Chris Martin
Leicester Comedy Festival celebrates its 18th birthday this year. The longest running comedy festival in Europe attracts big comic names to the Midlands each February for a month of comedy club events and solo shows. Comics generally do just one show, so don’t have the pressure of repeating the same performance in the same room day after day, as in Edinburgh; this means it can make for a really relaxed way for comedy lovers to get their fix and, maybe, discover a rising star or two.
One rising star is Josh Widdicombe, a graduate of the Lunchtime Club (and comedy sports quiz Fighting Talk regular), and he joined Zoe Lyons, Terry Alderton and the excellent (and quite beautiful) compere Chris Martin (no, not that one) at the annual London Preview show at CAMP on Wednesday.
Widdicombe offers up wry observations, in the style of the quintessential grumpy young man. He has a naturally likeable quality, and is definitely one to keep an eye on – he certainly wouldn’t be out of place on a comedy panel show.
Mock The Week regular and Brighton resident (by default, she says) Zoe Lyons brought real energy to the show for her set. A sharp and high-octane performance (and the first topical joke of the night) went down very well with the audience as she regaled tales of the life of a 39-year-old underachiever. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable 20 minutes, which really whets your appetite for her national tour – coming to the festival and to a theatre near you soon.
Terry Alderton
Headliner Terry Alderton stole the show, with a surreal mix of physical comedy, one liners, and an ability to mimic so many accents so perfectly it’s hard to work out where he’s really from. No explanation will do this act justice; it is a unique show that really shouldn’t be missed.
The Leicester Comedy Festival was set up in 1994 by students from De Montfort University as a final year project. Since then it has gone from strength to strength. Founding member and festival director Geoff Rowe explains: ‘We work hard to make sure the festival isn’t just a collection of shows you might see anywhere else. There are loads of new shows at the festival; many acts use it to try out new material and showcase new performances. Lots of the shows which are tried out at Leicester then go on to Edinburgh and UK national tours.’
The festival programme also includes exhibitions, workshops and special events all running from 4 – 20 February. The full programme and ticket booking information is available from the Leicester Comedy Festival website.
Throughout February we’ll be speaking to acts from the Festival; keep an eye out for interviews from Zoe Lyons and David Morgan next week, and more to follow.
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