Perth has never had a shortage of people saying Monday nights are dead.
By 6pm, most of the city has settled into the working week, restaurants are quieter, entertainment calendars thin out and the weekend still feels a long way off.
At the Bassendean Hotel, Mondays now look a little different.
Every week, Cap Off Comedy brings a live stand-up showcase to The Basso from 7.30pm, with free entry, rotating comedians and a fundraising component that gives local charities and community groups a chance to pick up some useful support along the way.
The night is run by Xavier Susai and Roz Kiamko of Grassroots Comedy, the Perth-based comedy organisation behind a growing collection of regular rooms, suburban shows and independent comedy events around Western Australia.
Cap Off Comedy is deliberately easy to attend.
There is no compulsory ticket price. You can turn up, order dinner, grab a drink and watch the show for free. Donations are welcomed for the featured charity or fundraiser connected with that week’s event.
For people searching for free things to do in Perth on a Monday night, or simply somewhere to catch live comedy in Perth without committing to an expensive night out, it is an unusually straightforward proposition.
A Monday night comedy show without the usual fuss
The comedy begins at 7.30pm and runs as a showcase, rather than a single headline performance.
That means the lineup changes regularly.
One Monday might feature familiar names from the Perth comedy scene, another might bring newer performers, experienced club comedians, interstate visitors or touring acts looking to drop in for a set while they are in Western Australia.
It is one of the pleasures of a weekly comedy room. You know there will be a show, but you do not necessarily know who might appear until the lineup comes together.
A host keeps the evening moving, introducing a variety of acts across the night while the close quarters of a pub comedy room give performers plenty of opportunity to interact with the audience.
The result is closer to the traditional club experience than a formal theatre show.
Some sets are polished. Some comedians are trying something newer. Some nights bring unexpected drop-ins.
That variety is part of what makes regular live comedy interesting.
Monday Night Write Club starts at 6.30pm
For comedians, the evening begins before the audience settles in.
Every Monday at 6.30pm, Grassroots Comedy hosts Monday Night Write Club, an open writing session for aspiring, emerging and experienced stand-up comedians.
It is a simple idea.
Bring something you are working on, talk through an idea with another comedian, test the wording of a joke, discuss writing approaches or simply sit down and use the hour to concentrate on new material.
There is no requirement to perform afterwards and no expectation that everyone arrives with finished jokes.
Some people come to workshop ideas. Others come for company. Some use the session as a weekly deadline to actually get some writing done.
For anyone looking for a comedy writing group in Perth, a place to meet other performers, or an informal way to become more involved in the local stand-up scene, Monday Night Write Club provides an accessible starting point.
At 7.30pm, the writing session gives way to the show.
Steak first, comedy second
One advantage of running a comedy show inside the Bassendean Hotel is that the evening does not need to revolve entirely around the stage.
Audiences can arrive early, have dinner and make a proper night of it.
The Basso’s Monday steak special gives the evening a particularly useful rhythm: dinner beforehand, comedy afterwards, drinks somewhere in between.
It also makes the event practical for groups.
Instead of organising a formal night at the theatre, people can meet at the pub after work, grab a table and stay for the show.
For locals around Bassendean, Ashfield, Bayswater, Eden Hill, Guildford, Morley, Midland and the eastern suburbs of Perth, it adds regular live entertainment to a part of the city that does not always feature heavily in Perth’s comedy listings.
The show is equally accessible for people travelling from elsewhere.
Bassendean Station is nearby, Old Perth Road has plenty happening around it, and the hotel itself provides the sort of relaxed setting where a comedy night can feel like part of the pub rather than a separate ticketed production.
A place for local charities and small fundraisers
The fundraising side of Cap Off Comedy is intended to be practical rather than ceremonial.
Each week, a local charity, community organisation or smaller fundraiser can be connected with the show, with audience members invited to contribute.
The emphasis is particularly suited to smaller causes where a modest amount of money can still be genuinely useful.
That might be an animal rescue needing supplies, a local community group raising money for equipment, a volunteer organisation covering costs, a school-related fundraiser or a small independent cause that does not have access to large-scale fundraising campaigns.
For those organisations, the show also provides something beyond a donation link.
Supporters can come out together, have dinner, watch comedy and turn fundraising into a social event.
It gives local groups another way to reach people while adding a community element to an evening that would otherwise simply be a comedy showcase.
Grassroots Comedy keeps building outside the CBD
Cap Off Comedy is one part of a broader Grassroots Comedy programme that has increasingly looked beyond the traditional city-centre comedy model.
Grassroots Comedy has operated shows including Experimental Comedy Club, Leederville Comedy Club, Northbridge-based events and a range of suburban and regional performances.
The common thread is regularity.
Comedy scenes are built through rooms that happen every week, not only during festivals.
Perth has a healthy appetite for stand-up during FRINGE WORLD, major touring seasons and weekend headline shows, but comedians also need places where they can perform throughout the year.
A Monday room serves a different purpose.
It gives performers another stage, provides audiences with entertainment on an otherwise quiet night and allows touring comedians to find stage time outside the weekend rush.
Cap Off Comedy also has the advantage of being able to change week by week.
The lineup is not fixed months in advance. Drop-ins happen. New acts appear. Familiar performers return with different material.
For regular audiences, that means the show can stay fresh without constantly reinventing the format.
So, what is there to do in Perth on a Monday night?
If you are searching for Monday night events in Perth, the usual choices tend to be fairly predictable.
Dinner. A pub quiz. Maybe a movie.
Cap Off Comedy adds another option.
You can arrive at the Bassendean Hotel at 6.30pm for the Monday Night Write Club if you are interested in comedy writing.
You can make use of the Monday steak special.
At 7.30pm, you can watch a rotating showcase of Perth comedians, national performers and touring comedy drop-ins.
You can attend for free.
And if you want to contribute to the featured local charity or fundraiser, you can.
There is no need to over-plan it.
That is probably the biggest strength of the night.
It is simply a reliable place to find live comedy in Perth on a Monday, in a suburban pub that is happy to put a microphone in the corner and give the room over to performers for the evening.
For Bassendean, it means another reason to stay local.
For Perth comedy audiences, it means another regular room to add to the calendar.
And for anyone still insisting that nothing happens in Perth on a Monday night, The Basso now has a fairly convincing counterargument.
Cap Off Comedy runs every Monday at the Bassendean Hotel.
Monday Night Write Club: 6.30pm
Comedy showcase: 7.30pm
Entry: Free
Donations: Welcome for the week’s featured charity or fundraiser
Venue: Bassendean Hotel, Bassendean, Western Australia
