Slapstick Festival

We’re really excited as this is the first time we’ve ever opened the doors to the magic of our recorded archive of silent, classic and visual comedy. Your first treat is a recording of the Eric Sykes Visual Comedy Legend Award Show from 2009 when he was interviewed on stage by Goodie and festival patron Graeme Garden.

For our second exclusive Laughter in Lockdown stream we're jumping forward over seven years to the Autumn of 2016 and what we styled at the time "A Slap Up Feast Of Fun: An Evening Of Music And Laughter. Headlined by none other than comedy icon, writer, actor and Python John Cleese, the evening also featured a set by Rory Bremner, who had lots of material to play with bearing in mind Autumn 2016 was just months before Donald Trump was elected president of the US. The wonderful Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes, who is mainly known for his work in the Rutles and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, opened the show with some quintessentially and intrinsically witty songs. The "music and comedy" theme was further enhanced with a set by the inimitable Ronnie Golden and Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend and 'I'm Sorry I Haven’t A Clue’ star Barry Cryer, who also might just have slipped a parrot joke or two into the proceedings (spoiler: he totally did). Compering the evening was that king of the one-liner Tim Vine, brilliantly providing the glue that held all the other sets together.

Our third exclusive Laughter in Lockdown stream is the closing event of Slapstick 2020 - 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again... Again!' The show's producer and director, Barnaby Eaton-Jones, says: 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again' was the very funny and deliciously anarchic radio comedy sketch show from the BBC that was the precursor to 'The Goodies', 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' and 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'. It ran from the early 1960s to the early 1970s with the regular Wonder Team of Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie (with music by Dave Lee and The Boys), including a special anniversary reunion in 1989. In 2016, The OFFSTAGE Theatre Group revived it as a stage show - which is still touring under an exclusive license. This special performance of their original full-length touring script (for the finale of the Slapstick Festival at the Bristol Old Vic) also features The Goodies themselves, reprising roles from their ISIRTA days. It also features a special appearance from Slapstick Festival director Chris Daniels! Sadly, it was to be Tim Brooke-Taylor's last public performance as his infamous character, Lady Constance de Coverlet; as the pandemic virus robbed us of him doing any future turns a few weeks later. We miss him madly and this show is a tribute to his wit, energy, and exquisite comedy timing.

We're up to week four of our laughter in lockdown series and this week we're travelling back to 2014 for award-winning comedian Harry Hill's Top Comedy Picks. An annual sell-out event, the format of this show features a well-known comedian choosing clips from some of their favourite on-screen TV shows or films. For this event, Harry was on stage with I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue star and Goodie, Graeme Garden leading to the burning question of the day - did Harry choose a Goodies clip? A rare insight into the comic influences of the master of surrealist humour Harry Hill!

Back in January, Tim Brooke Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie gathered together on a stage at Redgrave Theatre in Bristol for what ultimately proved to be the last time as a trio, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their groundbreaking TV series The Goodies. Hosted by Robin Ince, the show featured a discussion on the extraordinary legacy of their award-winning TV series (1970-82), as well as a countdown of the public's favourite episodes from the show - as decided upon by an online poll run by the festival in the lead up to the event. This winning episode was screened in full at the end of the evening. As most of you will now know, we recently learned of the sad passing of Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE. Tim was in great form on the evening of this event, exuding his usual enthusiasm, passion, charm, energy and wit. We hope you'll agree it serves as a fitting tribute to an undisputed comedy legend.

On 20 April 2016, the world lost the extraordinarily talented and exceptionally funny comedian, actress, singer, composer, screenwriter, producer and director Victoria Wood. As a regular guest at Slapstick Festival (Victoria triumphantly hosted our 2013 gala amongst other things), we knew we had to celebrate her life at the following year's festival. So, in collaboration with Bristol Festival of Ideas and The University of Bristol, we convened a panel which included stand-up comedians Pippa Evans and Lucy Porter, along with comedy and theatre historian Louise Wingrove, to discuss her extraordinary legacy and influence. Needless to say, the show sold out in double-quick time. The event was hosted by Andrew Kelly and is the latest Laughter In Lockdown release.

Just over a year ago, in January 2019, stand up legend and master of the one-liner Tim Vine joined fellow comedian Richard Herring on stage at Bristol Old Vic to talk about some of his favourite comedy shows and films. The show crackled along as these two masters of quick wit and tight timing teamed up for an illuminating trip down memory lane. It also got quite poignant at times as Tim reflected on his late Dad's influence on his comedy - and he even selected a clip of his Dad joining him on stage to tell a joke as one of his favourite comedy moments.

Back in January 2018, stand up comedian and writer Lee Mack joined Slapstick Festival at Colston Hall to present his "Laurel and Hardy Classics" - a unique evening of hilarious extracts, comedy, music and film devoted to the greatest comedy double act of all time. The star of long-running BBC sitcom ‘Not Going Out’ and ‘Would I Lie to You?’ team captain had chosen a selection of his favourite Laurel & Hardy classics, which he introduced and then screened for a packed auditorium. One of the many highlights of the night was a complete screening of the boys' classic silent comedy, LIBERTY (1929), which also featured the world premiere of a new semi-improvised score from composer Guenter A. Buchwald, performed live by the European Silent Screen Virtuosi, who also included Romano Todesco, Frank Bockius and Marc Roos.

**Please note: Minor audio issue due to a recording error at the event. This video was made for archive purposes.** In 2018 Jo Brand made her debut at Slapstick Festival where she delighted and entertained a sold-out audience with a selection of her top comedy picks. Jo had been someone we'd wanted to bring to Slapstick for some time, so when the undisputed comedy icon agreed to join us at Bristol Old Vic we couldn't have been happier. So settle back and enjoy Jo Brand in conversation with Robin Ince as she tells us about what makes her laugh, who her comedy heroes are and why (shock, horror) she isn't a huge fan of slapstick comedy!

In 2016 Slapstick Festival welcomed Sir Ken Dodd to Bristol where he became the fourth recipient of the Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend Award. Never normally one to do interviews in this way, this truly was a coup for Slapstick. In conversation with writer and broadcaster Dr Matthew Sweet, Ken was in scintillating form on the night. This is the tenth release in our Laughter in Lockdown series - check out the playlist for the full series. *This film is the unedited version of the whole event. The clips have all been left in - even though they are not visible - for reference only. This episode will be replaced with a shorter, edited version in July.

In 2017 Slapstick Festival announced that the latest recipient of the Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend Award would be Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Understandably, tickets for the Colston Hall event to honour Dawn and Jennifer sold out in under 3 hours - a record for any Slapstick event. So it gives us great pleasure to be able to bring the event to YouTube and share it with the many fans who failed to get tickets for the event. Hosted by Mel Giedroyc and with a surprise visit from the inimitable Dame June Whitfield, the show features an in-depth exploration of French and Saunders career as well as clips* and personal messages from the likes of Richard Curtis, Miranda Hart, Ruth Jones (as Nessa from Gavin and Stacey) Matt Lucas, Joanne Lumley, Griff Rhys Jones, French and Saunders’ house band member Rowland Rivron and Ruby Wax. *Some of which we've sadly had to remove due to copyright issues. Warning: contains comedy and swearing.

Originally shown at Slapstick Festival 2019, this version of Buster Keaton's classic short is introduced by satirist and stand-up comedian Marcus Brigstocke and accompanied live by Günter A. Buchwald on piano. In The Scarecrow (1920), farmhands Keaton and Roberts share a cottage full of mechanical devices for making life easy. They are rivals for the farmer's daughter. Keaton, disguised as a scarecrow, causes troubles for his rival and the farmer.

Graeme Garden chats to Matthew Sweet about his significant contribution to British Radio Comedy.

Discover this never before released film from the Slapstick archives, available to watch for the first time ever from Friday 14th August.. In 2019, Slapstick Festival reunited one of the UK’s most successful comedy duos - Little & Large – live on stage for the first time in decades, for a by turns hilarious and touching look back at their glory days. Helping them relive the time was your host, broadcaster, writer and presenter of Radio 3's Free Thinking, Matthew Sweet. A Just Giving page has been set up in Eddie Large's memory. All donations from the page are going to the Royal Papworth Hospital Charity. Please consider donating to it if you're in a position to do so: https://bit.ly/EddieLarge