Comedy feature: The Bristol BrouHaHa! Comedy Festival

Wednesday 1st July 2009

Natalie Hale talks to Bristol’s top comedy promoter Steve Lount about the launch of the city’s first ever comedy festival

Bristol has a long tradition of presenting the best in live comedy; producing and nurturing our own fabulous local talent, as well as welcoming the top stand-ups from across the globe.

Now the city is launching its first ever comedy festival, and many of the biggest names in stand-up will be in attendance.

Building on the huge success of last summer’s Edinburgh Or Bust Comedy Week, this month The Comedy Box, in association with Tobacco Factory Theatre, present Bristol BrouHaHa! Comedy Festival.

Over nine nights BrouHaHa! will welcome some of the most dynamic and inventive acts on the UK comedy scene to preview their new shows bound for the Edinburgh Festival in August.

Comedy promoter and stand-up guru Steve Lount, who comedy fans will recognise as the serious- looking soul who runs one of Bristol’s best-loved and highly regarded clubs The Comedy Box, says BrouHaHa! has been a long time in the making.

“I’ve wanted to establish some kind of Bristol comedy festival since I started in comedy promotion way back in 1992. I put together a fringe arts festival called the Clifton Exposure in 1991 and the Bristol BrouHaHa has been in the back of my mind for well over a decade.

“Many venues have preview seasons, but I wanted to take the next step up and concentrate as many as I could into a short period and give it a festival identity. What has prompted me to launch it this year was the huge success of a pilot event I produced last year, in conjunction with the Tobacco Factory Theatre, called the Edinburgh Or Bust Comedy Week.

“The Tobacco Factory director, Ali Robertson, encouraged me to do it, providing the support and the venue. If he wasn’t for him, maybe I’d be thinking: ‘perhaps next year’.”

Hundreds of comedians want to be noticed in Edinburgh and Steve has programmed the cream of these shows into a concentrated season of double-bill previews.

Names on the bill include Welsh comedy sensation Rhod Gilbert (pictured), one of the leading stand-up names in the UK. He was the talk of last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Festival, earning a nomination for the highly prized if.comedy Award.

Cheddar’s favourite son, Richard Herring, will be previewing his new show Hitler Moustache, in which he muses over why a innocent square inch of facial hair has taken the blame for Nazism.

Canadian Phil Nichol will be performing his award-winning comic poems and songs, while Robin Ince will attempt to analyse the self-proclaimed moral majority without bursting a blood vessel.

Four comics who won plaudits for their recent appearances on the BBC’s hit Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow – John Bishop, Sarah Millican, Paul Tonkinson and Alun Cochrane – will also be presenting their latest shows for festival audiences.

With so much choice, I wonder what are Steve’s personal picks?

“I think the big star in this festival has to be Rhod Gilbert, whose profile has just got bigger and bigger over the past year. I am very pleased Rhod is performing on the opening night of the festival. His show, double-billed with Lucy Porter, sold out ages ago.

“I’m also a real fan of Richard Herring who recently chose to record his latest DVD at the Tobacco Factory. He is bringing his show Hitler Moustache to BrouHaHa! which I definitely think will cause a few eyebrows to rise.

“Other names to definitely check out are Lloyd Langford and Kent Valentine. But if you want to see something completely different, you absolutely should come to see the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, which has produced some of this year’s funniest sketches on YouTube. I have known the guy behind ‘The Socks’ Kev F Sutherland, for 15 years.

Both The Comedy Box and the Tobacco Factory will be familiar territory to the majority of the acts at this year’s inaugural festival and Steve says they will be looking forward to playing the venues again in the run-up to Edinburgh.

“Some of the acts who had played the Factory before certainly wanted to return, such as Rhod Gilbert, Lucy Porter, Paul Sinha, Ian Stone, Richard Herring and Pappy’s Fun Club. It’s got such a great atmosphere. A real vibrancy.

“Many of the acts who played during the Edinburgh Or Bust Comedy Week last summer didn’t expect such a sizeable audience for what are technically regarded as works-in-progress. And now some of those acts are returning this year.

“I think they’ll look forward to it rather than just regarding their shows as yet another preview to tick off the list. I think the Factory is a natural festival venue.

“As for The Comedy Box at the Hen and Chicken, we’ve been producing previews, warm-ups and touring shows for many years and are regarded as a key venue to play. The acts who have been booked to play there during the BrouHaHa! know we’ll do our best to get a good- sized audience for their shows.”

Although Edinburgh preview shows are often billed as works-in- progress, with BrouHaHa! taking place just a couple of weeks before the Edinburgh Fringe, the shows promise to be as close to the finished articles as possible.

“Most of the shows will be Edinburgh-ready by the time they play Bristol BrouHaHa,” says Steve.

“The shows are fantastic value. All are double bills, so festival goers are effectively getting two shows for the price of one. And to further encourage Bristol comedy fans, you can buy three double-bill shows for the price of two.”

Steve is hoping to get the public support BrouHaHa! needs and deserves so the festival can become an annual event.

“As the festival develops, the idea is to build a platform showcasing the best in live comedy alongside the best in Edinburgh previews.

“If Bristol comedy fans get behind us, I’ll be looking at sponsorship to support expansion.

“This year is about getting the BrouHaHa! name out there so potential sponsors will recognise it when I knock on their doors! And, of course, it’s about having a great time.”

The Bristol BrouHaHa! Comedy Festival takes place at The Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken and the Tobacco Factory, both in Southville, from Friday, July 17, until Saturday, July 25. Tickets cost £7-£10 – call 0117 902 0344. For more information, visit www.TheComedyBox.co.uk