Comedy: Fringe Benefits

There’s been a lot of shouting about the Brighton Comedy Festival, but don’t forget our own Brighton Comedy Fringe

There’s been a lot of shouting about how the Brighton Comedy Festival is coming to town, kicking off with an extravagant star-studded gala on Friday 10 October and going on for a fortnight of funny. What you might not know, but should, is that one week later the Brighton Comedy Fringe launches itself upon the city, with the quirky, unusual, but most of all downright entertaining, for its own two weeks of mirth.

Organised by Otherplace Productions (those clever folks behind what was Upstairs At Three & Ten, now called Bar Broadway, and Brighton Fringe favourite The Warren) the Brighton Comedy Fringe is now in its ninth highly successful year. For the first time, programming has extended to a new venue in the form of the Marwood cafe on Ship Street, kicking off with firm Fringe sell-out Red Brick Comedy on Friday 17 October, and then tripping about offering up some rather delicious spoken word offerings.

But back to the Brighton Comedy Fringe.

Just like its main festival big brother, the Fringe has its own highly talented launch party you can buy tickets to (Thursday 16 October), hosted by twisted character comedy favourite Colin Hoult and with special guests including George Egg and Chris Parkinson. Then take your pick from a veritable smorgasbord of alternative talent, from local success stories whose one-person shows have already proven popular this year around the country (I’m looking at you, Matilda Gregory, with your fabulous ‘Werewolf Erotica She Wrote’ on the 22 September!), to names familiar off the telly and radio (Anna Morris in Outnumbered, Phil Kay in QI, Rosie Wilby on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5, and others), and some simply wonderful and unusual picks hand-chosen by the Otherplace team (Dizney Rascal, Vincent Went Splat, Gerry Howell’s Portal of Discovery).

That is the fabulous thing about a well put together Fringe – anything can happen on stage. I’ve seen Seann Walsh, Romesh Ranganathan, Paul McCaffrey, Angela Barnes and many other (now big) names being simply brilliant on small stages curated by Otherplace Productions over the years. I’ve also seen some things I never thought would happen on stage – an inflatable lady, a hand-delivered brussel sprout, and a game of bingo with prizes collected in a hat from the audience. All of them eliciting huge roars of laughter, but completely off the wall and barmy. Lesson: take a punt! You never know – it might just be a little bit awesome.
www.otherplacebrighton.co.uk