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Bath Comedy Festival 2013 dates: Friday 29th March - Sunday 7th April 2013
Now in its fifth year, Bath Comedy Festival 2013 boasts the biggest line-up yet, with more shows and more performers taking part than ever before.
Director Nick Steel said: "This is going to be another great year! I've nothing against stadium type shows, but what makes this Festival special is its unique events and the ability to deliver the intimate experience of quality performances in small to medium sized venues."
Thursday 6th June
Alternative comedy legend Simon Munnery previews his new show "Fylm" at Komedia
Experience a beautiful mix of visual sketches, handcrafted animation, music and stand-up, all created and performed live on screen. Click here for details and booking
Plans are afoot for more extra shows later in the year too...watch this space!
Bath Comedy Festival climax
This year's festival ended on a high at a packed full Bath Cricket Club on Sunday 7th April after shows from class acts Lloyd Langford and Simon Evans.
Festival Director Nick Steel said he "couldn't be happier with this year's festival". Over 20 shows sold out and more people enjoyed more events in more venues than ever.
He went on to say that "intelligent, insightful, inspiring comedy in intimate spaces is what the festival experience is all about. Look out for more events throughout the year, not just during the Festival itself - sign up to the e-mailing list to be kept informed of future plans.
Congratulations to Larry Dean, this year's New Act Competition winner. The 23 year old Glaswegian wins £250 cash, and a goody bag including a large selection of AudioGO comedy CDs.
Larry Dean, winner of the Bath Comedy Festival 2013 New Act Competition with the Festival Director Nick Steel. Photo by John Arnold.
In second place was Garrett Millerick, and in joint third place were Nico Yearwood and Jonathan Wagstaffe.
Thanks to the judges Alan Nixon, Graham Smith, Katy Trevethan and Geoff Whiting and congratulations once again to all this year's finalists.
Check out Bath Chronicle & Bath Life features, plus Venue reviews - click here
Festival welcomes new principal sponsor
The Festival is delighted to welcome AudioGO as our principal sponsor.
AudioGO brings you the best comedy on MP3, from top comedians including Frankie Boyle, Sarah Millican and Al Murray! Choose from live stand-up shows and tours, or 100's of BBC Radio Comedy programmes such as Cabin Pressure, Little Britain, and the Now Show - and all available to download now from www.audiogo.com/uk
It's not quite all over...The Rondo Theatre hass some extra comedy shows during the week following the Festival, including Mitch Benn on Thursday 11th April, Andrew O'Neill on Friday 12th and Tony Law on Saturday 13th April.
We are sorry to announce that due to over-running TV filming commitments, Tom Craine is unable to make it to compere the New Act Competition Final this Saturday evening.
Happily, Bath based highly experienced compere Geoff Whiting has stepped into the breach to MC the evening instead.
The New Act Competition Heats have been very successful during the Festival and we are looking forward to the final.
At the time of writing there are just a handful of tickets left available from Bath Box Office - call 01225 463362 or click here.
There are three competitions to win tickets to great shows this year, and the closing date for all three is Wednesday 27th March! So enter now for your chance to win:
Win a pair of tickets to the sold out Opening Night Cabaret Showcase at Bath Cricket Club on Friday 29th March with AudioGO - just click below to enter your details before midnight tonight. Ten lucky winners will receive a pair of tickets to the show. *** CLICK HERE TO WIN! ***
Win a pair of tickets to the sold out Henning Wehn show at Bath Rugby Clubhouse on Wednesday 3rd April with InBath magazine - just email craigmaplesden@sky.com to enter the draw!
Now in its fifth year, Bath Comedy Festival 2013 boasts the biggest line-up yet, with more shows and more performers taking part than ever before.
Director Nick Steel said: "This is going to be another great year! Now, I've nothing against stadium type shows, but what makes this Festival special is its unique events and the ability to deliver the intimate experience of quality performances in small to medium sized venues, and I've tried hard to programme the core events as much as possible along these lines.
"There has been an encouraging amount of applications to take part and more shows are still being submitted. A bigger variety of venues are being used this year, some of which have never been used for comedy before."
Headliners this year include festival stalwart, veteran performer and broadcaster Arthur Smith who will be hosting one of the biggest shows of the Festival at Bath Rugby Clubhouse, and German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn is back with a brand new show.
The Opening Night Cabaret Showcase at Bath Cricket Club sees the return of the wholly unique Mik Artistik's Ego Trip. Recent Celebrity Mastermind winner Simon Evans, Welshman Lloyd Langford, and Ronnie Golden a.k.a. Tony de Meur are also performing there.
The official New Act Competition has received more submissions than ever (now closed) and this year's heats will be held at the new Comedy Cavern home at the Victoria Pub & Kitchen, with the Grand Final on Sat 6th April at Bath Cricket Club, hosted by Tom Craine.
Many comedians are bringing solo shows this year - see them here first before they go to Edinburgh Fringe and nationwide tours! Upstairs at the Ring O Bells in Widcombe is host to no less than ten solo acts including Alan Francis, Neil McFarlane, Wil Hodgson, Clovis van Darkhelm, Matt Richardson, Matt Green, The Scottish Falsetto Socks (In Space!), Manos Kanellos, The Real MacGuffins and The Sitcom Trials.
Elsewhere you can catch Daniel Simonsen and Pat Cahill's Edinburgh previews, and solos from Gary Delaney, Danny Buckler, Alfie Brown and more.
The very exciting return of The White Wine Arts Trail mystery tour featuring Natural Theatre Company and Arthur Smith is already selling fast. Last time was a real hoot as anyone who experienced it will testify...get in quick if you want a ticket this year!
The Rondo Theatre presents another season of comedy theatre, stand-up and poetry during and after the festival inlcuding James Sherwood and Monkey Poet. There will also be a whole set of events presented by Sal Monello.
Women On The Make host a performance workshop and Funny Women are back with "Sex, lies and lots of cake" at Chapel Arts.
You can have Sunday lunch with Bill Smarme & the Bizness or Earl Okin this year, and there are comedy dinners to be had too!
Most shows are already on sale - see the what's on page for details of all the above and more.
Festival Director Nick Steel has revealed some of what we've got to look forward to in 2013
He said: "Bath Comedy Festival 2013 is going to be another great year! Now, I've nothing against stadium type shows, but what makes this Festival special is its unique events and the ability to deliver the intimate experience of quality shows in small to medium sized venues, and I'm busy trying hard to programme as much as possible along these lines. Without our pet venue of Widcombe Social Club (the club is closed for redevelopment at present), the core programme will be based at a variety of other venues around the city, some of which have never been used for comedy before.
"I'm delighted to welcome back German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn to the Festival with his brand new show. We've also got recent Celebrity Mastermind winner Simon Evans, (watch him on Live at the Apollo from 4th Jan here), and there will be a host of other great comedians - watch this space as more shows will be revealed very soon!".
"Henning Wehn Knows Bestest" is at Bath Rugby Clubhouse on Wednesday 3rd April and
"Simon Evans - Friendly Fire" is at Bath Cricket Club on Sunday 7th April.
These and some other shows are already on sale - see the what's on page for details - and others will be added as soon as they come online.
The popular New Act Competition is currently still taking submissions, and the Grand Final will be on Saturday 6th April at Bath Cricket Club, hosted by Tom Craine.
Other highlights will include solo shows from Alan Francis, Neil McFarlane, Wil Hodgson, Daniel Simonsen, Clovis van Darkhelm, Gary Delaney, Danny Buckler and Matt Richardson, amongst others, plus the very exciting return of The White Wine Arts Trail mystery tour featuring Natural Theatre Company - you'll have to wait a little more to find out about this... Another unusual cabaret is to be hosted by the ineffable Arthur Smith, and you'll have a chance to have Sunday lunch with Bill Smarme & the Bizness.
The Rondo Theatre will present another season of comedy theatre, stand-up and poetry during and after the festival, and the Comedy Cavern is back again with some top notch performers. Funny Women will be back with "Sex, lies and lots of cake" and there will also be a whole set of events presented by Sal Monello.
Here is a short video compilation (courtesy of Mallabar Film) of some of the stars of last year...including some faces we're looking forward to seeing again this year!
(Warning: contains some strong language!)
To keep up to date with the Festival join the e-mailing list below:
The 2012 archive web site including archived news and press coverage is still available here.
Wednesday 5th June
Thursday 6th June
This year's festival ended on a high at a packed full Bath Cricket Club on Sunday 7th April after shows from class acts Lloyd Langford and Simon Evans.
