Banish those winter blues with LOL – Laugh Out Loud, Exeter’s new comedy festival.
The city’s top comedy venues have got together to stage over 35 acts in seven venues across 15 days for the first of what’s expected to be an annual festival.
Some of the biggest names in cutting edge British comedy are involved – from Sean Hughes and Shappi Khorsandi to Jon Richardson to John Bishop.
Other events include comedy burlesque with Kinky & Quirky; comic performance poetry from Murray Lachlan Young – who also stages hilarious show for children – and musical comedy from Isy Suttie.
There’s even a chance to get involved yourself with Open Mic slots available.
ANDREW CLOVER – DAD RULES
Exeter Phoenix / Fri 22 Jan / 8pm / £10 (£8) / 16 yrs+
“She says: “Let’s have children.’ I know this is a historic moment. I must respond like a man. So I ignore her." Based on the Sunday Times column, Dad Rules is a hilarious, feel good mix of stand-up and stories from Andrew Clover, writer, comedian and actor – Perrier Nominee, star of My Almost Famous Family (BBC) and a regular in Ashes to Ashes (BBC).
LATE NIGHT FESTIVAL CLUB
Exeter Phoenix Voodoo Lounge. Fridays, 10pm – 1am. £7 (£6). 18 yrs+
IAN COGNITO – Fri Jan 22
Ian Cognito is one of the best comics on the national circuit, a veteran who clearly knows what he’s doing as he spits his darkly humorous vitriol over an unsuspecting crowd. Outspoken, opinionated, and totally clued up, this man’s take on the world will have you convinced and convulsed (with laughter).
Off the Kerb Productions in association with Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd present
An Evening with JON RICHARDSON and SHAPPI KHORSANDI
Exeter Northcott / Sat 23 January / 7.30pm / £13 all seats / 14yrs +
In his show This Guy at Night, Jon Richardson explores the notion that the human race may be weaker and less able to deal with problems now than it has at any point in its history. A hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, join Jon as he gets life’s idiosyncrasies off his chest in his grumpy, yet uniquely charming, northern style.
Shappi Khorsandi is one of the hottest comedy prospects in the country (as seen on Live At The Apollo, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The Secret Policeman’s Ball, 8/10 Cats and Have I Got News for You). She’s feisty and flirty and handles every subject with a razor sharp wit, softened only by her deliciously dizzy delivery and endless charm.
2020 Agency in association with Mirth Control presents
FESTIVAL COMEDY CLUB
STEVE HALL, JAMES REDMOND, GEOFF WHITING & SUPPORT
Timepiece Nightclub / Sun 24 January / 8pm / £7 / 18 yrs+
Steve Hall has provided the support for Russell Howard on his sell-out national tour and has sold out Edinburgh Festival shows as part of the If.Comedy Award-nominated sketch group We Are Klang.
James Redmond, best known for seminal roles in Hollyoaks (C4) and casulaty (BBC), is a dry, slick and subtle stand-up who delivers unexpected twists and turns during his set as he deconstructs his art.
Geoff Whiting (The Armstrong and Miller Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look) is an established and popular act. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, on TV and radio and at every notable comedy club in the country.
COMEDY @ JOHN GANDYS
Tuesdays, 8 – 11pm. Free entry. 18yrs+. Open mic slots available – 01392 667057.
SEAN PERCIVAL & SALLY ANNE HAYWARD – Tue 26 Jan
Bristol based Sally is an experienced compere, regularly hosting shows on the comedy circuit. Her easy style and quick witted banter combine with her intelligent material with plenty of punchlines to set the crowd laughing.
Dudley based Sean is a headline act and a regular at all the UK’s top comedy venues, including Jongleurs and the Comedy store, plus the Edinburgh, Glastonbury and Reading Festivals.
Exeter Phoenix presents a World Premiere
MURRAY LACHLAN YOUNG – TECHNO SHANTIES
Exeter Phoenix / Fri 29 Jan / 8pm / £10 (£8) / 16 yrs+
With a brilliant combination of bizarre ballads, saucy shanties and rattling good yarns Murray Lachlan Young – one of the UK’s foremost performance poets and a regular fixture on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live & BBC resident poet at the Glastonbury Festival – leads us down a deeply amusing road to many strange places.
With backing from the ambient techno soundscapes of DJ Rad Rice and his own fine earthy baritone, Young combines a heady combination of traditional and contemporary popular art, to create an often hilarious, always unique take on the dark corners of our modern society.
The brilliant satirist and performance poet uses children’s verse styles and influences to conjure dark images of contemporary western consumer society for a world premiere for Laugh Out Loud.
LATE NIGHT FESTIVAL CLUB
Exeter Phoenix Voodoo Lounge. Fridays, 10pm – 1am. £7 (£6). 18 yrs+
JULIE JEPSON & ROSIE WILBY – Fri Jan 29
Julie burst onto the comedy scene in 2005 when she reached the final of the Funny Women Awards on only her third gig. Since then she has performed at numerous festivals and brings her show Inner Badger here from the Edinburgh Fringe.
MURRAY LACHLAN YOUNG – MODERN CAUTIONARY TALES FOR CHILDREN
Exeter Phoenix / Sat 30 Jan / 11am / £6 (£4) / 5 yrs+
An innovative and groundbreaking poetry show written and performed by Murray Lachlan Young – a mixture of poetry, stand-up comedy, storytelling and a touch of panto make for a hilarious and positive route to showing children that poetry can be fun, thought-provoking and occasionally quite cool! This show gets children dancing on-stage, completing simple fun poems, being ponies and getting seriously involved in live interactive poetry – this is a raucous, silly, scary, funny poignant and enlightening hour of merriment and mayhem. For 5 – 10 year olds and ex-children.
AN EXETER PHOENIX PROMOTION
KINKY & QUIRKY
Havana / Sat 30 Jan / 8pm – 1am / £6 adv / £7 door / 18 yrs+
Expect to have your funny bones tickled with the comedy line-up at Kinky & Quirky’s Burlesque and Boogie. Robots, mathematicians and Charlie Chaplin-inspired routines from top burlesque artistes including Warren Speed who recently supported Dita Von Teese in her Paris shows.
www.kinkyandquirky.com
2020 Agency in association with Avalon presents
ISY SUTTIE & FERGUS CRAIG
Exeter Phoenix / Sun 31 Jan / 8pm / £10.50 / 16yrs+
Isy plays IT geek Dobby in Peep Show, for which she was nominated for the Best Female Newcomer at the 2008 British Comedy Awards. Radio credits include The Now Show and The Mitch Benn Music Show. An established live performer, her acclaimed debut solo show, Love Lost in the British Retail Industry highlighted her talent for songs and character comedy, resulting in The Suttie Show which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008.
Fergus Craig performs ‘Still Watches Neighbours’, a guided tour around Ramsey Street which includes many classic clips from past series. An experienced actor and comedian who recently appeared in Channel 4’s Star Stories, he has also appeared in Roman’s Empire (BBC Two), After You’ve Gone (BBC One), Raging (BBC Three) and Jonathan Creek (BBC One). Most recently Fergus won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition for 2009.
COMEDY @ JOHN GANDYS
Tuesdays, 8 – 11pm. Free entry. 18yrs+. Open mic slots available – 01392 667057.
PAUL B EDWARDS & COLIN OWENS – Feb 2
Resident MC at his own monthly comedy club, Colin won the 2005 Jimmy Carr Comedy Idol and consequently performed with him on stage and DVD.
Paul has a genial combination of jokes, songs and poetry, a self-styled ‘Rock & Roll Poet’ and comedian whose wordplay and musical comedy deliver fine no-fuss entertainment.
SEAN HUGHES – WHAT I MEANT TO SAY WAS…
Exeter Corn Exchange / Wed 3 Feb / 8pm / £15 & £12 / 16 yrs+
The youngest comic ever to win the Perrier award – for his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 1990 – Sean Hughes is back with a brand new show; bursting at the seams with the darkly brilliant, self-deprecating barbed wit that has kept him at the top of his game ever since. The star of The Last Detective (ITV), Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC) and Sean’s Show (Channel 4), his dark, explosive style and quick-fire audience banter have made him a household name – not to be missed.
JOHN BISHOP – ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
Exeter Phoenix / Thur 4 Feb / 8pm / £10 / 16 yrs+
The multi-award winning comedian and star of ‘For one Night Only’, ‘Michael McIntyre’s Roadshow’, ‘Skins’, ‘The Late Late’, ‘8 Out of 10 Cats’, performs his exciting and hilarious show that will have audiences begging for more.
EXETER COMEDY CLUB
Exeter Corn Exchange / Fri 5 Feb / 8pm / £10 / 16 yrs+
Exeter Comedy Club has been bringing the very best acts from the national stand-up circuit to Exeter since 1997. Previous artists have included Alan Carr, Ross Noble and Rhod Gilbert.
The line up for this Comedy Club LOL special features Irishman Paddy Lennox, Chortle Best Newcomer Holly Walsh, one of the most unique and exciting rising stars of the comedy world Joey Page and Aussie headliner Colin Cole.
Everyone gets a seat a table and tables are reserved for parties of 4 or more. Drinks are served throughout. In short – it’s Exeter’s best night out.
Sorry adults only (16+) – line up subject to possible alteration.