Handmade Festival - full of lovingly handcrafted comedy

With one May Bank Holiday weekend all done and dusted, it's fair to assume most of us are already looking forward to the next one at the end of the month. And unless you've been under a rock or in a coma recently, you'll probably be aware that Handmade Festival is taking place over the next Bank Holiday weekend. An evolution of White Noise festival which has seen a host of local bands playing at Firebug over the last few years, Handmade is a full-on arts festival, with music, film, performance, art and of course, comedy, taking place across the city.

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

We're back, baby! May comedy listings...

Hello there you lot. Sorry I've been away for a little while, hope you haven't been too lost without your regular comedy updates. Of course you haven't - you didn't even notice, did you?

Anyway, I know we're already half way through May, but here are your listings for the rest of the month, so you can stop shivering and wretching like character from Trainspotting now:


Tue 15th - Lions Eat Ice Cream (open mike night) @Hub
Wed 16th - Nibbles with Giggles (charity comedy night with pie) @Entropy
Thu 17th - New Act Night (Ben Hustwayte MC) @The Cookie Jar
Fri 18th/Sat 19th - Barbara Nice, Rob Deering, Barry Castagnola, Romesh Ranganathan @Just the Tonic
Mon 21st - Laughing Glass @ The Looking Glass
Tue 22nd - Student Comedy Forum @Just the Tonic
Fri 25th - Isy Suttie @The Y Theatre
Fri 25th - Shaggers Comedy @The Cookie Jar
Fri 25th/Sat 26th - Nick Helm, Romesh Ranganathan, Dan Evans, Tim Clark @Just the Tonic
Sat 26th  - Leanne Mckie, Ian Crawford, Liam Mullone @ The Black Horse, Aylestone
Sun 27th - Should I Stay or Should I Go? @Kayal
Thu 31st - Andrew O'Neil, Rob Beckett, Nick Cranston, Rob Coleman, Tony Jameson MC @The Cookie Jar


There, that should keep you off the crack for a while. As usual, if you know of anything else that might have slipped my gaze, drop me a line on leicestercomedyfestival@gmail.com, on the Leicester Comedy Scene Facebook page or on Twitter @leiccomedyscene, and I'll duly add it to the list.
It's good to be back :)