Voluntary £1 levy at Manchster's Frog & Bucket

Comedy fans going to shows at Manchester’s Frog & Bucket club are being asked to donate an extra £1 on the ticket price to support the Live Comedy Association.

The industry body last week set up a crowdfunding appeal to raise £50,000 ‘to support key programmes that strengthen the live comedy community and lobby for additional support for people working in it’. The total raised currently stands at just over £2,450.

The Frog – which is currently hosting The Women in Comedy Festival as well as its regular gigs – will ask punters to make a £1 donation for shows throughout October. 

Jessica Toomey, the venue’s managing director and co-chair of the Live Comedy Association, said: ‘We have a long proud history of supporting grassroots live comedy and we are delighted to be helping the Stand Up And Give fund in this way.  

’Twenty-five years ago this month John Bishop stepped up and performed his first ever comedy gig on our stage and we have nurtured and supported comedy talent ever since.  We are now asking our audiences to do the same and give as generously as they can.'

The LCA's Geoff Rowe added: ‘We are absolutely delighted that the team from the Frog have come on board to support the fund in this way.  

‘It echoes what the live music industry are doing with the £1 ticket levy on arena gigs which then gets distributed to the grassroots music sector across the UK.  We want to do the same thing but with live comedy.  

‘The donations are voluntary and we hope that audiences attending shows at the Frog and Bucket will help us support grassroots live comedy.’

The fund ams to support training and development opportunities in comedy  as well as other initiatives.  

The LCA previously organised a crowd funder in 2021 and raised almost £80,000 to support people affected by the pandemic.  Since that time the organisation has conducted the first survey of the sector – putting its economic value at around £1billon – and lobbied Parliament to have live comedy recognised as an artform.

Published: 2 Oct 2025