Laughter the best medicine

Stendhal Festival of Art is delighted to announce its comedy line-up for this year’s festival which takes place at Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady, on August 17 and 18.

Get set to laugh the night away with the brilliant comedic stylings of Phil Kay and Dave Thompson.

Scotsman Phil Kay’s comedy is a unique blend of energy, improvisation and leaps of imagination that take his audience on a joyride they’ll never forget. Even Phil has no idea what might happen when he unleashes his crazy brand of improvised comedy mayhem. He possesses the rare gift of creating a space where audiences feel like they are kids again, all taking part in a practical joke.

Phil launched his stand-up comedy career with a bang in 1989, quickly garnering a host of awards, nominations and glowing reviews. Since then, the plaudits have never stopped as he conquered first the live stage and then television, with appearances on such shows as Phil Kay Feels, (Ch 4), Next Stop Phil Kay (Ch 4), Edinburgh Nights (BBC1), Montreal Festival of Fun (Ch 5) and plenty more besides including a couple of appearances on QI.

Phil’s first love, however, remains live stage work - and only by watching his live performances will audiences really see him at his very best. Phil Kay is stand-up comedy’s answer to spontaneous human combustion - a rare, explosive and always surprising phenomenon that simply cannot be contained in a box or represented on a cathode tube.

Phil tours Britain constantly and is a firm favourite at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he performs yearly to sell-out crowds and critical acclaim. Over the years he has completed several highly successful tours of Australia, performing at the Adelaide and Melbourne Festivals.

Since then, he has travelled the length and breadth of the globe administering his special blend of comedy genius.

“You have to be born with comic talent such as his... It’s a gift from the gods, a freewheeling mind that’s utterly without boundary.” (Metro)

Cited as: “One of the funniest joke writers in the country,” by Time Out Magazine, Dave Thompson may be best known for playing Tinky Winky in the Teletubbies, especially after he was sacked in July 1997 because the BBC thought his interpretation of the role was ‘unacceptable’.

Dave also plays a semi-regular character in both series of Al Murray’s sitcom Time Gentlemen Please, and has two cameo roles in Ben Elton’s feature film Maybe Baby. Dave has appeared in ITV’s The All New Harry Hill Show, and TV Burp! and plays various roles in Harry Hill’s stage show, Wild Horses.

He is an international stand-up comedian and compere, known for his brilliant one-liners and odd persona. He has written for Harry Hill’s TV Burp! and The Sketch Show, which were broadcast on ITV. Both series of The Sketch Show have sold around the world, including to CBS in America.

He also co-wrote (with Jim Tavare) part of the book Sit Down Comedy, which was published in August 2003. Dave also writes for other stand-up comedians appearing live and on TV. These include Bruce Forsyth, Boothby Graffoe, Jim Tavare, John Moloney, Dominic Frisbee, Phil Davey, and Tony Law.

For further details on what else is on offer at Stendhal Festival of Art visit www.stendhalfestival.com

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