Paul Sinha, Jo Caulfield and Jeff Green to headline CH1ChesterBID’s inaugural Chester Comedy Festival.
Famous TV comedians including Paul Sinha, Jo Caulfield and Chester funnyman Jeff Green are set to perform at some of the city’s most iconic venues this summer as part of a brand-new comedy festival being launched by Chester’s Business Improvement District, CH1ChesterBID.
The inaugural CH1 Chester Comedy Festival is set to feature 11 stand-up shows, with 26 comedians performing in 16 venues over eight days between Sunday, July 1, and Sunday, July 8.
They include The Chase star, Paul Sinha, who will be performing at the Chester Grosvenor, and Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You comedian, Jo Caulfield, who will appear at the Macdonald New Blossoms Hotel.
Award-winning comedian Jeff Green – who was born in Chester and had a sell-out UK solo tour before moving to Australia in 2008 – will be returning home for the first time in ten years to perform his critically acclaimed show ’30’ at Chester Town Hall.
Robin Ince, Glenn Wool, Tom Wrigglesworth, Archie Kelly, and Gary Delaney
are just some of the other big name stand-up acts set to appear, with ticket prices starting from as little as £8.
CH1ChesterBID has teamed up with the organisers of the Southport Comedy Festival to create the week-long celebration of comedy. The team behind Chester’s BID also plan to establish the festival as an annual fixture in Chester’s events calendar.
Carl Critchlow, BID Manager at CH1ChesterBID, said: “We’re incredibly excited to announce the launch of the first CH1 Chester Comedy Festival this year with a strong line-up of famous TV comedians heading to the city to perform at some of our most iconic locations.
“We really wanted to create this festival to give people something new to enjoy and another reason to come and spend time in the city centre this summer.
“The evening economy in Chester continues to go from strength-to-strength and earning Purple Flag status earlier this year has really underlined that. We’re proud of that achievement but it’s important we build on it and continue to offer people a range of evening entertainment to choose from.
“We think the CH1 Chester Comedy Festival will be a big hit with local people as well as city visitors, so we’re really looking forward to seeing it all get underway with the first stand-up act on Sunday, July 1.”
The husband and wife team behind Southport Comedy Festival, Brendan Riley and Val Brady, are working with CH1ChesterBID to help coordinate the first Chester Comedy Festival.
Brendan has worked as a stand-up comedian for over 25 years and established the Southport Comedy Festival in 2010, which now attracts more than 6,000 visitors every year.
“It’s a real privilege to have the opportunity to bring a brand-new comedy festival to a city like Chester,” said Brendan.
“There are so many fantastic buildings in the city centre and we’re thrilled to be bringing some of the biggest names from across the world of comedy to come and perform in them.
“There will be something for everyone with the range of acts we’ve got on offer, and the timing is absolutely perfect as many of them will be bringing brand-new material ahead of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The CH1 Chester Comedy Festival is an event not to be missed!”
Two comedy crawls have also been announced where comedians will take groups of people on a tour of some of Chester’s pubs and bars, with stand-up performances along the way.
To see the full line-up or to book tickets for any of the shows or comedy crawls, visit www.ch1chestercomedyfestival.com
