Comedy

The EDF Energy Spafest comedy series promised to deliver a wide range of comedic talent (most of whom would be premiering their Edinburgh review shows in Tunbridge Wells) & the audiences at The Royal Wells Hotel were not disappointed.

Monday 24/7 saw Danny Robins AKA DJ Danny preview his new Edinburgh show ‘DJ Danny in Music Therapy’ & one lucky member of the audience went home with her very own CD. A packed house heard DJ Danny attempt to bring about world peace ‘through the power of music’ & also prove once and for all that ‘James Blunt is the manifestation of evil’.

Wednesday 25/7 & Lucy Porter entertained a sell-out crowd with her Edinburgh preview of new show  ‘The Good Life’. Lucy Porter is worried about the planet and the legacy she is leaving to future generations. Her new show investigates whether it is important to be a good person as well as a happy one and if it's possible to negotiate a green life in a sea of non-biodegradable rubbish, debt, hedonism, cheap airfares and sweatshop clothes.

Thursday 26/7 & Russell Howard was on stage to bring his new show ‘Wandering’ to an eager crowd. Russell’s show went down a storm & if his reception in Tunbridge Wells was anything to go by, Edinburgh is in for a laugh-out-loud treat.

Friday 27/7 & Pete Gold brought his one-man show ‘Pluckin’ Funny’ down from London & comedy duo ‘Nice Mum’ (Kris Dyer & Dave Marks) rounded off a double-bill.

Saturday 28/7 & the venue shifted 700 yards up the road to the New Wellington Hotel. Fans of Nick Swift (writer & editor of Spafest’s spoof paper ‘The Disgusted Times’) were not disappointed. Nick came down from London with various ‘friends’ including ‘The Congress of Oddities’, Dave Armand as interpretive mime artist ‘Johan Lipowvitz’ (his mime to Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ once seen, will never be forgotten!), Matt Perrett, Steve Oram, comedy duo ‘Nice Mum’. Nick hosted a fantastic comedy-cabaret style show which contained everything from musical parodies to slapstick, all skilfully interwoven by the ‘big, face puller’ himself Nick Swift.

The comedy series was rounded off on Friday 4/8 at Trininty Theatre with headline comedian Sean Hughes. Sean of ‘Never mind the Buzzcocks’ fame has made a welcome return to stand-up comedy. An initially nervous Tunbridge Wells audience (especially the front row) soon relaxed into the show, heard how it feels to reach 40 when you're 11 in your head, and what really happened on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Sean proved he has not lost his edge on the stand-up circuit.

Meanwhile up at the Beau Nash, would be comics had a chance to test out their material at an open mic comedy night hosted by Nice Mum. Hit and miss is a fair round up of the talent many whom had travelled from Brighton and London for the chance to make Tunbridge Wells giggle. Charity partners Kent Air Ambulance Trust benefited from the night as the audience voted with their notes – or coins ‘you mean lot!

Watch this space for details of the Spafest winter comedy series.