Slapstick Festival unveils virtual event series packed with famous faces

Slapstick Festival unveils virtual event series packed with famous faces

Posted on: 28 Jul 2020

The series includes an online quiz with questions put by celebrity guests, including Rob Brydon, Pippa Evans and Matt Lucas.

 

Earlier this year, Slapstick Festival came up with a clever way to lift spirits in lockdown.

 

In April, the local, annual festival of silent, visual and classic screen comedy began releasing previously unseen footage captured during events that it has staged during the past decade.

 

The footage, which is available to watch on the festival’s YouTube channel, features some of the country’s top entertainers, including John Cleese and French & Saunders.

 

Now the festival is back, adding a series of celebrity-led live online events to the series, including a virtual watch party of Little & Large’s Slapstick appearance in 2019.

 

This time, events (bar the Little & Large watch party) will be ticketed, and bookers will be encouraged to make a donation to help keep the festival going in 2021.

Harry Hill and Graeme Garden at Slapstick Festival 2014

Harry Hill and Graeme Garden at Slapstick Festival 2014

 

The new series kicks off on Friday 7 August, when Sorry I Haven’t Got A Clue’s Graeme Garden will chat with broadcaster Matthew Sweet talking about radio comedy and his work.

 

Next up, on Friday 14 August, Slapstick will host a virtual watch party/tweet along for a never before released film from Slapstick Festival 2019.

 

The film sees one of the UK’s most successful comedy duos - Little & Large – live on stage for the first time in decades for touching look back at their glory days.

 

On Friday 21 August, Infinite Monkey Cage co-presenter, podcaster and stand-up comedian Robin Ince will chat to veteran film critic and historian David Robinson, about the life, times and work of the ‘Little Tramp’.

 

 

The final event, taking place on Friday 28 August, will see Lucy Porter host an online film quiz, with questions put by a star-studded lineup of celebrity guests. Among the guests are Rob Brydon, Pippa Evans and Matt Lucas. 

 

Each online event kicks off at 19:30, and tickets are on sale now. To book, head here, to Eventbrite. 

 

Speaking about the new series, Festival director Chris Daniels said:

 

“These are challenging times for everyone involved with entertaining the public and it is particularly tough on small organisations like Slapstick which rely so heavily on year-round fundraising and ticket sales to keep going.

 

“But we’ve been thrilled by the response so far to our online offerings and the upside is that many more people have been able to experience virtual Slapstick than we’d ever be able to accommodate in any local venue.”


Main photo: David Betteridge

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Article by:

Kate Hutchison

 


Kate Hutchison

Get in touch with Kate at kate@365bristol.com.