Ten things you can only see at the Leicester Comedy Festival | Some of the unique events on offer

Ten things you can only see at the Leicester Comedy Festival

Some of the unique events on offer

Kicking off on Friday, Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival this year boasts more than 600 shows. There’s the usual range of tour shows, big and small, and, being exactly halfway between successive Edinburgh Fringes, a mix of 2013 festival shows getting another run-out, and works-in progress towards this coming August.

As usual, our advice to getting the best out of the event would be to use a combination of trusted reviews, favourite names and just taking a wild punt to see what happens. There are far too many shows for us to give a detailed guide, but here are 10 events unique to Leicester over the coming days

1. I Say: The Annual Comedy Conversation

Alexei Sayle speaks about the state of British comedy and how much it has changed over the past 21 years since the Leicester comedy festival started (let alone the 35 since he compered the first Comedy Store).

Tuesday February 18, De Montfort University, 6.30pm

2. The UK Pun Championships

Wordplay is back (thank you, Twitter)… and now it has its own competition. Eight comics battle it out to be crowned UK pun champion of Britain in this event, hosted by Lee Nelson. We know of one chap who submitted ten of his best jokes for this competition – and did any get through? No pun in ten did. And no, that old gag wouldn’t make the grade either…

Thursday February 13, Just The Tonic, 8pm. Tickets

3. Silver Stand-up Competition

Bizarrely scheduled for the exact same time as the pun competition comes another comedy showdown, this one for the over 55s. Alexei Sayle (him again) said of the contest: ‘Anything that provides an antidote to all the young upstarts taking over the comedy scene has to be a good thing’. It’ll be MCed by last year’s winner, Marc Lucero.

Thursday February 13, Duffy’s Bar, 7.15pm.

4. Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year Competition

And completing the line-up of festival competitions, the granddaddy of them all. It’s the 20th year of this new act contest, which numbers Johnny Vegas, Rhod Gilbert, Seann Walsh and Stevie Knuckles (who?) among its winners. This year’s finalists, all selected by comedy clubs around the country. are: Dane Baptiste, Dave Green, Elliot Steel, Harriet Kemsley, Kate Lucas, Mark Silcox, Phil Jerrod and Daisy Earl.

Saturday February 22, The Y, 7.30pm

5. Comedy Tours At Welford Road

Take a look behind the scenes at the Leicester Tigers ground, led by comedian (and professional chorister, as it happens) Lloyd Griffith. It’s billed as the first time the Tigers have let a bunch of comedians through the doors – ‘unless you count the time when the Northampton Saints came to play’. Here’s hoping the gags on the tour are better than that.

Saturday February 8, Welford Road Stadium, 2pm

6. Other comedy tours

Or if rugby’s not your thing, you can get a free tongue-in-cheek tour of the whole of Leicester city centre in the company of comedians. You need to bring your bike, or hire one separately from Future Cycles, based at the bike park in Town Hall Square where the three-mile tours begin. And afterwards, theres a comedy club at the same venue, hosted by local lad Gary O’Donnell.

If you’d rather go by foot, Joey Page will be leading a walking tour of the city’s great sites – some of which may well be entirely made up. But this one’s not such a bargain, at £15 a head.

Oh, and there’s a comedy ghost tour too.

Red Light Comedy Ride: Saturdays February 8, 15 and 22, Town Hall Square Bike Park, 6pm
Comedy Tourist: Saturday February 15, LCB Depot, 1pm.
Ghost Tour Of Leicester: Saturday February 15, LCB Depot, 1pm.

7. Hotel D’Comedie

Now a staple of the comedy festival, this site-specific performance places a different comedy acts in various rooms of the four-star boutique hotel. Those taking part this tear include Harriott Kemsley, Tim FitzHigham and Sean McLoughlin.

Friday February 7, Maiyango, 10pm

8. The Grandest Night Of Grand Opera… Ever

Comic and classical musician Rainer Hersch gets to play with 100 singers and 80 musicians of the Leicester Symphony Orchestra at De Montfort Hall. Music includes: Handel Zadok Got Pissed and PDQ Bach Missa Hilarious.

De Montfort Hall, Saturday February 8, 7.30pm

9. Joke Thieves

Not entirely exclusive to Leicester, as it’s been performed at Edinburgh and has a residency in London; but Will Mars’s brainchild is still something a little different. In the first half, comedians do their usual sets; in the second they are given one of their colleagues’ routines to try to emulate in their own particular style. Blind Date

David Morgan steps into Cilla's shoes as three comedians will answer questions set by a genuine member of the public who will select a 'winner' to go on a date with. Though is this really the most romantic way to spend Valentine's Day?

Friday February 14, The Little Theatre, 8pm

• The Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival website is here.

Published: 4 Feb 2014

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