FESTIVAL DIARY DAY 12 - No reviews please...

Hello comedy fans, and I apologise in advance for the lack of detail in today's Festival Diary. The only show I had on my schedule for yesterday was the work-in-progress double header from James Acaster and David Trent at the Belmont Hotel, and the first thing I was told when I got there was that their management had requested no press/reviews please, thank you very much.

BONUS FESTIVAL REVIEW - Grainne Maguire at the Belmont

With over 500 shows in 17 days, obviously I can't see everything at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival. Clearly I need either a cloning machine or some willing minions to review the shows I can't make it to. With my cloning technology still stuck in the development stage, I sent local wordsmith Louise Jenkins along to watch Grainne Maguire at the Belmont on Saturday evening, and here's what she had to say...

 'The one to watch out for' - Gráinne Maguire

Well hello - Louise here reporting for duty! 

Despite his very best efforts, the godfather of LCS can’t be everywhere reviewing everything at once these two weeks, so it’s with great pleasure (and mild terror) that I contribute to this dazzling festival diary (I’ll try my best not to f*ck it up). I’ve been tasked with sniffing out some of the festival’s ‘quirkier’ acts and so Gráinne Maguire (with all her lovely quirks) would seem to fit the bill!

Admittedly, I hadn’t done my research prior to last night’s engagement at the Belmont (ooh err), so was pleasantly surprised when greeted with such a charming nervous energy as opposed to the deadpan humour her choice of wardrobe might suggest (boy does she rock the Famous Five chic). Instead, we were treated to what felt like an hour round a mate’s house discussing awkward crushes, annoying Londoners (aka Kate Middleton) and being single with the itch that you’re always missing out (haven’t we as fully grown adults all been there).

From the fields of Ireland’s unofficial ‘Clara Lara Fun Park’ to her quest for love at a Labour party conference, Gráinne wove her adventures as an unconventional go-getter with few blips whilst mastering the art of the (slow moving) high five. Her theories behind the Tories’ lack of female voters (closing libraries as reverse psychology) and wanting to change them with her vagina even had me giggling (and that’s coming from someone who hates politics)!

Hailed as the ‘one to watch’ in the past, I would instead argue that she's ‘the one to watch out for’ as, for a woman with ‘surprisingly low standards’, beneath that layer of Kirstie Allsop exists a remarkable intelligence with more to her than meets the eye. Bravo.

(And, ahem, between friends and that - where did you get those brogues from?)

FESTIVAL DIARY DAY 4 - Rob Deering, Markus Birdman and comedy chat with Johnny Vegas

Wow, can't believe we're on Day 4 already - it's all flying past in a big comedic blur at the moment! Yesterday was another long and busy day, the morning spent writing up Saturday's many activities and the afternoon/evening spent cycling from gig to gig, to home, to gig, to gig, to another gig and back home again, in the driving rain/sleet/snow. Why do we do it to ourselves...? Coz we bloody love it, that's why!

First up was Mark Olver's afternoon chat show Dancing About Architecture at Just the Tonic, which was a fascinating hour of comedians discussing various aspects of the life of a stand-up. Mark was joined onstage by Johnny Vegas, Norman Lovett, Markus Birdman, Carly Smallman (who had to dash off at half time to perform at Kayal) and Adam Hess - although it should be noted that the character of Johnny Vegas was very much under wraps, allowing the man who plays him, Mike Pennington, to speak openly and honestly about being a stand-up, without the more unbalanced character of Johnny taking over. We were treated to some fascinating insights from the panel, including how they deal with nerves (drink often being the key, it seems); how male comedians can avoid going on stage sporting a urine stain (the trick is to tuck your little fella under, so any excess dribbleage heads down the inner thigh); Norman revealed how his Holly dialogue was shot in the early days of Red Dwarf (apparently Holly was just meant to be a voice to begin with, but managed to persuade Grant & Naylor to include his disembodied head as well). 

Fascinating insights: Lovett, Vegas, Hess, Birdman & Olver

FESTIVAL DIARY DAY 3 - Four shows and a seminar...

Saturday was rather a hefty day of comedy-viewing...

It began unreasonably early, with a 10am seminar at DMU's Pace building, in which a panel of comedy luminaries discussed the development of live comedy from the origins of the Alternative Comedy movement at the end of the 1970s (or the beginning of the 80s - this was a matter of some contention), through the 90s 'Comedy is the new rock&roll' era to the current environment of megastar arena tours and the lucrative panel show circuit, and ended by asking what's in store for the future of live comedy. It was a fascinating two hours, often dominated by the always lively and forthright Kate Copstick, who left the audience in no doubt as to her views on the current crop of TV comedians - stating in her typically reserved manner that she could shit in a bag, put an 'As seen on Mock the Week' sticker on it and people would flock to see it live. Also on the panel was Comedy Store founder Don Ward, who revealed his plans to record shows at his clubs and screen them in theatres across the country, as well as starting to stream them live on the net. This was greeted with some concern from the panel, who wondered whether this sort of thing would stop people bothering to go out to see live comedy in the smaller venues - as if to ask why would people go out and pay money to see half-formed sets by inexperienced acts when they can stay at home and watch top acts live in HD for free. This fear was tempered, though, by the feeling that there is perhaps too much live comedy around at the moment, and the good acts and venues would always survive, whilst the less competent would have to give up or find their own audience online.

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS to see Edward Aczel at The Belmont Hotel

Righty, following on from my Offbeat Stand-ups preview post, here's another awesome ticket competition for you lucky folks. Courtesy of Bottle Rocket Comedy Club, Leicester Comedy Scene has two tickets to give away to see the magnificent Edward Aczel performing his show 'Edward Aczel has no clear plan emerging' at the Belmont Hotel on Sat 23rd Feb, as part of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival.

Edward Aczel is known as a hero of 'anti-comedy'. His style is shambolic, poorly presented and he has no confidence in his own skill as a stand-up. For anyone else, this combination would add up to a terrible, unwatchable show, but somehow in the hands of Aczel, it works. His complete lack of witty material and slapdash approach to delivery make for a unique and very funny show. And to prove it, he won the coveted Malcolm Hardee Award at Edinburgh in 2008 and was a runner-up in the 2005 BBC New Comedy Awards, alongside the then-unknown Sarah Millican.

Bottle Rocket Christmas Special preview + Festival line-up released

It's around about this time of year when comedy fans start looking beyond Christmas and into the new year, as the line-ups for the next Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival start to circulate. The full brochure will be available in a multitude of venues very soon, and a few high-profile shows have already been publicised. 

Winners of Best Promoter at last year's festival awards, Bottle Rocket Comedy Club have just released their entire festival line-up, which features a plethora of acts - some well known, some less so - performing at at Firebug, the Belmont Hotel and The Y Theatre. You can check out their full festival roll-call and start booking your tickets at http://brcomedy.com/events/ - I've already started booking mine!

Whilst we're on the subject of Bottle Rocket, have you got your tickets for their cracking Christmas show yet? It takes place on December 15th at The Y Theatre, and is hosted by elder statesman of comedy and perennial Grumpy Old Man Arthur Smith. Headlining the bill is Boothby Graffoe, who combines comedy and music, best described by Stewart Lee as a "multi-talented, darkly hilarious, grade A British eccentric...A musical comedy act who is more musical than most musicians, and funnier than most comedians".

Also taking to the stage will be Gareth Richards (Frank Skinner's Absolute Radio Show), Radio 1's Tom Deacon and winner of Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival Best New Show, Matt Richardson.

Tickets are £13 and it's bound to be a packed Y Theatre so get yours in now before they sell out!

http://www.leicesterymca.co.uk/y-theatre-whats-on-details.php?listing=1143