One half of the Laughter In Odd Places team, Tom Searle, recalls his favourite LIOP moments and explains why he and Terry Saunders are killing off one of London's most fun and elusive comedy gigs.

One of the underground gems of the comedy circuit, Laughter In Odd Places, is doing an Eric Cantona/Harper Lee/The Office and calling it a day in its prime.

As the name suggests, it is a comedy night set in unorthodox venues. It has dropped by in locations as a launderette in Clapham, an art gallery in Brixton, a charity shop in Crouch End and even a comedy reviewer's living room. Robin Ince, Josie Long and Tim Key (pictured above at Borders, Oxford Street) are among the comics who have performed at LIOP, since it began in Newington Library, Elephant and Castle, back in October 2006.

And its finalé is on July at the Museum of London (its third visit to the museum), and features some of the circuit's biggest names – Richard Herring, Perrier Award winner Will Adamsdale, Simon Munnery and Long.

Tom Searle, who organises the nights with splendid storytelling stand-up Terry Saunders (pictured below) explains why they are ending the run: "We felt we achieved what we wanted to achieve. We didn't have a specific two-year or five-year plan, we just wanted to build something new and different, and we did that.

"We got a Chortle award for innovation ahead of We Need Answers, which has just got commissioned for BBC4, and we had really big numbers (700+ people) come to our second show in the Museum of London.

"Also we got to spurn some opportunities that came our way; people would get in contact trying to cash in on it, and we just ignored them or sent really dismissive emails back, that was quite satisfying! All these things, it just felt it was the right time."

Part of LIOP's success was that it found the balance between giving its fans the warm glow of belonging to a club, while welcoming newcomers and not becoming an inward-looking clique. It meant the nights were the antithesis of your lairy Saturday night comedy club, with an atmosphere of good will, giving the comics the freedom to enjoy themselves and venture off script.

Tom reveals his fondest memories of the 21 LIOP shows: "The first ever one was a lot of fun, at the library in Elephant and Castle. There was a big Greek lady who kept threatening to kick us out, I don't think she had been told what was going on, it was quite funny.

"Also doing one in Bruce Dessau's [the Evening Standard comedy critic's] front room; it felt more like a party. His wife had baked loads of chocolate cake and everyone brought a gift for the house, that was really nice."

Your last chance to imbibe some of the LIOP magic comes on July 2. And, as with all the Eric Cantona goals, Harper Lee novels and The Office episodes that never were, we shouldn't mourn LIOP's early demise and all the shows that could've been, but appreciate its existence in the first place.

Laughter in Odd Places, Museum of London, Thursday, July 2, free and non-ticketed, click here for the LiF listing, also see www.laughterinoddplaces.terrysaunders.co.uk