The Bearcat Club has been bringing the best stand-up comedians to the Turk’s Head in St Margaret’s for the past 25 years and there will be a mirth-filled birthday celebration this Saturday night.

For one night only, the club is making the short trip across the A316 to Twickenham Rugby Stadium’s Live Room for a show headlined by Jo Brand, with Paul Thorne, Greg Davies and Simon Brodkin as Lee Nelson.

James Punnett has been running the club alongside Grahame Limmer since it first opened its doors in 1984 and Punnett believes there are plenty of reasons for the club’s longevity – with the consistently high standard of the acts being principal among them, even from the early days.

He explains: “There weren’t that many acts around when we started so we got all the people who were at the top – Jeremy Hardy, Jo Brand and Harry Enfield.

“It was quirkier in those days, more experimental and political – it was in the era of the miners’ strike.

“The standard was OK at the beginning because people were learning but, as time has gone on, it has just got stronger and stronger.”

As well as Brand, a number of these stars have returned to perform at the Bearcat and they have been joined on the alumni list by other stellar names, including Rob Brydon, Harry Hill and Rory Bremner.

When the Bearcat first started, stand-up comedy clubs were few and far between and Punnett says not only was this vital in attracting performers but also in garnering a loyal audience.

“Stand-up comedy was a bit of a backwater in those days – it was called alternative cabaret,” he says.

“To begin with we had to find a niche for it and, fortunately, we hit the ground running and people came back for more.

“We used to do it every other Monday and we have now been doing Saturdays for the past 10 years.”

It was the “alternative cabaret” moniker that inspired Punnett to come up with the unusual name for the club.

“I thought ‘alternative cabaret’ was like a crossword clue and Bearcat is an anagram of cabaret,” he says.

So who does Punnett pick as the funniest act to grace the Bearcat stage?

“A guy called Kevin McAleer, who did a slide show about owls.

“He didn’t speak for 10 minutes and he just had to point at the pictures and everyone was killing themselves laughing.”

And the worst?

“Often people who think their reputation is bigger than it is and take things for granted.

“There was one guy, well-known for doing a football comedy show with Frank Skinner, who came on and when the audience didn’t laugh, he implied they didn’t understand his jokes.”

He adds: “Our most famous booing off was of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer early in their career.

“Their act consisted of a tray of vegetables which they pretended were spacecraft and they acted out a space scene, but not for very long!”

The Bearcat Club’s 25th anniversary show featuring Jo Brand, The Live Room, Twickenham Rugby Stadium, July 11, 8pm, £15, bearcat comedy.co.uk