Newbury Comedy Festival
The Newbury Comedy Festival was a festival of comedy which took place every July in the West Berkshire town of Newbury, in England. The last festival took place in 2012 although the ''You Must Be Joking'' new act competition continues on its own steam. History It was launched in 2004. Committed to showcasing the best comedy talent working in the UK (and not exclusively stand-up), the comedy festival became an annual event, held in the second week of July), and the only fully curated festival of its kind in the UK. In 2006, over 70 acts performed in 12 venues in Newbury. ''The Independent'' described the Festival as "the premier summer comic gathering outside Edinburgh", with ''The Daily Telegraph'' urging readers "not to bypass it". Notable acts Acts who have appeared include Linda Smith, Emo Philips, Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, Natalie Haynes, Al Murray, Rich Hall, Russell Brand, Barry Cryer, Laura Solon, Chris Addison, Howard Read, Janet Street Porter, Wil Hodgson, Jo Brand, Jenny ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes typical cases of glocalization, as well as the high culture-low culture interrelationship. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern. Festivals often serve to fulfill specific communal purposes, especially in regard to commemoration or thanking to the gods, goddesses or saints: they are called patronal festivals. They may also provide entertainment, which was particularly important to local communities before the advent of mass-produced e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wil Hodgson
Wil Hodgson (born 1978) is a non-binary English comedian. They have lived in Chippenham their whole life and began performing comedy in 2003. Prior to this, they had worked part-time as a lecturer at Wiltshire College and had a stint training to be a wrestler during which they participated in 30-man "Battle Royals". Hodgson is known for their fast and almost monotone delivery which, along with their bizarre persona, has been known to divide audiences. they are also known for their bright pink hair (until recently, a mohican) and their love of 1980s girl's toys such as Care Bears and My Little Pony. Hodgson is also known for their material on women's bodies which they claim to be nature's greatest invention. They are vocal in their dislike of size zero models and airbrushed photos, expressing a preference for magazines such as '' Readers' Wives'' and for larger female celebrities such as Fern Britton and Liza Tarbuck. Hodgson was a member of the Socialist Workers Party an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hannah Dunleavy
Hannah or Hanna may refer to: People, biblical figures, and fictional characters * Hannah (name), a female given name of Hebrew origin * Hanna (Arabic name), a family and a male given name of Christian Arab origin * Hanna (Irish surname), a family name of Irish origin Places United States * Hannah, Georgia * Hanna City, Illinois * Hanna, Indiana * Hanna, Louisiana * Hannah, Michigan * Hanna, Missouri * Hannah, North Dakota * Hanna, Oklahoma * Hannah, South Carolina * Hanna, South Dakota * Hanna, Utah * Hanna, West Virginia * Hanna, Wyoming * Hannah Run, a stream in Ohio Elsewhere * Hanna, Alberta, Canada, a town * Hannah, a small village in Hannah cum Hagnaby, a civil parish in Lincolnshire, England * Hana, Iran, a city in Isfahan Province * Hanna, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, a village * Haná (German spelling: Hanna), an ethnic region in Moravia, Czech Republic * Hannah Island (Greenland) * Hanna Lake, a lake near Quetta, Pakistan Ships * , a destroyer escort acquired by t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Simmons (comedian)
Mark Simmons (born 1984 or 1985) is an English comedian, known for his one-liners, who won the UK's ''Comics Comic Award'' in 2022. Career Before working as a comedian, Simmons worked in a gym. He started his comedy career in 2008 supporting Sean Walsh. Simmons is known for his one-liners. Simmons has appeared on UK panel show ''Mock the Week'' and produces the ''Jokes with Mark Simmons'' podcast. One of his jokes was voted the second funniest at the Edinburgh Fridge in 2022. At the festival he was compared to Tim Vine and Gary Delaney and was praised for his audience engagement. ''Time Out'' compared his performance to Milton Jones and Noel Fielding. As of 2022, he has 165,000 followers on TikTok. He won the ''Comics Comic Award'' in 2022. Simmons was friends with Gareth Richards who died in April 2023. At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 along side comedian friend Danny Ward, Simmons staged "A Show for Gareth Richards" with Frank Skinner, Stewart Lee and Jack Whiteha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ian Smith (comedian)
Ian Smith (born 13 September 1988) is an English stand-up comedian and actor, best known for his role on the BBC's '' The Ark'' and co-presenter on Dave's ''The Magic Sponge''. Career Smith started his acting career with appearances in all six episodes of Popatron, a sitcom produced by Charlie Brooker's Zeppotron for BBC Two as part of its BBC Switch brand. Alongside fellow comedian Rob Beckett and former footballer Jimmy Bullard, Smith hosts UK television channel Dave's comedy-football podcast "The Magic Sponge" - an irreverent look at the lives of professional footballers. His largest role to date came in BBC One's 2015 TV film The Ark, starring as Ham, the son of David Threlfall's Noah. Filmography *''Siblings'' (2016) – Pizza Guy *'' The Ark'' (2015) – Ham *''Give Out Girls'' (2014) – Joe *''The Syndicate ''The Syndicate'' is a British television drama series. It was written by Kay Mellor and is broadcast on BBC One. It sees five members of a betting syndicate w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economics), services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vodafone owns and operates networks in 22 countries, with partner networks in 48 further countries. Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides telecommunications and IT services to corporate clients in 150 countries. Vodafone has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company has a secondary listing on Nasdaq. Name The name Vodafone comes from ''VO''ice ''DA''ta ''FONE'' (the latter a sensational spelling of "telephone, phone"), chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones". History The evolution of Vodafone started in 1981 with the es ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Josie Long
Josie Isabel Long (born 17 April 1982) is a British comedian. She started performing as a stand-up at the age of 14 and won the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17. In 2006, Long won the If.comeddies Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her show ''Kindness and Exuberance''. She has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show three times. In 2012, Long and director Doug King produced two short comedy films in Glasgow called ''Let's Go Swimming'' and ''Romance and Adventure'', which were nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award. Early life and education Long was born in Sidcup and spent her early life in Orpington, London, where she attended Newstead Wood School for Girls. She began performing stand-up comedy at 14, winning the BBC New Comedy Awards at the age of 17. Long attended Michael Knighton's comedy course in Beckenham, London. At 18 she gave up stand-up whilst attending Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, ran experimental comedy c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' from its inception in 1996 until 2015, and also appears regularly as a guest on several other panel shows, including '' QI'' and BBC Radio 4's ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life Born Phillip Swan in Newport on the Isle of Wight, he took his stepfather Alexander's surname Jupitus (a corruption of the Lithuanian name Šeputis) when he was 16. Jupitus attended a comprehensive school before winning a place at the boys' grammar school Woolverstone Hall School near Ipswich. Career Jupitus worked in Essex at the Manpower Services Commission, part of the Department of Employment, for five years, while he also wrote political poetry and drew cartoons. He resigned from the department in 1984, hoping for a care ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ed Byrne (comedian)
Edward Cathal Byrne (born 16 April 1972) is an Irish actor and comedian. He has presented the British television shows '' Just for Laughs'' and ''Uncut! Best Unseen Ads'', has been a guest on numerous television panel games and has appeared on a number of television cooking shows. Early life Byrne was born on 16 April 1972 in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland, to Jill and Eddie Byrne, the third of four children. Career Stand-up comedy Deciding to study horticulture at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, he was made entertainments convener at the Students' Union in his second year of study. Byrne started a comedy night called '' The Comedy Cellar'' in the basement of the 13th Note public house on Glassford Street, Glasgow. On the first night, Byrne appeared on the roster alongside Armando Iannucci's brother David. Over the following few months, acts booked included Ford Kiernan, Phil Kay, Greg Hemphill, Alan Francis and Alan Tyler. After a few months he gave up studying and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ardal O'Hanlon
Ardal O'Hanlon (; born 8 October 1965) is an Irish comedian, actor, and author. He played Father Dougal McGuire in ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), George Sunday/Thermoman in '' My Hero'' (2000–2005), and DI Jack Mooney in '' Death in Paradise'' (2017–2020). His novel '' The Talk of the Town'' was published in 1998. Early life O'Hanlon was born on 8 October 1965 in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, the son of Fianna Fáil TD and physician Rory O'Hanlon and Teresa (née Ward). He is the third of six children, and has three brothers and two sisters. The episode of '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' which aired on 6 October 2008 revealed that O'Hanlon's paternal grandfather, Michael O'Hanlon, was a medical student at University College Dublin (UCD) who had joined the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and was a member of Michael Collins's Squad, which assassinated British secret service agents on the morning of Bloody Sunday. Details of his grandfather's acti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Susie Essman
Susan Essman is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer and television producer, best known for her role as Susie Greene on '' Curb Your Enthusiasm'', Bobbi Wexler on ''Broad City'', and the voice of Mittens in '' Bolt''. Early life Essman was born in The Bronx, New York City, and was raised in the suburb of Mount Vernon. Her father, Leonard Essman, was an internist and clinical oncologist. Her mother, Zora (''née'' Pressman), taught Russian at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the great granddaughter of silent film actor and Russian opera impresario Leo Feodoroff.''New York Times'', March 5, 2003: "Eating Hollywood Style, With Thin Air on the Side". Essman is Jewish; her grandparents emigrated from Russia and Poland. She received her bachelor's degree from SUNY Purchase College. Career Performing Essman has been traveling and appearing at clubs throughout the country for more than three decades. In 1988, she appeared on HBO with Joy Behar and other rising female come ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sue Perkins
Susan Elizabeth Perkins (born 22 September 1969) is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in ''Mel and Sue'', she has since become best known as a radio broadcaster and television presenter, notably of ''The Great British Bake Off'' (2010–2016), ''Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019) and '' Just a Minute'' (since 2021) on BBC Radio 4. Early life and education Perkins was born on 22 September 1969 in Croydon, London, where she grew up with her two younger siblings, and her parents. Her father worked for a local car dealership and her mother was employed as a secretary. She was educated at Croham Hurst School, a nearby independent school for girls in South Croydon, Greater London, at the same time as television presenter Susanna Reid. She later studied English at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 1991. While at Cambridge, she ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |