Arthur Smith, Harriet Kemsley, Matthew Crosby and Brenda Gilhooly

Arthur Smith, Harriet Kemsley, Matthew Crosby and Brenda Gilhooly have joined the line-up of this year’s Chortle  Comedy Book Festival.

Smith will be remembering the comic genius of Barry Cryer, in a conversation with Barry’s son Bob.

When Barry died two years ago, at the age of 86, Smith wrote: ‘His brilliance as a writer, panel show guest and comic was matched only by his generosity and empathy’ and called him the ‘most beloved of all comedians’.

Bob last year wrote a biography of his father, Same Time Tomorrow?, which forms the basis of his session at the festival, which takes place at the British Library in St Pancras, London, on March 3 and will also feature clips from Barry’s long career.

Meanwhile, Kemsley will be in conversation with fellow stand-up Lou Sanders – fresh from ITV’s Dancing On Ice – about her autobiography What's That Lady Doing? Described by The Guardian as ‘moving, hilarious and generally astonishing’, the book contains many frank stories from Sanders’ life, seen through the prism of shame.

Crosby and Ed Gamble  will recreate the chemistry they share on their weekly Radio X show as they discuss Gamble’s food-based memoir, Glutton.

And Gilhooly – a writer on Harry Hill’s TV Burp formerly known on the comedy circuit as Page Three stunna Gayle Tuesday – will be talking to Smack The Pony star Doon Mackichan about her excoriating memoir about how badly the entertainment industry treats women, from her decades of hard-won experience on stage and screen.

The festival also includes a recording of Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd’s Weirdos Book Club podcast, and a day of sessions hosted by Robin Ince with Adam Boom sharing his secrets of comedy writing; Joel Morris revealing the mechanisms that make jokes work and what comedy can teach us about ourselves; writer and performer Dave Cohen on his comedy career leading up to his latest novel about an aspiring stand-up; comics Zahra Barri and Njambi McGrath talking about their debut novels and comedy historians Gemma and Robert Ross reappraising the roles of women in the Carry On Movies.

Get day tickets and main theatre tickets here – and sessions for the Literary Lounge here.

Or read more about the festival here.

Published: 20 Feb 2024