Features

Leicester Comedy Festival 2008 marked 15 years since the festivals creation - making it the oldest in the country.

Catch up on all the comedians that made 2008 so great...

Paul Tonkinson

You probably rememeber Paul Tonkinson for his stint presenting Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.

He's been talking to BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter...

Paul also recently tried his luck as a radio presenter, but it wasn't for him.

"I just wanted to be somewhere else... I just get stressed... I just thought I should be in front of an audience."

So, he took his show to Iraq! Less stressful?

David Morgan

He's a comedian from Leicester... works in the marketing dept at Leicester Univeristy and he's just got through to the quarter final of a nationally recognised "Laughing Horse" stand-up competition .

David Morgan has been speaking to BBC Leicester's Rupal Rajani...

How do you teach someone to be funny?

"I think everyone is generally funny - they will tell you something funny that happened to them and you just have to find out what's amusing to people."

David Strassman

David hits the stage at Loughborough Town Hall for the festival.

He brings a new twist to stand- up comedy, David is a ground-breaking ventriloquist with a gang of hilarious characters.

He told BBC Leicester's Tony Wadsworth just why his show is different to other ventriloquist acts...

In the 90's David broke all the rules of ventriloquism and now he's back with a gang of hilarious characters that he says you wouldn't want to bump into on a dark night.

Hils Barker

Hils is one of the growing number of female comics at this year's festival.

Listen to Hils talking to BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter about entertaining audiences in Miami. You can hear a bit of her routine too!

She says most audiences are comfortable with women taking to the mic, but it's very much dependent on where you are.

"I did a gig in Leeds... I went on stage and did a minute of banter..and I think I kind of lost them."

She loves making people laugh, but like anyone else, needs a break from the office, "I've stopped telling people I'm a comedian, because they keep expecting me to tell them a joke!"

Liam Mullone

Local comedian Liam Mullone tell hilarious stories and anecdotes from his life.

He shared some corkers with BBC Leicester's Martin Ballard...

Ten years ago, Liam was robbed by a stripper and forced to spend five weeks in the desert outside Las Vegas.

With only a clapped-out van, a bag of pork chops, and his thoughts. Liam tells you his story at his gig.

Quincy

Leicester's comedy festival has taken the city by storm, with household names and new talent entertaining you.

Comedian Quincy will be performing at Bambu on 12 February. But before his big night Quincy spoke to Martin Ballard about his show...

Stand-up, presenter, actor and compere, Quincy hosts his own live chat show, is a TV warm-up (BBC’s Blouse and Skirts) and has presented on BBC1 Xtra and Klymaxx FM.

His live comedy work includes weekends at The Comedy Store, regular weekends at Jongleurs and Jongleurs On The Road, and comedy clubs up and down the country and abroad, headlining and compering.

Pete Firman

You may have seen Pete Firman on the telly as Tufty the Teesside magician. Pete combines magic with stand-up, and his tricks are hardly conventional!

Expect 50% comedy, 50% magic. Pete spoke to Chris Baxter about his gig...

Forget the Paul Daniels banter, Pete says things have moved on:

"I see myself as carrying on where others have left off, I just try and make the tricks that I do relevant to people of my generation.

"I'm not sure what sparkly glitzy boxes and pulling handkerchiefs out of them has to do with the Myspace Facebook generation."

If you're of a gentle disposition you may find some of his tricks a little hard to swallow. For example, he may regurgitate the odd goldfish or maggot. But Pete says, "It's not all watch through your fingers stuff."

Markus Birdman

Markus Birdman

Markus has found that he's not alone. He's one of a growing band of comedians who's fathers are vicars!

He spoke to BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter...

Being born into a family of faith doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be a believer yourself.

Markus originally intended to slam his religious upbringing, "When I started writing the show I thought I'm going to tell these Christians exactly what I think of them, and in the same way my father, but it became a lot more sympathetic than that."

What he found writing the show, was that he and his Dad had a lot more in common that he thought, "both of us get in front of rooms of strangers and lie to them to make ourselves look big and clever."

Funny woman Debra Jane Appleby

Debra Jane Appleby

BBC Leicester's Rupal Rajani spoke to Debra about her career and how she got involved in comedy...

Intelligent, original, magical, spontaneous and warm! Oh and funny!

Those are just some of the words used to describe funnt woman Debra Jane Appleby.

She has appeared on stage and screen and is winner of both The Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year and Funny Women Comedy Award in 2005.

Debra Jane Appleby is fast becoming one of the most popular comedians on the circuit.

Peter Sallis

Peter Sallis is a British institution! BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter got the chance to speak to him before Peter goes under the spotlight...

Instantly recognisable as Norman Clegg in the long-running 'Last of the Summer Wine!' and known worldwide as the voice of 'Wallace' in the Aardman Animation films.

Does he get recognised on his travels?

"I'm not a worldwide traveller, I've only been to the United Stated a couple of times" says Sallis.

"From Last Of the Summer Wine they might recognise me, but on the whole they don't."

As part of the Leicester Comedy Festival, you can be part of an audience with Peter. He'll be interviewed on-stage at the Little Theatre by Samantha Norman, but you'll be able to ask questions too!

Paul Sinha

BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter spoke to Paul Sinha. Listen to the interview on the right hand side...

Comedian Paul Sinha

Paul Sinha is described in the Festival brochure as the 'world's only gay, Asian, GP-turned-stand-up-comedian.'

He is still a doctor, but now spends more of his time entertaining audiences.

There's a serious side to Paul, he says folk find it hard to imagine him on stage:

"People can be surprised when they meet me to find I'm a stand-up comic, because I can be quite dower in real life."

His father's a doctor, his grandfather too, and his Mum is a fan of Holby City! They thought he'd follow in his father's footsteps.

But although medicine's in the blood, he thinks comedy is probably in the genes, and his father's a closet comic:

"I think if you ever met my Dad and me in the same place, you'd think he was the stand-up comic."

Ricky Tomlinson

BBC Leicester's Tony Wadsworth spoke to Ricky Tomlinson. Listen to the interview on the right hand side...

Liverpudlian funnyman Ricky Tomlinson is heading for Leicester's De Montfort Hall in February as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival.

Comedian Ricky Tomlinson

Ricky's recently returned to full health after a quadruple heart by-pass towards the end of last year.

He says people coming to his show can expect a great night:

"I compere it but then in the second half I do stories about the famous people I've met, like Samuel Jackson and Norman Wisdom and Pele and Sam O'Connor.

"And all the stories I tell and all the anecdotes are true, about when I had a casting agency and all the things the extras used to get up to...

"People love it, up to now we've been tremendous."

Stewart Lee

BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter spoke to Stewart Lee. Listen to the interview on the right hand side...

Amongst those returning to the festival is Stewart Lee, co-writer of 'Jerry Springer The Opera.'

Comedian Stewart Lee

He has mixed feelings about the city. On the plus side, he loves it because he met his wife in Leicester at the comedy festival.

However, when Jerry Springer came to Leicester it received a bashing for its controversial theme.

His fondest memory though, is of childhood visits to see a picture of Daniel Lambert (Leicester's famously obese son) hanging in a gallery!

He was recently voted Britain's 41st best stand up comedian - a title he's grown to love.

If you want to see Daniel Lambert's picture, there's now a whole gallery dedicated to the man at Newarke Houses museum.