FESTIVAL DIARY Days 12, 13 & 14 - Chicken-bitches and Could-do-betters

Righty - got some catching up to do here. Had lots of work to do in the last few days so forgive me if I haven't been providing you with your daily dose of comedy festival reviews - I'll start bringing you up to speed now, with a summary of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the festival.

I ventured out on Tuesday night to see Nando's presents Chris Ramsey & Friends at the Y Theatre. It felt like a very different experience to the other gigs I've been attending throughout the festival. A big theatre, corporate sponsorship, big names from the telly, an audience full of young people who you distinctly suspected didn't go to see much comedy - it was a world away from the mostly small gigs full of dedicated comedy fans in pub basements or rooms above curry houses that I have become used to frequenting of late. In the lobby, Nando's staff handed out free chicken wraps to hungry punters, the room contained row after row of Nando's staff, and at the back of the stage behind the performers hung a huge Nando's banner - tonight, we were all chicken's bitches.

High energy - Chris Ramsey

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

LCS INTERVIEW - Viz creator Simon Donald talks swear-words & comedy heroes

Sultan of Swearing - Simon Donald

If you've ever found yourself sniggering at a copy of the foul-mouthed comic Viz (and who hasn't at some point in their lives?), then the chances are you'll know that it was created in the late 70s by Geordie likely lad Simon Donald and his brother Chris. These days Simon's a stand-up comic and hasn't worked on the mag for years, but is still heavily associated with the cavalcade of sweary, politically incorrect characters it brought to life, such as Sid the Sexist, the Fat Slags, Roger Mellie and Buster Gonad. A hugely popular Viz spin-off was their regularly updated 'bible of swearing' known as Roger's Profanisaurus, which enhanced the vocabulary of filth-fans across the country, and currently holds over 300,000 rude phrases. 

So it's safe to say Simon knows a fair bit about swearing then. That's why he's taken to the road to educate as well entertain you with his show Simon Donald's School of Swearing, which comes to The Exchange Bar in Leicester this Monday (11th Feb). I took time out from huffing and puffing about how busy I am, to bother Simon last week with some questions which he was kind enough to answer, instead of telling me to go f*** myself...

FESTIVAL PREVIEW #4: The Best of the Rest of the Fest (part 2)

Well hello there. With just 3 days to go until the start of the festival, I hope you're getting as excited as I am about the prospect of over 500 shows over 17 days in our town. To further whet your whistle, here we go with another preview post to help you pick which shows you fancy checking out...

An inventive visual representation of something you can't see: Comedy in the Dark.

UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES - There are plenty of events taking place that take comedy beyond the traditional format of microphone, stage and performer, to delight the senses and amuse the brain with a very new experience. Comedy in the Dark does exactly what it says on the tin - a selection of short comedy sets performed in total darkness. The Red Light Comedy Show takes the brightness up a notch, being an evening of stand-up in the haunted basement of the Town Hall lit entirely by bicycle lights. If cookery shows are your thing, the most amusing one you're ever likely see takes place at Chutney Ivy restaurant in the form of the Comedy Curry Cook-off. Fans of history and heritage (very big at the moment with all this ***King Richard III business) can take a guided walk around Leicester's historical places of interest with a short performance at each venue. Another intriguing prospect is Hotel D'Comedie, in which guests wander the suites of Hotel Maiyango, encountering a different comedian/act in each room, making for an unusually intimate, bespoke series of mini-gigs.

OCTOBER COMEDY LISTINGS FOR LEICESTER

It's October - the month that makes everybody habitually spout such waffle as "Oooh I can't believe it's October already", "Where did the summer go?" and "Oooh isn't it getting dark early", as if none of us had ever experienced the changing of the seasons before. Jolly lucky that there are plenty of funny folk out there to offer us an amusing and inventive alternative to the barrage of moronic truisms we're subjected to during the day. And here they are in full:

Tue 2nd - The Comedy Occurence @ Just the Tonic
Wed 3rd - Writers Stand Up @ Exchange Bar
Thu 4th - Chris Martin, Angela Barnes @ Just the Tonic
Thu 4th - Ross Noble @ De Montfort Hall
Fri 5th / Sat 6th - Tiffany Stevenson, Chris Martin, John Mann, Johnny Candon @ Just the Tonic
Sat 6th - What's The Story? (Comedy storytelling workshop) @ Y Theatre
Tue 9th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Wed 10th - Ben Clark, Antony King, James Hately, Firm Handshakers, Lindsey Warnes-Carroll @ Looking Glass
Thu 11th - Bob Slayer, Martin Soan, Special Mystery Guest  @ Just the Tonic
Thu 11th - Stewart Francis @ De Montfort Hall
Fri 12th / Sat 13th -  Paul McCaffrey, John Robins, Dana Alexander, Eric Lampaert  @ Just the Tonic
Fri 12th - Live at The Barley Mow @ Barley Mow
Fri 12th - Unidentified Flying Improv @ Manhattan34
Tue 16th - Lions Eat Ice Cream @ Looking Glass
Tue 16th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Thu 18th - Open Mic nite @ Just the Tonic
Fri 19th - Jason John Whitehead, Keith Carter,Angela Barnes, Romesh Ranganathan @ Just the Tonic
Sun 21st - Should I Stay or Should I Go? @ Kayal
Tue 23th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Thu 25th - Robin Ince @ Cookie Jar
Thu 25th - Barbara Nice, Chris Martin @ Just the Tonic
Fri 26th / Sat 27th - Phil Nichol, Susan Murray, Daliso Chaponda, Darrell Martin @ Just the Tonic
Sat 27th - Chris Ramsey @ Y Theatre
Sat 28th - Gary Delaney, Sarah Kendall, Lloyd Griffith, Mark Simmons @ Y Theatre
Mon 29th - Clever Peter @ Just the Tonic
Tue 30th - Lions Eat Ice Cream @ Looking Glass
Tue 30th - Big Value Comedy Auditions @ Just the Tonic
Wed 31st - Richard Peel presents Monsterdrome @ The Cookie Jar
Wed 31st - Mark Thomas @ The Y Theatre

As usual, send me any of your additions to the list via email, the facebook page or tweet @leiccomedyscene

REVIEW: Hurricane Pat hugs his way into town

Winner of ITV's 'Show Me the Funny' and walking hug-factory Patrick Monahan was kind enough to pop into the Looking Glass for an hour or so last night, to do exactly what he does best - mucking around with the audience. The judges on comedy's version of the X-Factor tried their best to make him stand still and deliver jokes instead of actually being himself, but clearly they failed (thankfully).

After dashing up from London for the gig, Monahan arrived at the Looking Glass during the interval  to cheers, and treated us to a hugging workshop, lashings of ad-libbing and audience banter, and a small amount of material about Bear Grylls carrying the Olympic torch and the best costume in which to run a marathon.

He then dashed off to get the last train back to London, narrowly missing out on his target of hugging everyone in the room before he left. It was a fairly brief set, but it was enough to remind us why he's so popular on the circuit and why he won 'Show Me the Funny' despite the judges' best efforts to clip his comedy wings.

Also appearing on the night were Ian Crawford, a well-crafted character act with some hilariously daft safety advice about cutlery; and South African Brummie-convert Albert Smith, who was charming enough to get away with his treading-a-thin-line racial material and frequent references to his West Midlands home, although one couldn't help wondering how well the Brum stuff would go down outside the Midlands. The whole affair was compered in the usual assured style by Ship of Fools founder Alan Seaman.

The next Ship of Fools night is Writers Stand Up (part of the 'Everybody's Reading' festival) on Wednesday 3rd October at the Exchange Bar.