The Tunnel

"The naughty boy of the alternative circuit." This is what they call The Tunnel, an old and grimy comedy club in a gray industrial area of South London. In the 1980s, the club was the breeding ground for performers who tended to stay off the beaten path and a venue where young amateurs proved themselves. In a documentary packed with archive photos and footage of comedians and hecklers alike, we look back at tumultuous times. Because of the open stage policy, folks were all welcome to perform: from a wig act with joints and absurdist mime to a man who just stood still until the audience had forced him offstage, there was something of everything. This didn't mean that everyone was wild about what they saw. On the contrary, when the audience didn't like you, you were thoroughly trashed. In the words of comedian Simon Munnery, "Once you've been through The Tunnel, you didn't fear any other gig." Munnery felt the audience's daggers firsthand, as evidenced by the archive footage. Together with such comedians as Kevin McCarthy and Harry Enfield, Munnery reminisces about the unbridled creativity and spontaneity of The Tunnel, the magic of the audience (which consisted by and large of regulars), the sudden closure of the club, and its eccentric proprietor, Malcolm Hardee, who died in 2005.