Friend in Hand

I'm so gothic, I shit bats!!

For those of you who regularly tune in to JJJ, Sam Simmons needs no introduction. For those of you who don't have a brain and have never heard of him, he's only the wackiest, randomest, most hilarious dude to grace the stage/airwaves/tv screens in freaking forever.

I've been a super huge fan for a hella long time, I even follow him on the Twit (DORK!), so I was totally totally stoked to find out he was performing/testing out some new jokes at Friend in Hand in Glebe for $10. Win-win! See Sam Simmons super cheaply and tick off another bar as part of my challenge - you beauty!!

What TimeOut said:

"Did you know that this awesome Glebe local has an early licence? You heard us - that's an 8am start every day except Sunday, when the pub opens at 10am. There's always plenty on at the Friend including crab racing, stand-up comedy and theatre sports. Sunday afternoon drinking sessions here are legendary and you can take part in life drawing classes if the mood takes you. Get your beat on with slam poetry on the first Tuesday of every month and race a crab for free every Wednesday. Fancy a little comedy or even doing some stand-up yourself? You can do it on Thursday nights for a tenner. Cheap-as-chips pub grub from the adjoining No Names bistro seals the deal."

What Bel said:

Friend in Hand is probably the most wacked-out pub I have been to in a really really long time. And I mean that in the best way. Matt and I strolled down from our place after dinner in search of beers and Sam-Simmons-laffs. We'd never walked there before and thought we might have got a bit lost, but just in the nick of time, before Google maps backup needed to be called upon, we stumbled upon on Cowper St. For future reference kids - Cowper St is the street right near the school. My new years resolution is to read street signs in my suburbs to avoid scenarios like this moving forward. Not knowing street names in your extremely local area is mucho embarrassing.

I was a bit nervous that it might have sold out considering it was $10 entry, so we headed straight upstairs where the comedy magic happens (ew, I just typed magic like majik for a sec) to grab a seat. It wasn't too packed at all when we arrived, around 7.45, there were still plenty of seats and comfy, worn couches to choose from. At comedy shows I'm always SUPER scared about getting heckled sitting really close to the stage, so we found a nice protected corner with a wicked view of the stage and the Friend in Hand Christmas Tree. I just realised I'm making this sound like some grandiose performance space - it's more like a crazy bag lady's attic with a 2m squared stage. Ha! Way to talk it up Rowntree...

One thing I TOTALLY DUG about the decor were the amazing DIY wine glass candles they had dotted around the room. Inspired me to make some (will never happen).



We'd already had dinner, but the monstrous (read: 12 minute) walk left us parched as bru. I would have totally felt out of place asking to see a wine list or cocktail menu, so Matt and I ordered two schooners of frothy, delicious Coopers Pale. No sitting at tables, no drinks on the bar, just drinking beer sitting in a chair. Totally casual, totally awesome. We didn't order any food, but we watched as people went running downstairs, buzzers in hand, to return with plates full of amazing looking parmas, nachos, steaks, wedges and generally delicious-looking pub food.

The beers were excellent (as they always are) and the local acts were pretty good value too. The first guy was atrocious, there was a super funny guy who talked about being from Adelaide and he said the word 'rapey' in relation to dating website profiles, a HILARIOUS guy from Canada had Matt and I nearly wetting our pants and one guy based one of his jokes around football players raping girls and having oral sex with dogs. Funny but kind of obvious, yes?

Sam Simmons was obviously the drawcard of the evening, when I ran downstairs to use the facilities there was a big SORRY FULL HOUSE sign across the stairs. Speaking of the bathrooms, hows this for like, totally best idea ever - the friendly staff have printed out hilarious email forwards and stuck them on the door, so you're miffed that you have to wait but then you're loving it cos there's awesome jokes to read! LOL, right?!

But back to Sam, he was incredible.If you're after stand-up comedy that involves Christmas carols sung to the tune of the Star Wars soundtrack or taco shells being smashed into bare skin, he's your man!

And if the hilarious comedy isn't quite enough for you, they have one of those amazing tarot wizards downstairs (OMG, TAKES ME BACK TO BEING 15 AGAIN!!!).

So next time you're wandering around in Glebe (or Gleb-ee as the weird french stand-up punter kept saying...) look for the clown, grab a schooie, race a crab and make friends with the Friend in Hand.

Friend in Hand
58 Cowper St
Glebe 2037
(02) 9660 2326