1 week Ago
The Brighton Dome Comedy Festival is back for a longer run this October. The event will feature nine days of stand-up, improv, podcasts, and family-friendly comedy across all three of Brighton Dome's venues. The festival, which will run from October 17 to October 26, will include the flagship event Live at Brighton Dome and Live at Brighton Dome BLEEPED – a swear-free stand-up showcase for clean comedy fans.
Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, the festival has been extended by five days. The event will feature an inclusive mix of solo shows from big-name stand-ups, Brighton Dome debuts from future comedy stars, and events for families, young children, and teenagers. All performances will be live captioned as part of Brighton Dome’s commitment to accessibility for audiences and artists alike.
The Concert Hall will host the venue’s flagship comedy showcase, Live at Brighton Dome, on Saturday, October 18. Its swear-free, family-friendly sibling, Live at Brighton Dome BLEEPED, will return to the Corn Exchange on Saturday, October 25. Other Concert Hall headliners include Brighton-based comedian Jen Brister, who will premiere her brand-new show Reactive.
(Image: Jen Brister) Strictly Come Dancing’s 2024 winner Chris McCausland will present a masterclass in stand-up, and award-winning comic, Taskmaster contestant, and Celebrity Gogglebox regular Babatunde Aléshé will stop off on his second national tour. Joanne McNally, comedian and co-presenter of the hit podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me, will present her new show Pinotphile. (Image: Joanne McNally) Virtuoso ventriloquist Nina Conti will present her unscripted new show Whose Face is it Anyway? and comedy megastars Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Davis will go live with their Wolf & Owl podcast.
(Image: Nina Conti) The festival will close with husband and wife double act Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s improv show. Elsewhere, in the Corn Exchange, Brighton’s own confessional comedian Suzi Ruffell will talk about The Juggle of being good all the time. There will be discovery and wonder with the award-winning Josie Long and comic, actor, and man with the golden larynx, Nick Helm, who is aiming high with No One Gets Out Alive.
The Studio Theatre will play host to Estonian clown Julia Masli and there will be a not-to-be-missed preview of a brand-new show from Sri Lankan-born, London-based rising star Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa. Free comedy workshops for young people in partnership with Komedia Productions will return to Brighton Dome’s community space Anita’s Room in the run-up to the festival, culminating in a showcase of the hard work of these next-generation comic superstars in the Studio Theatre on the closing weekend. More acts will be announced over the coming weeks, including a programme of daytime shows in the Studio Theatre for families with young children.
Rosie Crane, comedy producer at Brighton Dome, said: "We are super proud of this line-up and of how Brighton Dome Comedy Festival has grown since its first year. "We have hand-picked some of the most exciting comedy talent around for this year’s festival, from huge stars to the funniest shows you haven’t discovered yet. "Hop from room to room, take advantage of some amazing ticket offers and immerse yourself in nine days of pure hysterical joy.
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