EDINBURGH PREVIEW SEASON HITS LEICESTER (OUCH!)

It's that time of the year again folks, when the air is full of the smell of barbecues, suncream and the sweat of a thousand nervous performers - yes, Edinburgh preview season is almost upon us, and I for one am very bloody excited! 

Despite some quality local nights in smaller venues and a couple of big names coming to town, it's fair to say there's been a bit of a lull in Leicester since the festival ended and Just the Tonic closed its doors for the last time. But next month the city will once again explode with quality hour-long shows from some of the circuit's finest comedians, all looking to perfect their new material in time to pack it into a suitcase and head north of the border in August. It'll be like our own little mini-Edfest, (or 'Leicstinburgh' if you're into the whole 'smashing words together for no real reason' thing...

So, what's on? I hear you ask...

BIG COMEDY WEEKEND - TICKETS ON SALE + EXTRA ACT ANNOUNCED!!

OK comedy fans, it's time to get really excited because the tickets for our Big Comedy Weekend in July are now on sale via WeGotTickets! That means that in just a few clicks you can get tickets for the ten fantastic one-hour shows we announced last month, for the ridiculously reasonable price of between £3 and £5 each (plus 30-50p booking fee).

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The Big Comedy Weekend!

Leicester Comedy Scene and Lions Eat Ice Cream proudly present…

'THE BIG COMEDY WEEKEND'

Fri 11- Sun 13 July

at the Criterion Free House, Millstone Lane, Leicester.

As proud supporters of live comedy, Leicester Comedy Scene are absolutely thrilled to announce that they have teamed up with local hotbed of comedic talent Lions Eat Ice Cream, to bring you a whole weekend of fantastic shows by some of the finest local acts, along with some very special guests indeed.

We've spent many hours since the recent comedy festival contacting our favourite acts and putting together what we think is an awesome schedule of full one-hour shows, that showcase the best of Leicester and beyond. The flavour of the bill is distinctly alternative and packed with award nominees and winners from Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival (hereafter referred to as 'DLCF'), so it's bound to be a big draw for all you connoisseurs of fine comedy out there.

So, onto the line-up...

COMEDY LISTINGS - June/July 2013 Bumper Summer Edition!

Whether you like it or not, summer's here, and that means it's Edinburgh preview season here in Leicester. Bottle Rocket are putting on the usual fine selection of previews at Firebug, which include Nick Helm, Pat Cahill, Chris Stokes and a DLCF2013 Winners' Special featuring Romesh Ranganathan (Best Show) and Brett Goldstein (Best New Show). The Cookie Jar also hosts a strong selection of preview shows from the likes of Andrew Lawrence, Paul Foot, Paul Chowdry and Seann Walsh.

COMEDY LISTINGS - MAY 2013

It's May! The sun is out and there's a distinct whiff of summer in the air, but for how long??? The answer - I DON'T CARE - this isn't a blog about the fricking weather, you know. It's about comedy and there's positively oodles of it coming up this month, as the new season really kicks into gear and we start to edge towards Edinburgh preview territory.

Andrew Lawrence is Coming to Get You. Yes, you.

So you've got your telly faves Andy Parsons, Micky Flanagan and Julian Clary at De Mont, but the ones I'm really looking forward to this month are Andrew Lawrence on the 5th and the awesome line-up for Set List on the 14th (both at JTT), as well as Scott Bennett and Anthony King at the Looking Glass, and another cracking line-up from Bottle Rocket on the 18th. Always worth seeing the circuit's only occultist metal transvestite comic Andrew O'Neill too. Don't forget Handmade Festival at the end of the month, which features some top comedians as well as lots of music, film and art across several venues.
Anyhoo, that's just my baboon-headed opinion - take a look at the full line-up for yourselves...

COMEDY LISTINGS - APRIL 2013

Hello there you lot. Hope you all had a good March - and by 'good' I mean I hope you didn't actually freeze to death. I admit I didn't go to see much comedy last month (with the exception of the last ever Lions Eat Ice Cream, during which I made my performance debut as the chief baker at 'Leicester Comedy Scone'). This 'month off' has given my sense of humour a much-needed break after the festival and also allowed me to sorting my work/life balance out, meaning I should now be able to devote more time to watching and writing about comedy - hurray!

So let's start with April's listings, which include solo shows from cheeky Londoner Micky Flanagan, one-of-a-kind mime/prop man The Boy With Tape On His Face and everyone's favourite grumpy American Rich Hall. Adam Buxton returns with his music/video/comedy show 'Bug' and The Criterion hosts the first outing of brand new improv group The Same Faces. Also, don't forget there's still time to enter our awesome three-in-one ticket competition, in which you can win tickets for Zoe Lyons etc on the 6th, Barbara Nice/Mae Martin on the 9th and four tickets to any Fri/Sat show in April at Just the Tonic, with free booze thrown in for good measure! The closing date is midday on Wednesday 3rd, so don't delay - click here to enter today!

Thu 4th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Fri 5th - Steve Royle, Chris Mayo, Mark Maier, Pierre Hollins @ Loughborough Town Hall
Fri 5th / Sat 6th - Mark Maier, Pierre Hollins, Debra-Jane Appelby, Ben Van Der Velde @ Just the Tonic
Sat 6th - Zoe Lyons, Ed Gamble, Paul McCaffrey, Ian Smith @ The Y
Mon 8th - Al Murray @ Loughborough Town Hall

Tue 9th - Barbara Nice, Mae Martin, Maureen Younger @ Duffy's Bar
Tue 9th - Adam Buxton: BUG @ Phoenix Square

Tue 9th - The Reduced Shakespeare Company @ Loughborough Town HallThu 11th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Fri 12th - Markus Birdman, Mandy Muden, Ben Schofield, Spiky Mike @Market Harborough RUFCFri 12th / Sat 13th -  Johnny Candon, Andrew Bird, Liam Mullone, Matt Richardson @ Just the Tonic
Wed 18th - Nibbles with Giggles @ Entropy
Thu 18th - The Boy With Tape On His Face @ Just the Tonic
Fri 19th / Sat 20th - John Robins, Will Franken, Geoff Norcott, Romesh Ranganathan @ Just the Tonic
Sat 20th - Rob Rouse, Tony Jameson, Nick Doody, Rhys Matthewson @ The Y
Sat 20th - UFI: Unidentified Flying Improv @ The Looking Glass
Sat 20th - Maff Brown, Martin Beaumont, Joe Rowntree @ Lutterworth Piano RoomSun 21st - Micky Flanagan @ De Montfort Hall
Sun 21st - Should I Stay or Should I Go? @ Kayal
Wed 24th - Antony King - Not Normal @ The Guildhall
Thu 25th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Thu 25th - Rich Hall @ De Montfort Hall
Fri 26th - Ivan Brackenbury, Dylan Rhymer, Ian D Montford, Darrell Martin @ Just the Tonic
Sat 27th - Hormonal Housewives @ De Montfort Hall
Sat 27th - The Same Faces @ The Criterion
Sat 27th - Ivan Brackenbury, Dylan Rhymer, Marlon Davis, Darrell Martin @ Just the Tonic
Mon 29th - The Raymond & Mr Timpkins Revue, Romesh Ranganathan, Anthony King, Dave Twentyman @ Sileby Conservative Club

As usual, let me know if you want to add anything to the list, by email, on the facebook page or on twitter.
Toodle-pip!

FESTIVAL DIARY DAY 15 - 'Work in Progress' could mean anything really...

Righty, apologies again for the lateness on this one but I've had to wait until I cleared the enormous backlog of work that had built up at home whilst I was out galavanting around the festival, and boy has it been a stressful few days. but hey, that's not your concern is it? (the correct answer is 'No.')

He's got work to do - Daniel Simonsen

FESTIVAL DIARY DAY 5 - Rhys Mathewson and Simon Donald

After the explosion of life and laughter over the weekend, the city centre was strangely quiet last night. If it wasn't for all the DLCF banners and posters dotted around the place, one might've been surprised to learn that there was a comedy festival happening at all.
But happening it was, albeit on a smaller scale than over the weekend. I had two shows on my schedule and hoped to make it to a couple more afterwards, but due to a slight logistical f**k-up on my part I had to head home early to avoid being locked out of my house all night (so apologies to those performing in the late shows at the Looking Glass that I never made it to).

Value for money - Rhys Mathewson