With Leicester Comedy Festival starting tomorrow 8th February, here is a list of things you may not know about the festival.
1. It all began in 1994 when the first festival included a show by Harry Hill where tickets were £2.50
2. There have been over 4500 shows over the past 23 years; that’s around 270,000 minutes of comedy
3. The Guardian called the festival “one of the best comedy festivals in the world”
4. In 2006 American comedian Roseanne Barr performed her first ever gigs outside America at Leicester Comedy Festival; she was supported by Alan Carr
5. The first ever winner of Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Competition was Stevie Knuckles. No one ever heard of him again. Since then, the competition has been won by acts such as Jason Manford, Johnny Vegas, Josh Widdicombe and Romesh Ranganathan
6. Graham Norton performed stand up at the festival in 1997
7. In 2011 the festival received a letter from the Queen wishing them luck with the festival
8. The festival started as a 9-day event, then grew to 10 in the 2nd year. In 2010 the festival grew to 17 days and it now runs for 19 days
9. In 2001 Paul Merton interviewed comedy legends Galton & Simpson live on stage at the festival; since then Sarah Millican, Jason Manford & Alexei Sayle have all been interviewed exclusively during the festival
10. Japanese comedian Zenjiro flew in to perform at Leicester Comedy Festival 20
For further information and tickets visit: comedy-festival.co.uk
