Published: 15 July 2010

I'VE been performing comedy for five years, and I really enjoy performing in Camden. You get lively, sophisticated audiences who are comedy literate – but, most importantly, the gigs are local, which can make a nice change from driving up and down the country.

I grew up in Camden, went to school in Camden and worked in a school in the borough. Camden has such a wonderful, diverse mix of people and places – you only have to walk down to somewhere like Camden Lock to find inspiration – and it’s one of the best places in the world to perform stand-up. 

On any one night there are around 70 comedy gigs going on in London as a whole. Comedians come from all over the world to perform in this city – and because of the number of venues in the borough, many end up in Camden. You’ll find some of the best Canadian and Australian comedians living and working here today. The standard is very high and the audiences are intelligent. 

You can often gauge what an audience is like by the heckles that they shout. In certain places in the country you get people just shouting out swear words, but at a recent comedy show in Camden I heard someone shout: “That’s very Freudian.”

If you are looking for comedy, there are some wonderful gigs and venues in Camden including The 99 Club, The Etcetera Theatre, Highlight Comedy Club and Laugh and a Half (a fortnightly club which I run in Kentish Town).

• Joe is performing his first solo show at Edinburgh in August.  
For tickets and information go to www.joebor.co.uk. The Camden Fringe takes place from August  2-29 and there are more than 200 different shows, many of them comedy. The Camden New Journal and Islington Tribune are running an award for the best comedy show in the festival. Watch this space for details