Comedy at The Latitude Festival 2009

The pioneering, award-winning Latitude Festival returns to England’s Sunrise Coast for another spectacular year. Taking place on 16th – 19th July, near Suffolk’s stunning seaside town of Southwold, organisers Festival Republic are promising Latitude will be the perfect British summer destination.

Now in its fourth edition Latitude Festival continues to inspire and innovate offering the very best from the worlds of music, film, comedy, theatre, cabaret, dance, poetry, literature and art.

The Comedy Arena at Latitude is one of the main draws of the weekend and this year includes the likes of Ed Byrne, Mark Thomas, Adam Hills, Sean Lock, Marcus Brigstocke, Sean Hughes, Andrew Lawrence and Rufus Hound.

Irish Perrier-Award nominee Ed Byrne is a familiar face on the comedy circuit and on the small screen. He has presented television shows Uncut! Best Unseen Ads and Just For Laughs, and is a regular guest on various television panel games including Mock The Week, 8 Out Of Ten Cats and Have I Got News For You. His amiable chatty style of observational comedy, colourful anecdotes and whimsical tangents that lead into innovative ideas and threads has won him a legion of fans selling out three UK tours and five sell-out show at Edinburgh Fringe.

Political activist, stand-up comic, author, multi-award winner and general thorn in the side of corporate companies and politicians, Mark Thomas joins the line-up. He has lobbied, demonstrated, protested, fought and made a mockery of people in power and is renowned for his political comedy shows, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product on Channel 4.

He is also a regular on Radio 4, has presented many Dispatches programmes, and tackled the multi-national powerhouse of Coco-Cola in his book ‘Belching Out The Devil’.

Thomas will be bringing a manifesto – a policy paddle to help steer our way out of shit creek. It’s a roving comedy think tank of a show where the audience gets to nominate and vote for their favourite policies. Mark road tests them and then sets off to make them happen. It is somewhere between Jim’ll Fix It for anarchists and White Collar Crimewatch, with a passing nod at Bill Drummond, the Fluxus art movement and Anneka Rice.

Antipodean comic Adam Hills has achieved international acclaim as one of the world’s best stand up comics. His combination of positive uplifting comedy and rampant spontaneity, have seen him receive many awards, glowing reviews and fans from all over the world. He has been nominated for an if.comedy award three times, his 2002 show, ‘Happy Feet’, took the inaugural

Best Of The Fest Award in Edinburgh, and his follow up show ‘Cut Loose’ won the Radio Forth Award for Best Comedy. Adam has also won a Chortle Award for Best Compere in the UK, and his 2007 show ‘Joymonger’ won a Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performance in Australia.

He’s also appeared on many UK TV programmes including ‘Mock The Week’, ‘The Charlotte Church Show’ and ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’, as well as having his own half-hour special on The Paramount Comedy Channel.

Sean Lock is one of the UK’s most highly acclaimed and original comedians, his stand-up is the product of a hyperactive imagination combining hilariously surreal imagery and insightful observations on the human condition.

Lock has been nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award and has also received a British Comedy Award for Best Stand Up (previous winners include Jack Dee, Eddie Izzard and Jo Brand). Sean has also won a Time Out Comedy Award.

Best-known to TV audiences for his long-running stint in the mould-breaking quiz show ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’, acclaimed drama ‘The Last Detective’ and guest spot in ‘Coronation Street’, Hughes’ eclectic TV career has also taken in two series of his critically-acclaimed sitcom ‘Sean’s Show’, and despite a nine-year break in performing stand-up, he was recently voted No. 40 in Channel 4’s World’s 100 Greatest Comedians poll. His quick-fire wit shapes each performance into a one-off, unique experience for his audience.

Marcus Brigstocke hosts The Early Edition – a bit like BBC 4’s Late Edition… but earlier. The morning papers, comedy, and special guests take to the stage to wake you up with a start! Swapping its usual late night slot for one at the festival, the show interviews politicians, campaigners, pundits and experts with an agenda that is irreverent, honest and fearless.

Marcus Brigstocke began his comedy career at Bristol University where he performed stand up and character shows and soon won the BBC New Comedian of 1996.

He has since emerged as a major comedy, writing and acting talent, performing in the UK and beyond and has become a regular voice on BBC Radio with an impressive list of TV and film credits that includes current lively debate show ‘Argumental’.

The buzz about comedy’s best-kept-secret is fast making Andrew Lawrence a cult classic, with his 2007 Edinburgh Fringe show – ‘Social Leprosy for Beginners and Improvers’ – gaining him a nomination at the prestigious If.Comedy Awards, a show which Andrew performed for the last time in a very successful week-long residency at the Soho Theatre. Andrew has received rave recognition in all the key new act competitions and is now a regular favourite on the comedy circuit, gigging at all the major clubs across the country and building a base of discerning fans addicted to the bleakly dark comic world he creates.

The quick witted comic and tv presenter Rufus Hound and his beard, will be joining the fantastic Comedy Arena line-up. You may recognise him from various TV appearances including presenting Top of The Pops and Glastonbury coverage and Dave’s current comedy panel game ‘Argumental‘. Hound was a finalist at Channel 4’s Edinburgh Festival Award ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ with his sharp, sarcastic and relaxed approach to comedy earning him plenty of fans.

Also in the Comedy Arena, Jack Whitehall will host the Latitude New Act Of The Year – the search for the next comic genius. Six finalists will perform on Saturday morning in front of the Latitude crowd who’ll be given the power to choose the winner.

Here’s a clip of Sean Hughes from his excellent 1995 stand-up live show Thirty Somehow, DVD talking about cats and dogs.