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

Just the Tonic offer - Festival Day Tickets and Johnny Vegas for £2.50!!

Just to let you know, Just the Tonic are running some fantastic offers for their festival shows - as well as 'Five Pound Fridays', in which you can see 5 great stand-ups for just a fiver, they are also offering day tickets for their weekend shows, meaning you can buy one ticket and see all the shows on that day at a special discounted price, saving up to £12.50 - woohoo!

The tickets allow you to stay in the venue between shows, where food & drink will be served, and stay around for the late night bar after the Saturday shows (careful now). Here are those weekend line-ups in full (click on the date for tickets):

Saturday 9th Feb - Keith Farnan, Alfie Moore, Jeff Innocent, Tim Clark, Just the Tonic Comedy Club
Sunday 10th Feb - Shappi Korsandi, Johnny Vegas, Rob Deering, So On And So Forth plus others
Saturday 16th Feb - Gary Delaney, Mark Little, Rob Rouse, Wil Hodgson, Mark Nelson plus may more
Sunday 17th Feb - The Nosie Next Door, The Silky Pair, Francesca Martinez
Saturday 23rd Feb - Just the Tonic Comedy Cub, John Robins, Ivan Brackenbury plus more
Sunday 24th Feb - Seann Walsh, Shazia Mirza, Casual Violence plus others

Some top names in there I think you'll agree!

They also have a super-special deal on for this Sunday afternoon (10th Feb) - the unpredictable whirlwind of comedy Johnny Vegas will be appearing on Mark Olver's Dancing About Architecture chat show, and a limited number of tickets are half price (just £2.50 for a bona-fide comedy legend!!) To get your tickets, visit http://www.justthetonic.com/Leicester-Comedy/shows/sunday-10-feb-2013/945/ and enter the special promo code JOHNNYCHAT

LCS Special Offer - FREE TICKETS to Just the Tonic!!

Okay comedy fans, I've got a real treat for you today. Obviously I want you to go and see as much quality comedy as possible without bankrupting yourselves, and the good folks at Just the Tonic want as many people to come to their fine shows as possible. So with these twin aims in mind, Just the Tonic are very kindly offering supporters of Leicester Comedy Scene FREE TICKETS to their Thursday Night Laughs show, this Thursday, starring Mrs Barbara Nice, Chris Martin and David Murphy, with compere Darrell Martin.

Yes, you heard correctly - free tickets dammit! Normal price for this gig is £5 (or £3 with NUS), but if you book your tickets online at http://www.justthetonic.com/Leicester-comedy/shows/thursday-25-october-2012/913/ and enter the promotional code LEICESTERCOMEDYSCENE, you will get 'em for absolutely nowt!

How's about that for a good deal, eh? You'll get to see the inimitable Barbara Nice - the comic creation of Janice Connolly - a middle-aged Stockport housewife who'll have you laughing at your own problems one minute, then dancing around and waving your hands in the air the next. She has real mass appeal, having supported both Peter Kay and Johnny Vegas recently, and regularly works the audience into a frenzy "with the affectionate attitude of a playgroup leader at a wild Iggy Pop concert" (love that phrase - not one of mine, obviously).

You'll also get to see Chris "Why hasn't he changed his stage name?" Martin, who as well as not being the bloke from Coldplay is also an intelligent and inventive standup, adept at building a rapport with the audience and providing witty observations as well as social commentary. He's appeared on Dave's One Night Stand and his Bitesize Comedy Podcast with Carl Donnelly was selected in the Guardian's Top 10 Podcasts of 2010.

So get yourself a free ticket by ordering the amount you require on the JTT website and entering LEICESTERCOMEDYSCENE in the 'Promo Codes' box. It works - I've just tried it! And if you're umming and erring, just remember - the more people that take up this offer, the happier JTT will be and the more likely they will be to offer us more awesome deals in the future!