Karaoke Circus is a British Karaoke night where guest singers from the world of comedy compete alongside members of the public for a coveted prize. Sometimes called 'Ward & White's Karaoke Circus', the show was started by composer Martin White and stand-up comedian

Danielle Ward Danielle Ward (born 9 October 1978) is a British stand-up comedian and writer. Career Ward worked as an economic researcher at London's South Korean Embassy before she became a comedian. In 2006, Ward won the '' Time Outs Critic's Choice aw ...

in October 2008 at The Albany, Great Portland Street, London. It has since been held at the

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

, The Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, Ginglik, Royal Vauxhall Tavern and at

The Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

The show

The Karaoke Circus house band, who accompany the singers, is composed of Martin White (keyboards),

(bass guitar),

Foz Foster James 'Foz' Foster (born 1960) is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the art-rock band, David Devant and his Spirit Wife, and in the 1983-5 incarnation of The Monochrome Set. Foster also play ...

(lead guitar, musical saw and vibraslap) and

David Reed David Reed may refer to: Entertainment * David Vern Reed (1924–1989), American comics writer * David E. Reed (1927–1990), ''Reader's Digest'' editor * David Reed (artist) (born 1946), American artist * David Jay Reed (born 1950), artist * Da ...

(drums). The band are joined by resident judges, Daniel Maier (and in his absence, Dan Tetsell) and 'The Baron', whose job it is to pick a winner from the evening's performances.

Notable guests

* Chris Addison * Simon Amstell * William Andrews * Dan Antopolski * David Cross * Gus Brown *

Margaret Cabourn-Smith Margaret Alice Cabourn-Smith (born 1975) is an English comedy actress with appearances on ''Catastrophe'', ''The IT Crowd'', ''Psychoville,'' ''Peep Show'' and ''Fresh Meat''. Her TV work includes playing regular characters on '' Miranda'', ' ...

Johnny Candon Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varia ...

Bridget Christie Bridget Louise Christie (born 17 August 1971) is an English stand-up comedian, actress and writer. She has written and performed 12 Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows and several comedy tours, in addition to radio and television work. She has rece ...

* Andrew Collins * Anna Crilly * Justin Edwards * Kevin Eldon *

Dave Gorman David James Gorman (born 2 March 1971) is an English comedian, presenter, and writer. Gorman began his career writing for comedy series such as ''The Mrs Merton Show'' (1993–1998) and ''The Fast Show'' (1994–1997), and later garnered ac ...

* Tony Gardner * Jeremy Hardy * Hattie Hayridge * John Hegley * Richard Herring *

Laurence Howarth Laurence Howarth is an English comic actor and writer. He has appeared in one episode each of the TV series '' After You've Gone'' (2007), '' Hyperdrive'' (2006), ''Blessed'' (2005), ''The Robinsons'' (2005), '' My Hero'' (2005) and '' Dark Ages'' ...

Colin Hoult Colin Hoult (born 15 May 1979) is an English actor and writer in television, radio, and theatre. He studied at Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre. Career Hoult has worked in various television productions, including ''Russell Howard's ...

* Jessica Hynes *

Robin Ince Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer, known for presenting the BBC radio show ''The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox (physicist), Brian Cox, and his stand-up comedy career. Education After ...

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 ''N ...

* Miles Jupp * Sarah Kendall * Michael Legge * Toby Litt *

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 Frin ...

* Geoffrey McGivern * Greg McHugh * Ben Miller * Tim Minchin * Pappy's * Sara Pascoe *

The Penny Dreadfuls The Penny Dreadfuls are a British sketch comedy troupe consisting of comedians Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck, often supported by Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The troupe are best known for writing and performing ''The Brothers Faversham'' a ...

* Lucy Porter * Carrie Quinlan * Howard Read * Garry Richardson *

Andy Riley Andy Riley (born 1970) is a British author, cartoonist, and Emmy-winning screenwriter for TV and film. Riley has written and drawn many best-selling cartoon books, including ''The Book of Bunny Suicides'' (2003) and its sequels, and ''Great Lie ...

John-Luke Roberts John-Luke Roberts is a British stand-up comedian, writer, actor and performer. Style Roberts' comedy style is absurdist, and often uses props and physical movement, as taught by French clown Philippe Gaulier with whom Roberts has trained. Robert ...

* Waen Shepherd *

Isy Suttie Isobel Jane "Isy" Suttie (; born 11 August 1978) is a British musical comedian, actress, and writer. She played Dobby in the British sitcom '' Peep Show'', and in 2013 won the gold Sony Radio Academy Award for her radio show ''Pearl And Dave' ...

Liza Tarbuck Liza Tarbuck ( ; born 21 November 1964) is an English actress, comedian, and television and radio presenter. Early life Liza Tarbuck was born in Liverpool. She is the daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck and his wife Pauline, with an older siste ...

* Tim Vine * Katy Wix The London Paper
/ref>

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Karaoke Circus websiteFlickr set of photos from 2008 onwards
Karaoke