They quickly recruited comedians Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour and Pauline Melville; plus folk duos Chisholm and Stevens and Gasmask and Hopkins aka Alexander Arundel and Stuart Turner.
[2] Alternative Cabaret performed their first show at the Pindar of Wakefield pub (now the Water Rats) on Grays Inn Road on 15 August 1979.
Echoing what was already happening in a few fringe theatres, most notably the Albany Deptford and the Half Moon Mile End, members were encouraged to open regular club nights under the name Alternative Cabaret in pub function rooms, student union bars and community venues around London.
[4] The flagship Alt Cab night was run by Allen and Sayle in the back bar of the Elgin in Ladbroke Grove, between 16 August 1979 and 22 May 1980.
[7] Meanwhile in 1981 Allen returned to the Edinburgh festival with Andy De La Tour, Jim Barclay and Pauline Melville and Alternative Cabaret at the Assembly Rooms was a noted hit.