Comedy festival celebrates its virtual success
HUGE INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE AS EVENTS ONLINE FOR FIRST TIME
ORGANISERS of Leicester Comedy Festival are celebrating its success after more than 20,000 tickets were sold to comedy lovers around the world.
Tickets for the virtual event, which finished recently, were bought by people in Australia, USA, Sweden, Cyprus, Belgium, Belfast and Berlin, as well as across the UK.
More than 86 per cent of the audience were new to the event, having never bought tickets to previous editions of Leicester Comedy Festival, which started in 1994. Many events were viewable thanks to a new deal with NextUp Comedy, the festival’s official streaming partner.
The festival programme included more than 1,678 hours of comedy on NextUp Comedy, as well as events streamed on Twitch, Facebook Live, YouTube and other online platforms.
Comedians including Tom Allen, Ed Byrne, Nina Conti, Stewart Lee, Al Murray and Zoe Lyons appeared, and there were stand-up comedy shows, a seminar discussion programme, special festival podcasts, kids and family shows and exclusive interviews with comedians.
According to organisers, more than 80 per cent of the audience were based outside Leicester or Leicestershire – an increase from 65 per cent in previous years. The festival producers also made available footage of comedians who had previously been in the festival over the last 28 years.
Interviews and footage included appearances by Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Nicholas Parsons, Jimmy Cricket and more.
A record was even broken this year. No More Jockeys Live! featuring Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne sold out 500 tickets in less than 13 hours, making it the fastestselling show in the 28-year history of the Leicester Comedy Festival.
Geoff Rowe, founder and director of Leicester Comedy Festival, said: “The last 19 days have been just incredible and I want to thank all those who took part.
“It’s true to say that the last 12 months have been really difficult, but the support we continue to receive from comedians, audiences, promoters, media, sponsors and others has meant Le icester Comedy Festival has, in some ways, had the best year ever.
“To have attracted so many new people to the festival, from around the globe, is fantastic.
“We very much hope many of them will visit the festival in real life next February as we continue to celebrate British comedy and support new and emerging talent.”
Many of the festival’s trademark special events such as the hugely popular UK Pun Championships and the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Competition have been postponed until later in the year.
The Stand Up Challenge, featuring local businessmen and women, as well as Leicester South MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Jon Ashworth, will take place in June.