The Hull Comedy Festival is an annual event that takes place in Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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Background

It was established in 2006, when a local businessman John Gilbert received funding from Hull Business Improvement District to develop a sustainable event that would benefit the evening economy.

2007

The festival ran from 26 October to 9 November and featured over seventy performers at over forty events.

Performers included Russell Howard

Russell Howard

Russell Joseph Howard is an English comedian best known for his TV show Russell Howard's Good News and his appearances on the topical panel TV show Mock The Week...

, Stewart Lee

Stewart Lee

Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...

, Justin Moorhouse, Lucy Porter

Lucy Porter

Lucy Donna Porter is an English actress, writer and comedienne.She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Brighton Festival and many clubs around Britain. She has also a regular voice on BBC Radio 4 in various panel shows, including Quote.....

, Trevor Lock

Trevor Lock

Trevor Lock is an English comedian, actor and playwright. He is noted for the circuitous and surreal nature of his stand-up comedy.-Early life:Lock was born in Lincolnshire...

, Frank Sidebottom

Frank Sidebottom

Christopher Mark Sievey was an English musician and comedian known for fronting the band The Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards....

, John Shuttleworth

John Shuttleworth (character)

John Shuttleworth is a fictional singer-songwriter and radio presenter, created by English comedy actor and musician, Graham Fellows in 1986. Shuttleworth is in his late 40s and is from Walkley in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He has a quiet manner and slightly nerdish tendencies...

 and Ivan Brackenbury

Tom Binns

Tom Binns is a British writer, actor, stand-up comic, television presenter and radio presenter.-Career:Binns was nominated at the Edinburgh Festival for the Edinburgh Comedy Award 2007 - as the hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury....

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The Hull Blokes

Hull Blokes

The Hull Blokes are a writing collective based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, in the North East of England. They write and perform comedy and drama work, both for the stage and film.- History :...

, The Live Naked Idiots (including comedy magician Alan Hudson), Masked Dan, Andy Train and Scarlet Lights Theatre Company are amongst the local performers who also appeared.

Participating venues in 2007 included: Hull Truck Theatre

Hull Truck Theatre

The Hull Truck Theatre is a theatre in Kingston upon Hull, England which presents high quality drama productions.It also tours its productions on a regular basis....

, The Quality Royal Hotel, The Lamp, The New Clarence, Northern Academy of Performing Arts, Tiger's Lair, Pave, The Octagon, The Freedom Centre, Durty Nelly’s, The Dorchester Hotel, Punchbowl, The Piper, Cineworld

Cineworld

Cineworld Group plc is a cinema chain operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Jersey. The chain consists of 78 cinemas; 76 of which are located in the UK and one each in Ireland and Jersey. It is the second-largest cinema operator in the UK with 801 screens, and the owner of...

 and the University of Hull

University of Hull

The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

.

Street comedy performances were also scheduled to take place at Queen Victoria Square and St Stephen's in the City Centre.

2008

The festival ran from 23 October to 7 November.

Paddy McGuinness

Paddy McGuinness

Paddy McGuinness may refer to:* Paddy McGuinness , English stand-up comedian* Padraic McGuinness , Australian journalist- See also :...

, Frankie Boyle

Frankie Boyle

Francis Martin Patrick "Frankie" Boyle is a British comedian and writer, well known for his pessimistic, often controversial sense of humour...

, Pete Firman

Pete Firman

Pete Firman is an English magician and television presenter.He has appeared in British television magic shows on Channel 4, Five, and Sky1. He is also the presenter of two gameshows on CBBC: Stake Out and Wait For It..!....

, Russell Howard

Russell Howard

Russell Joseph Howard is an English comedian best known for his TV show Russell Howard's Good News and his appearances on the topical panel TV show Mock The Week...

, Jason Manford

Jason Manford

Jason John Manford is an English comedian, television presenter and actor.- Early life :Manford was born to an Irish family in Salford, Greater Manchester, a son of Sharon , who is a Catholic and Ian Manford. He grew up in poverty in a terraced house in Manchester...

, Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin is an English television presenter, former child actor and singer.-Early career:Chegwin's early roles were in works of the Children's Film Foundation, appearing as Egghead Wentworth in The Troublesome Double Egghead's Robot . He also appeared as a stowaway in Doomwatch episode...

 and Russell Kane

Russell Kane

Russell Kane is an English writer, comedian, actor and media personality. In June 2006, he became the face of digital station Five US. He has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning the main prize in August 2010...

 performed at what was billed "the difficult second festival".

Organisers claimed a 400% increase in sales made it the largest ticketed festival in the Hull and East Riding area. It was delivered in partnership by Hull City Centre BID, eskimosoup, Hull Colour Pages and St. Stephens

St. Stephen's Hull

St. Stephen's shopping centre, Hull opened on 20 September 2007 and today it attracts more than 10 million visitors a year. The shopping centre is a brownfield site development in the city centre of Kingston upon Hull, England. It cost £200 million to build and was a key development in the...

 with the support of over a dozen local companies and organisations.

2009

The festival ran from 23 October to 7 November, organised by eskimosoup in partnership with Hull Business Improvement District, KCFM 99.8 and Hull Colour Pages.

Performers included Alistair McGowan

Alistair McGowan

Alistair McGowan is a British impressionist, stand-up comic, actor, singer and writer best known to British audiences for The Big Impression , which was, for four years, one of BBC1's top-rating comedy programmes - winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003...

, Al Murray

Al Murray

Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray , is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy...

, Rich Hall

Rich Hall

Richard "Rich" Hall is an American comedian, writer and musician.-Early life and career:Hall was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is part Cherokee Indian...

 and Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin

Keith Chegwin is an English television presenter, former child actor and singer.-Early career:Chegwin's early roles were in works of the Children's Film Foundation, appearing as Egghead Wentworth in The Troublesome Double Egghead's Robot . He also appeared as a stowaway in Doomwatch episode...

. Shows included stage comedy Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors (musical)

Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...

 and an adaptation of the TV sitcom, Porridge

Porridge (TV series)

Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

 starring Shaun Williamson

Shaun Williamson

Shaun Williamson is an English actor, singer, media personality and occasional presenter, best known for his former role as Barry Evans in soap opera EastEnders and as a version of himself in BBC sitcom Extras.- Career :...

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Festival Director John Gilbert hailed the festival the “most satisfying yet” due to high audience figures throughout the programme as well as several successful community projects.

2010

The 2010 festival took place between 21 October and 7 November and was again organised by eskimosoup with Jon Reed as creative director.

Performers included Sarah Millican

Sarah Millican

Sarah Millican is an English stand-up comedian. Millican won the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.-Career:...

, Milton Jones

Milton Jones

Milton Jones is an English comedian. His style of humour is based on one-liners involving puns delivered in a deadpan and slightly neurotic style. Jones has had various shows on BBC Radio 4 and is a recurring guest panellist on Mock the Week...

, Ross Noble

Ross Noble

Ross Markham Noble is an English stand-up comedian, brought up in Cramlington, Northumberland, England.Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British television, particularly interviews and on celebrity quiz shows such as Have I Got News for You...

, Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Mark Stewart Watson is a professional soccer player who has earned the second most caps in the history of the Canadian national team.-Playing career:...

, Joe Pasquale

Joe Pasquale

Joseph Ellis "Joe" Pasquale is an English comedian from Grays, Essex, arguably most famous for his high-pitched voice, use of visual gags and more recently being crowned "King of the Jungle", on the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!...

, Greg Davies

Greg Davies

Greg Davies is a British stand-up comedian, actor, and former teacher, best known for his roles as Greg in We Are Klang and Mr. Gilbert in The Inbetweeners. He has performed on the BBC's Live at the Apollo series....

 and Phil Cool

Phil Cool

Phil Cool is an English comedian, impressionist and musician.-Early life:Cool discovered that he had the ability to pull faces when he was at school...

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Organisers claim that 5,388 tickets of a target of 5,600 were sold and that the festival had become a commercial success as well as an annual highlight for the creative community.

In the 2010 the festival was voted Hull's second favourite festival by users of Karoo.co.uk and was short listed in the Visit Hull and East Yorkshire Remarkable Tourism Awards.

2011

The festival ran from 21 October to 21 November under the new direction of Rich Quelch, who took over as festival director with assistance from creative consultants Martin Davies and Mel Foster.

Performers included Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin

Timothy David "Tim" Minchin is a British-Australian comedian, actor, and musician.Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television in Australia,...

, Tommy Tiernan

Tommy Tiernan

Tommy Tiernan is an Irish comedian, actor and writer. He and Hector Ó hEochagáin present The Tommy and Hector Show on i102-104FM. Tiernan also featured in Father Ted.-Early life:...

, Andy Parsons

Andy Parsons

Andy Parsons is an English comedian and writer, who regularly appears on Mock the Week. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he has written and presented nine seasons of Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-Out Sections for BBC Radio 2.-Early life:...

, Paul Zerdin

Paul Zerdin

Paul Zerdin is an English comedian/ventriloquist. That Paul should choose a career in the entertainment industry is not entirely unexpected as both his parents attended drama school and his mother went on to become a BBC Radio 2 presenter and his father a producer for the BBC World Service.When...

, Joe Pasquale

Joe Pasquale

Joseph Ellis "Joe" Pasquale is an English comedian from Grays, Essex, arguably most famous for his high-pitched voice, use of visual gags and more recently being crowned "King of the Jungle", on the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!...

, Lee Hurst

Lee Hurst

Lee Hurst is an English stand-up comedian. He is perhaps best known as a panellist on the comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over, where he was a regular from 1995 to 1998.In 1999, Hurst was voted no...

 and Jerry Sadowitz

Jerry Sadowitz

Jerry Sadowitz is an American-born Scottish stand-up comic and card magician, known for his frequently controversial "sick humour". An accomplished practitioner of sleight of hand, he has written several books on magic and invented many conjuring innovations. He is widely acclaimed as one of the...

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Tenfootcity Hull Comedian of the Year

This competition started in 2007, and forms part of the festival, as some of the heats and final are held in Hull. Finalists are chosen from a series of heats held by Buzz Comedy throughout the year. There is a cash prize and trophy awarded to the winner.

Winners

• 2010: 1st Sam Brady

• 2009: 1st Gareth Urwin, 2nd Andrew Ryan

• 2008: 1st Sam Gore, 2nd Ben Harland

• 2007: 1st Mick Sergeant