Hull Comedy Festival

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

Background

The objectives of the festival are to bring people into Hull, show them a good time and have them leave with a smile on their face and feeling good about the world. Organisers hope to establish a strong foundation to be built upon to establish a leading and annually anticipated festival in the North of England that consistently unearths new talent.

Hull Comedy Festival 2007

The festival in 2007 took place between 26 October to 9 November and will featured over seventy performers at over forty events.

Highlights include shows from Russell Howard, Stewart Lee, Justin Moorhouse and the Tenfoot City Comedian of the Year. Other well-known performers include Lucy Porter, Trevor Lock, Frank Sidebottom, John Shuttleworth and Ivan Brackenbury [http://www.channel4.com/4laughs/feature/events/Hull_Comedy_Festival.html] .

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 took to the stage.

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. Stephens in the City Centre.

Hull Comedy Festival 2008

This years festival will run from Thursday 23 October until Friday 7 November.

Paddy McGuinness, Frankie Boyle, Pete Firman and Russell Kane have already been lined up for what is being billed as "the difficult second festival" which will take place in the Autumn [http://www.hullcomedy.co.uk/?p=61] [http://www.karoo.co.uk/karootoday/hull-comedy-festival-08.asp] .

Hull Comedy Festival 2008 is delivered in partnership by Level M Marketing and Events, Hull City Centre BID, Eskimo Soup, Hull Colour Pages and St. Stephens with the support of over a dozen local companies and organisations [http://www.hullcomedy.co.uk/?page_id=39/] .

External links

* [http://www.hullcomedy.co.uk www.hullcomedy.co.uk] - Official Website.
* [http://www.thisisull.com/news07/146776280_comedyfestival07.html www.thisisull.com] - Article claiming the festival as a success.
* [http://www.levelm.co.uk/news/show/3 www.levelm.co.uk] - Quotes from festival director.
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/articles/2007/09/28/hull_comedy_festival.shtml www.bbc.co.uk] - Article about the 2007 festival.
* [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/11/the_danger_of_good_intentions.html blogs.gurdian.co.uk] - A blog by James Sherwood.
* [http://seasideradio.co.uk/shows/mikebrown www.seasideradio.co.uk] - A radio station which managed to interview some of the comedians.