Comedy Festivals

[TheFuture]

I live in Leicester and we host a comedy festival that runs for the majority of February. I plan on trying to catch a show or two this weekend and it got me wondering about other similar festivals around the UK and whether there are any. 

 

Of course we have the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh which I'd argue is the purpose of the Leicester festival, where we get a fair few 'Work in Progress' type shows amongst some very random acts, but I've yet to be disappointed. The most well known comedian I've seen (a few years ago now) was Seann Walsh who was doing a work in progress act. Very enjoyable experience and somewhat interesting to see them testing new material. 

 

So, I guess a two-part question - 1) Have you caught any shows in Leicester at the festival in the past, or maybe even this year? 2) Does your city host any similar type of events, if so and you're happy to share, whereabouts in the UK? 

 

 

[3s-gtech]

Machynlleth in Powys has a festival in early May. You get to travel to a truly beautful area and then laugh (depending on who you see!)

 

A world away from Leicester for just over two hours journey.

 

https://machcomedyfest.co.uk/

[dhicks]

2 hours ago, TheFuture said:

Does your city host any similar type of events, if so and you're happy to share, whereabouts in the UK?

 

I live in London, which of course is cheating 🙂. The problem with the Edinburgh Festival is that it's now got so big it tends to suck all the available acts in for the whole of August, and the costs (venue hire, accommodation, promotion) of putting on a show have grown so that it's difficult for newer acts to make money - people need to be able to make enough money to live on. The Camden Festival in Camden (North London) is on at the same time of year (August), and seems to have grown into the alternative festival for people in London who can't afford the time / money to go up to Edinburgh. Nearer to me (South London) there used to be the Vaults Festival, on at this time of year in the arches under Waterloo Station, that seems to have got moved on due to redevelopment of the area. Even nearer to me (Balham), The Bedford, a well-known comedy venue, has a festival this year, which looks interesting.

 

I'll hopefully be going to see (some of) the London 50-hour Improvathon this year at the Pleasance Theater near Kings Cross - they run a venue at Edinburgh each year as well, so this is a good way of seeing some performers outside of Edinburgh.