New week-long Morecambe Comedy Festival announced

A new comedy festival is set to bring laughs aplenty to Morecambe as the town marks 100 years since its most famous comic was born.

The Morecambe Comedy Festival will bring together top-tier talent, stand out moments from British alternative television and performance opportunities for budding comics in the town.

Its launch this November comes in the centenary year of the town's most famous comic, Eric Morecambe of Morecambe and Wise fame, who was born in 1926.

Morecambe Comedy Festival is presented by Morecambe Town Council and produced by Matt Panesh, the founder of the town’s successful poetry and fringe festivals, who is also a presenter with Beyond Radio.

“As the birthplace of one of Britain’s most-loved comedians Morecambe has long been crying out for a comedy festival – and the centenary year of his birth seems a fitting time to launch one," said Councillor Lee Bradbury, chairperson of Morecambe’s Festivals, Sponsorships and Events Committee on the town council.

"As well as the fantastic talent on display, we’re providing a programme of creative workshops and opportunities for people of all ages to try their hand at various forms of comedy.

"We hope the festival will not only give audiences the chance to see some fantastic comedy, but inspire the next generation of performers too.”

The festival opens at the Winter Gardens on November 21 with headliner Steve Royle – the comedian currently portraying Eric Morecambe on stage in The Last Laugh.

Steve  has appeared on Live at The Palladium and Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights Live, and was voted Best Comic at the UK Pantomime awards and is a Britain’s Got Talent finalist.

On the same bill will be Brennan Reece, one of the hottest rising stars on the circuit, an Edinburgh Best Newcomer Nominee and English Comedian Of The Year Winner.

Dubbed ‘a teenage Alan Bennett’ (The Skinny), Brennan delights in his Northern working class wordsmithery.

Daliso Chaponda, the brilliant African comic with his own BBC Radio 4 show Citizen Of Nowhere and regular appearances on QI and Have I Got News For You, completes the line up, with the compere for the evening Pam Ford telling tales of getting old disgracefully.

The following Saturday (November 28) will see two stars of modern British alternative comedy take to the Winter Gardens stage.

Legendary director of Bottom, Red Dwarf and numerous other British comedies, Ed Bye, will appear in conversation with Paul Jackson, the producer and director behind iconic shows including The Young Ones and The Two Ronnies for an evening of screenings and chat reflecting on legendary TV moments.

Free workshops in the run up will give budding comics the chance to create their own stand-up routine and perform at Best of Morecambe community showcase on November 27.

Children’s workshops will take place at Morecambe Library.

During the week, there will be fringe shows with local support at the West End Playhouse on November 23, 24 and 25.

Just The Tonic, the company behind comedy clubs across the Midlands and a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, take the floor on November 26 at The Platform, with names to be announced.

Free caricaturing and street circus workshops will bring even more fun during the festival week.  

Free comedy-themed SEN workshops will offer children the chance to craft a comic; create silly songs;  play around with jokes, sketches and story-telling or learn a magic trick.

To find out more, see the festival website HERE.