Award-winning comedian Henry Paker plays Bristol Beacon on a UK tour running fro
Henry Paker brings his Pencil Case tour to Bristol Beacon on Sunday 22nd November 2026, a show that Chortle's preview describes as a genre-defying new show fusing stand-up with live illustration. Tickets are priced at £28.40 including booking fee.
He is a comedian who also writes and draws, and he began doing stand-up in 2006. Before turning to comedy he had a short spell in computer animation.
In 2008 he won the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award and placed second in the Laughing Horse new act competition. That same year he first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Chortle's Steve Bennett wrote that the man would become a star.
His first solo Edinburgh show came in 2010, and Cabin Fever followed in 2011. A Chortle reviewer found the 2011 set engaging and interesting, with a sensible kind of madness. Ivo Graham said the 2010 Fringe show was the funniest stand-up he had ever seen.
The Golden Lizard, written with Mike Wozniak, won Best New Show at the Leicester Comedy Festival in 2011. In 2013 Chortle's Julia Chamberlain described him as polished and smooth, with an elegant economy of expression, and Bruce Dessau, writing for Beyond the Joke, called him a gifted jokesmith. Threeweeks reviewer Polly Davidson gave his Classic Paker show 3/5.
In 2014 Romesh Ranganathan called him a genius. A Guardian list of the best jokes from the 2016 Edinburgh Festival included one of his one-liners. His 2018 Edinburgh show Man Alive was directed by Amy Beth Hayes, and The Times called it an introverts manifesto. A Chortle review of Man Alive at Soho Theatre called the set elegant and well-engineered.
He wrote and starred in four series of the Radio 4 sketch show Small Scenes, and he is writing an episode of the second series of the BBC One sitcom Can You Keep a Secret. His TV writing credits include Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie to You, and his TV appearances include Russell Howard's Good News. Michael McIntyre has called him a natural born comedian, and the Evening Standard said he pulls laughs out of the air.
He illustrated the bestselling children's book Kay's Anatomy, and he has illustrated seven bestselling children's books with Adam Kay. Kay's Marvellous Medicine was nominated for a British Book Awards children's non-fiction prize. The picture book Amy Gets Eaten won a Week Junior Book Awards prize for picture books in 2024, and Don't Arm Wrestle a Pirate, which he co-wrote and illustrated, was picked for Richard and Judy's Book Club.
Three Bean Salad, the comedy podcast he co-hosts, launched in April 2021 with Benjamin Partridge and Mike Wozniak. It won Best Podcast at the 2024 Chortle Awards and has toured live, with stops including the Machynlleth Comedy Festival and the London Podcast Festival. In April 2024 the podcast brought its first live show to Bristol, and its live show was held at Bristol Beacon on Friday 12 September 2025.
Doors open at 18:30 and the show starts at 19:00. The running structure is roughly 45 minutes, an interval, then 45 minutes more, and the age guidance is 14+ with some swearing. Little Wander and Bristol Beacon present the show at Bristol Beacon on Trenchard Street.