If you love comedy and especially new up-and-coming talent on the circuit, you 
are bound to enjoy the latest crop of hopefuls at The Frog & Bucket on a Monday night. Each wannabe comedian will be given five minutes to impress you and the rest of the audience, mainly the three volunteers who decide whether they ‘beat the frog’ or not. It is one of the fun and funniest Manchester social events around.
It is a typical open mic night for new comic talent but combined with a gong show. It is hosted by one of its regular compères who also have the knack for telling a joke or two.
Three audience members are presented with a cardboard frog and if they decide that they should be booted off, they hold up the frog in the air. If all three audience members hold up the frog within five minutes, they are forced to leave the stage. If they beat the frog, they make a brief return to the stage at the end where the overall winner is decided by the loudest round of applause.
Think of the evening not unlike Britain’s Got Talent but with the emphasis firmly on making you laugh. And if they fail at that, you have three frog-holding fellow audience members to help you out.
It is a crazy yet enjoyable evening where the audience, typically a generous one, provide each act with a sufficient amount of good will. It is this good will combined with humour and participate that makes this one of the consistently greatest Manchester social events.