Comedians including Romesh Ranganathan, Milton Jones, Shazia Mirza, Flo & Joan, Tim Vine and Ed Byrne are amongst the performers who have donated their jokes to be included on an exclusive hand pulled screen printed poster on sale to raise money for Leicester Comedy Festival.
The limited edition poster has been designed and hand printed by artist Barry D Bulsara who met Festival Director Geoff Rowe at a recent exhibition at Leicester Print Workshop. Barry’s work has previously been exhibited at Conclave Gallery (Brighton), New British Artists – Affordable Art Fair (London), International Macules Exhibition (Barcelona) and Print & Design Now Exhibition (London), following his graduation from Glasgow School of Art.
The poster (titled ‘Lest-Ha!’) features jokes from comedians who regularly perform at the annual Leicester Comedy Festival. The festival is the longest running comedy festival in Europe, having been produced every February since 1994. The event is produced by registered charity Big Difference Company, and features headline acts alongside community events, and those involving children and young people, older people. In 2020 there is a specific programme of events aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of people visiting the festival. The charity receives less than 5% of its funding from public bodies and raises the rest of the income from sponsors, some ticket income and donations from comedians and audience members. Sales of the limited edition poster are expected to raise over £7,500 which will be used to increase the number of community projects during the festival.
Leicestershire based screen print artist Barry D Bulsara studied Visual Communication at the Glasgow School of Art and after 13 years working as a full time graphic designer he decided to pursue his love of illustration and is now a full time print artist. His hand pulled, limited edition screen prints are heavily inspired from popular culture, childhood memories and a lifelong passion for anything sci-fi, often incorporating typography with a humorous and tongue in cheek approach, with a good measure of geekery thrown in.
Founding Director of Leicester Comedy Festival, Geoff Rowe said “I met Barry whilst visiting one of his recent exhibitions and was blown away with his work. We got chatting and I asked him if he would be willing to work with us to produce an exclusive print celebrating Leicester Comedy Festival and the comedians who have become huge friends of the annual event. We’re hugely grateful to Barry and all the comedians who have donated their jokes, and their support of the work we do.”
Artist Barry D Bulsara said “this has been a great project to work on and I’m delighted to be able to support Leicester Comedy Festival and the great work they do each year. Comedy is a great way on engaging people and the festival is a great showcase of British comedy, which attracts people from across the UK. If my poster can help sustain and extend the work of Big Difference Company, then that has to be a good thing.”
Full details about the programme for Leicester Comedy Festival will be announced when the full Festival brochure is launched at the end of October.
