Hull Comedy Festival

The Hull Comedy Festival is an annual event that takes place in Kingston upon Hull, England.

Background

It was established in 2006, when a local businessman John Gilbert received funding from Hull Business Improvement District to develop a sustainable event that would benefit the evening economy. John Gilbert handed over the reins of Hull Comedy Festival in 2013 to C69 Comedy (RTCE Productions)

2007

The festival ran from 26 October to 9 November and featured over seventy performers at over forty events.[1]

Performers included Russell Howard, Stewart Lee, Justin Moorhouse, Lucy Porter, Trevor Lock, Frank Sidebottom, John Shuttleworth and Ivan Brackenbury.[2]

The Hull Blokes, The Live Naked Idiots (including comedy magician Alan Hudson), Masked Dan, Andy Train and Scarlet Lights Theatre Company are amongst the local performers who also appeared.

Participating venues in 2007 included: Hull Truck Theatre, The Quality Royal Hotel, The Lamp, The New Clarence, Northern Academy of Performing Arts, Tiger's Lair, Pave, The Octagon, The Freedom Centre, Durty Nelly’s, The Dorchester Hotel, Punchbowl, The Piper, Cineworld and the University of Hull.

Street comedy performances were also scheduled to take place at Queen Victoria Square and St Stephen's in the City Centre.

2008

The festival ran from 23 October to 7 November.

Paddy McGuinness, Frankie Boyle, Pete Firman, Russell Howard, Jason Manford, Keith Chegwin and Russell Kane performed at what was billed "the difficult second festival".[3][4]

Organisers claimed a 400% increase in sales made it the largest ticketed festival in the Hull and East Riding area. It was delivered in partnership by Hull City Centre BID, eskimosoup, Hull Colour Pages and St. Stephens with the support of over a dozen local companies and organisations.[5]

2009

The festival ran from 23 October to 7 November, organised by eskimosoup in partnership with Hull Business Improvement District, KCFM 99.8 and Hull Colour Pages.

Performers included Alistair McGowan, Al Murray, Rich Hall and Keith Chegwin. Shows included stage comedy Little Shop of Horrors and an adaptation of the TV sitcom, Porridge starring Shaun Williamson.

Festival Director John Gilbert hailed the festival the “most satisfying yet” due to high audience figures throughout the programme as well as several successful community projects.

2010

The 2010 festival took place between 21 October and 7 November and was again organised by eskimosoup with Jon Reed as creative director.

Performers included Sarah Millican, Milton Jones, Ross Noble, Mark Watson, Joe Pasquale, Greg Davies and Phil Cool.

Organisers claim that 5,388 tickets of a target of 5,600 were sold and that the festival had become a commercial success as well as an annual highlight for the creative community.

In the 2010 the festival was voted Hull's second favourite festival by users of Karoo.co.uk and was short listed in the Visit Hull and East Yorkshire Remarkable Tourism Awards.

2011

The festival ran from 21 October to 21 November under the new direction of Rich Quelch, who took over as festival director with assistance from creative consultants C69 Comedy (RTCE Productions) Performers included Tim Minchin, Tommy Tiernan, Andy Parsons, Paul Zerdin, Joe Pasquale, Lee Hurst and Jerry Sadowitz.

2012

The Festival ran from 20 October 2012 to 23 November 2012 included Performers Al Murray, Rhod Gilbert, Frankie Boyle, Hairy Bikers, Stewart Francis, Kevin Bridges, Vikki Stone and Ross Noble.

2013

This year the festival returns with a fresh new face now under the direction of C69 Comedy (RTCE Productions) from 1 to 17 November 2013 with performers including Jack Dee, Alan Davies, Josh Widdicombe, Jonny & The Baptists, Tony Law and Sean Lock to name but a few. It is also the first year of the festival's Funny and Free Fringe bringing 18 shows that are completely free.

Tenfootcity Comedian of the Year

This competition started in 2007, and forms part of the festival. There is a cash prize and trophy awarded to the winner.

Winners

References

  1. ↑ "Are you having a laugh?". BBC Humberside. BBC. 9 October 2007. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  2. ↑ http://www.channel4.com/4laughs/feature/events/Hull_Comedy_Festival.html
  3. ↑ http://www.hullcomedy.co.uk/?p=61
  4. ↑ http://www.karoo.co.uk/karootoday/hull-comedy-festival-08.asp
  5. ↑ http://www.hullcomedy.co.uk/?page_id=39/

External links