy Davies who has an anecdotal style and love of audience banter that has made him a much sought-after performer.

Funny First Mondays, which is held at the Waterend Barn in conjunction with STARTS - St Albans Arts - gets underway at 8pm. Admission is �5 and further details can be found at www.starts.org.uk, by ringing 01727 863648 or contacting funnyfirstmondaysx@yahoo.co.uk