Join CLIC for an evening with Fergal Daly, co-founder of Tokyo Comedy Bar. He’ll share how stand-up comedy — a global phenomenon that’s still relatively new to Japan – found a home in Tokyo’s growing comedy scene. Learn how they opened Japan’s first English-language comedy club in Shibuya, right in the middle of a pandemic, and what it takes to bring laughter across cultures and languages.
About The Event
Join us on 26 June for another special CLIC series event and hear from Fergal Daly, co-founder of Tokyo Comedy Bar, Japan’s first dedicated English-language comedy venue.
Stand-up comedy – where one person stands alone with a mic and speaks directly to the audience – has become a global phenomenon. But in Japan, comedy has traditionally been more absurd, physical, and broad in appeal.
Since around 2015, Fergal and his team have been building Tokyo’s stand-up scene show by show. In 2021, they took a major step: signing a lease in Shibuya and launching Tokyo Comedy Bar, right in the middle of a pandemic. In this talk, Fergal will share the story of starting an English-speaking comedy club in a city where English isn’t widely spoken — and doing it during a time when live events were nearly impossible. He’ll discuss the cultural challenges, business risks, and unexpected opportunities of blending global comedy with local culture.
And yes, expect a few laughs along the way. Special thanks to MIDORI.so for venue support.
Event Details
Date: 26 June 2025, Thursday
Time: 7pm to 9pm (Doors open at 6.30pm)
Venue: MIDORI.so Nagatacho (2F Engagement Space) 2 Chome-5-3 Hirakawachō, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 102-0093
Admission: JPY 5.000 for ABC Member, JPY 7.000 for Non-Mamber
Registration deadline: 19 June 2025, Thursday at 5pm
About the Speaker
Benjamin Fox is from London, and has been based in Tokyo since 2015. He has long balanced his passion for comedy with his day job in video games and technology, performing stand-up in both English & Japanese as BJ Fox. In 2016 he prodcued and starred in “Home Sweet Tokyo”, NHK’s first English language sitcom and in 2022, he co-founded Tokyo Comedy Bar, Japan’s only full-time venue dedicated to English stand-up comedy.
About CLIC
CLIC is a loose organization of 12 smaller European Chambers of Commerce in Japan created to organize innovative networking events that promote the exchange of ideas between members. CLIC includes the Austrian Business Council and the Belgian-Luxembourg, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and Swiss Chambers of Commerce.
