Los monologos

Every Thursday, ‘La Kokotxa,’ (pronounced La Cococha) an underground bar in Ibiza town puts on an evening of comedy, known in Spain as Los Monologos. Literally translating as ‘monologues,’ these nights are more exciting than they sound, offering stand up comedy performed by semi-professionals (who are almost always men.) They are a popular form of evening entertainment all over Spain; I went to one five years ago during an exchange in Barcelona. That was my first and last experience (when my Spanish was so bad I couldn’t understand a word) so when my flatmates invited me to join them one Thursday I was definitely up for it.

The bar opened at 9pm an hour before the start of the show and we arrived shortly after to bagsie good seats. To get in you only needed to pay for one drink, making it a pretty cheap night. By 10pm the place was packed, with almost every seat taken and the anticipation was building for the evenings entertainment. The girls had pre warned me that I might find it difficult to understand the humour as jokes would be unique to Spain and the island so I was prepared for a lot of fake laughing. The comedian was greeted warmly by the audience who remained lively throughout the show, chipping in regularly and involving themselves in the act.

Ten minutes in and I was surprised both by how much I understood and how much the jokes were making sense! Many things were similar to what you’d hear in English comedy, for example the mocking of budget airlines and Christmas traditions such as spending too much time with your family. Of course some of the jokes went completely over my head but I could relate to the humour much more than I initially thought. Yet the reaction of the audience was very different to your average reserved Brits, as people howled and clapped as loud as they could, shouting and laughing with content. Somehow I feel like a British audience would be a lot harder to please….

The comedian performed solo for a good two hours (plus a short break) and was a huge success. This guy was from Ibiza but the girls told me that Kokotxa invites comedians from the peninsular to come and perform, paying for their flight tickets etc. Apparently some are pretty famous. For me, stand up comedy was something I only related to famous names and formal events which you pay a lot to go to. After seeing how well this comedian went down, I couldn’t help thinking how much people back home would enjoy a similar sort of thing; acts performed by regular comedians for a cheap price in an informal environment. Stand ups should be like the Spanish monologos, frequent, accessible and relaxed. They are the best form of entertainment.