You must be joking!
PUN-DERFUL WITS AND OLDER JOKESTERS WANTED FOR COMPETITIONS
LEICESTER Comedy Festival is inviting applications from funny folk to enter competitions at next year’s event.
Eligible comedians can now apply to enter The UK Pun Championships, Silver Stand Up Competition and the second year of the Circuit Breakers programme, set up to support new and emerging comedians from across the UK.
The UK Pun Championships is open to any pun-based comedian living in the UK who are able to make the live final on Punday (Monday), February 11 in Leicester.
A sell-out for the past five years, the pun championships, hosted by Jason Byrne, celebrates the great British pun and is the culmination of #UKPunDay, which trends nationwide on Twitter and attracted over 30 million impressions on twitter in 2017.
The live show at the prestigious De Montfort Hall follows the format of a rap battle and takes place in a boxing ring surrounded by the audience.
Audiences vote for their favourite pun (by way of whoops and cheers) and the winner goes through to the next round.
After a full evening of pun-based comedy, two finalists then fight it out until a winner is crowned.
Geoff Rowe, founding director of Leicester Comedy Festival, said: “We’re really proud of the support we give new and emerging talent and it is really important for us to ensure the festival is as welcoming as possible to comedians from across the UK.
“Our competitions are a crucial part of this and we know new and emerging comedians value being part of the biggest comedy festival in Europe. Each year we are inundated with applications for our competitions and we look forward to hearing from acts who want to take part.”
Silver Stand Up Competition is a unique comedy competition for comedians aged over 55. The final will take place on February 21. A long list of both semi-professional and professional comedians perform in front of a judging panel before finalists perform at the live final, hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice.
Circuit Breakers is a development programme which benefits comedians just starting out and enable them to perform at Leicester Comedy Festival 2019.
The programme, which is open to comedians from across the UK who don’t have a manager or agent nor a full hour-long show, will culminate with performances during the festi- val, as well as industry networking opportunities across the weekend and support from festival producers.
Headline acts for Leicester Comedy Festival 2019, which takes place from February 6-24, include Jo Brand, Johnny Vegas, Zoe Lyons, Jason Manford, Nish Kumar, Dave Gorman, Russell Howard, Henning Wehn, Jason Byrne, Paul Sinha, Rich Hall, Shazia Mirza, Hal Cruttenden and Gary Delaney.
The main festival will also feature the best up-and-coming international and UK acts including Adam Kay, Adam Rowe, Ahir Shah, Alasdair Beckett-King, Alex Edelman, Andrew Maxwell, Chris Washington, Daliso Chaponda, Dane Baptist and Ed Gamble. Visit:
Comedians wanting to apply for the Circuit Breakers programme can e-mail: