Comedy

Enjoy a special live recording of Radio 4’s long-running variety show. Clive Anderson and guests offer an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.

Enjoy a special live recording of Radio 4’s flagship satire show featuring topical sketches and characters drawn from the worlds of celebrity and politics.

Nish Kumar has achieved huge success on the stand-up circuit with five rave reviewed shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, two of which have been nominated for the prestigious Comedy Award for Best Show. He’s starred in two series of his own show for BBC Radio 4, Spotlight Tonight, and has hosted The News Quiz and his own spoof news series, The Mash Report, for BBC Two. He’s appeared on QI, Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe is his latest show-in-progress, coming fresh to Hay Festival!

In a special Hay Festival live recording of their hit podcast, comedian Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts, Ed Gillespie and Mark Stevenson, explore the ‘Future of Friday Night’, with special guest, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Amy Lamé. As pubs and nightclubs close are we doomed to binge-drinking on the sofa at home in front of Netflix? Is flirting beyond dating apps dead? Will the Great British Friday Night Out go the way of the dodo, or is there a new era of conscious hedonism being born? Will the authentic visceral experience of live performance get us up and out? Can we twerk our tushes into a better tomorrow? Grab a cocktail, mocktail or whatever whets your whistle for the usual riotous adventures in the imagination of the possible.

Marcel Lucont (Comedy Central at the Comedy Store, Sky Atlantic’s Set List, BBC1’s John Bishop Show) presents a feast of international cabaret. For one night only, he presents: Rob Deering, the UK’s foremost guitar-wielding, loop-layering stand-up comedian; Sara Twister, internationally renowned circus artiste from Berlin; and Jon Udry, winner of British Young Juggler of the Year! Cabaret Fantastique has no fixed abode – a cult hit at festivals worldwide, each programme of entertainment is handpicked by Marcel. You’ll be served up a luscious plate of the finest performers from the world of cabaret, comedy, circus, poetry, magic and music, all held together with dry wit and a dry white.

Join comedian Robin Ince for his unique Book Club, in which he chats with guests about the weirdest books and strangest stories they have read, and their secret reading obsessions. He brings along many of his favourite pulpy horrors, awkward romances and most eccentric self help guides. Expect an exhilarating tour around these books, where readings from Crabs on the Rampage will be twinned with Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin. Robin was named Author of the Year by the Booksellers Association and his most recent book, Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive’s Tour of the Bookshops of Britain was described by the TLS as “a tonic”. Don’t miss this event exclusively designed for Hay Festival 2024.

Driving with a donkey stuffed in the back seat; jackdaws pecking brains out through the roof of a confessional box; cat piss and astronauts. This is the world not as you see it, but as it is, twisted from the maverick mind of Blindboy. Stories of the strange unsettlings in the souls of men caught in between the past and the possible; stories of heart-blinding rage and disquieting compassion. The satirist and musician reaches 1.2 million monthly listeners through his show The Blindboy Podcast, which the New York Times has called “a cultural phenomenon”. His new book takes its title from a twelfth-century English manuscript, which dehumanised the people and culture of Ireland to facilitate domination.

Ruby Wax’s rawest, darkest, funniest and most compelling stage show returns, documenting the extreme journeys she took in order to find an antidote to living a frazzled life. Along the way she hoped to find meaning, peace, happiness – the stuff everyone is chasing. However, after some transcendent experiences, she ended up in a mental institution.

The winner of the Sky Edinburgh Comedy Award returns with a show about family, immigration, marriage, history, politics – and beans. Shah has appeared on Mock the Week, The Mash Report, QI, Live at the Apollo, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, Have I Got News for You and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. “Intricately crafted, profoundly moving, howlingly funny… he’s a blazing talent firing on all cylinders” – The Daily Telegraph.

Join comedian Robin Ince for his unique Book Club, in which he chats with guests about the weirdest books and strangest stories they have read, and their secret reading obsessions. He brings along many of his favourite pulpy horrors, awkward romances and most eccentric self help guides. Expect an exhilarating tour around these books, where readings from Crabs on the Rampage will be twinned with Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin. Robin was named Author of the Year by the Booksellers Association and his most recent book, Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive’s Tour of the Bookshops of Britain was described by the TLS as “a tonic”. Don’t miss this event exclusively designed for Hay Festival 2024.

Two Titans of the comedy scene share their experiences on stage, screen and in real life with BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed. Actor and comedian Helen Lederer (author of Losing It) is best known as Catriona, the dippy journalist in Absolutely Fabulous. Her memoir Not That I’m Bitter reveals how choppy the waters could be for women struggling to be seen and heard in the world of comedy. Doon Mackichan played comedy characters in the hugely popular Brass Eye and Smack the Pony, but throughout her career she’s challenged stereotypes. In My Lady Parts, she examines how we can say no to objectification, in an industry that has been exposed for its deep-rooted sexism.

Stuart Goldsmith, who has featured on TV shows around the world and is the regular studio warm-up comic for the Graham Norton Show, hosts a night of comedy featuring Ania Magliano and Ahir Shah. Magliano’s 2023 stand up show, I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This, was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show, and sold out its entire Fringe run before the festival began. Shah is the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, and starred in the short films Ahir Shah’s Summer and Ahir Shah’s Life Lessons.

Brought to you by Little Wander, the team behind the Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

Critically acclaimed comedian Sara Pascoe introduces her engaging debut novel. Weirdo follows Sophie, an existential Essex girl battling low-level paranoia in her search for happiness and truth. All Sophie wants to do is act like a normal, well-adjusted person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her pornographic visualisations and pathological lying, who knows, maybe she can get out of debt, dump her current boyfriend and try to enjoy Christmas with her awful family? Pascoe wrote and starred in the sitcom Out of Her Mind, hosts The Great British Sewing Bee and has written two non-fiction books – Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body and Sex Power Money. Pascoe talks to broadcaster Shahidha Bari.

“Quietly profound and laughing-in-public funny” – Caitlin Moran.

Apparently caterpillars completely break down into goo before they become butterflies. Come and join comedian Sara Pascoe as she reconsiders and reconstructs herself after having two babies and very little sleep.

The multi-award-winning comedian, writer and actor has appeared in BBC stand up special LadsLadsLads and her own BBC2 sitcom Out of Her Mind. She hosts The Great British Sewing Bee (BBC2), Last Woman on Earth (BBC), Comedians Giving Lectures (Day) and Guessable (Comedy Central). Pascoe wrote and starred in the BBC Radio 4 series Modern Monkey and the BBC2 short Sara Pascoe vs Monogamy, inspired by her first book, Animal. Her second book, Sex Power Money, was a Sunday Times bestseller, and the accompanying podcast has garnered millions of listens and multiple award nominations.

There are no problems that cannot be improved by eating cheese. Fact. The award-winning comedian and International Cheese Judge guides us through the subtle art of pairing the best cheeses with a fine whine of your choosing, so whatever your whinge there’s cheese to match. Brigstocke is one of our most talented, versatile comedians, mixing satirical state-of-the-nation gags with top rate observational humour, killer impressions and important content about dairy produce.

Self-avowed ‘internet sensation’ Josh Berry comes to Hay Festival for the first time to deliver his specific brand of character and impressions-laden stand-up comedy. He reflects on his journey from being born in Crewe to becoming a fully fledged member of the Guardian-reading North London ‘wokerati’.

After being called a beta male last year, Berry is eager to explore the topic of masculinity and reflect on what place that concept has in the modern world, especially given the fall of Andrew Tate and the many crying meltdowns of Jordan Peterson on Twitter. He cannot wait to spend most of the set making fun of the audience for things that also apply to him.

“A remarkable new talent” – Rob Brydon.

N.B. The posh bashing will likely be interspersed with some more polite routines about the tennis.

Enjoy a night of laughter at the Festival’s Comedy Club, with MC Laura Lexx and comedians Shaparak Khorsandi and Lou Sanders. Comedian, author and actor Lexx has appeared on the BBC’s Live at The Apollo and comedy shows including Mock The Week and Celebrity Mastermind. Her debut novel Pivot was released in 2023. Khorsandi is a comedian, author, speaker and advocate for human rights. She’s appeared on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here and 8 Out Of 10 Cats, among many others, and her latest book is Scatter Brain. Sanders co-hosts Mel Giedroyc’s Unforgivable, is a previous Taskmaster (Dave/C4) champion and has toured her live shows to packed houses across the world.

Brought to you by Little Wander, the team behind the Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

Superfans of Natalies Haynes, if you’ve ever wanted to know everything about her books and writing, this event is the place to be. Haynes discusses all of her books, including A Thousand Ships, Pandora’s Jar and Stone Blind with Salon London’s Helen Bagnall, complete with spoilers. This deep dive includes a discussion of how the ‘rock star classicist’ chose the characters to focus on in her Greek retellings, and gives you a chance to get answers to the questions you want answering about the classical world directly from the award-winning author.

Literary Death Match is a groundbreaking take on the written and spoken word — it’s an electrifying, feel-good spectacle that takes place in over 70 cities around the planet. Part literary event, part comedy show, part game show, it brings together four established and emerging writers at Hay Festival to compete in an edge-of-your-seat read-off critiqued by celebrity judges and concluded by a slapstick showdown. Judges Jay Blades (The Repair Shop) and Viv Groskop (How to Own the Room) preside over this hilarious, off-the-wall competition of literary merit. Presented by veteran host Suzanne Azzopardi and newcomer Hattie Williams.

Danish comedian, author and podcaster Sofie Hagen is coming to Hay Festival with their new book Will I Ever Have Sex Again?. This is a candid, hilarious and disarming attempt to explore our sexual landscape, through conversations with experts, therapists, sex workers, porn stars, comedians and public figures. Why are we not having the sex we want to have? Where is the sexual liberation we were promised? With part memoir, part exploration, Sofie attempts to figure out why they haven't had sex in over 3,000 days – and why this frustration is so relatable to so many people.

Paul Whitehouse, comedian and co-star of the BBC’s Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, and John Bailey, fishing consultant on the show since it first aired, have been devout fishermen for longer than they care to remember. A hobby, pastime or sport (call it what you want), they have felt the pull of the water ever since they were kids and have never missed the chance to set up on the bank and try their luck. The two fishermen discuss the rich tapestry that is fishing – from mentors to memories; from philosophy to modern jargon; from watercraft to becoming self-styled ‘Fishing Detectives’. They share brilliant stories and recollections from fishing trips past, rich in the wonders of the riverbank.

What role can those who make us laugh play in helping us understand ourselves and the societies we live in? Our comics have always had to consider the question of ‘what can I say?’ as their professional work requires them to define the edges of comedy by what we find funny. But what can comedy teach us about pushing at the boundaries of life, navigating Cancel Culture and changing the status quo for the better? Stand-up Aditi Mittal (one of India’s top 10 comedians), comedy writer Joel Morris (author of Be Funny or Die) and actor Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing, Notting Hill, The Witcher) talk to author and broadcaster Viv Groskop (host of chart-topping podcast How to Own the Room).

National trinket Julian Clary is saddled up to welcome you to his new show on a Wild West theme. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps,” he says. He’s sure the men in the audience will be eager to join his posse – and the lucky few will play with him on stage in the Hang ’em Low saloon, where Wild Bill Hickok used to meet Raving Clarence la Fruit. But life in the Old West was tough. Not all of Julian’s wild bunch will be around to witness the final shoot-out that will result in Julian giving himself selflessly at high noon to the last man standing.

Following the massive success of his long-lost novel TerrorTome, Sunday Times bestseller and Archduke O’Darkdom Garth Marenghi is back on the road with his latest masterpiece, Incarcerat. This highly anticipated sequel continues the adventures of horror novelist Nick Steen, who gets sucked into a cursed typewriter.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see Marenghi’s live show and hear his terrifying tale. His TerrorTome UK tour sold over 27,000 tickets in under six months, and Incarcerat is set to be another thrilling journey.

Garth Marenghi is the pseudonym of writer and director Matthew Holness, best known for his role as the fictional horror author in the cult Channel 4 comedy series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. Holness is author of many short stories for horror anthologies and has written and directed several films, including the horror feature Possum.

Comedians and writers Dom Joly and Danny Wallace take a look at conspiracy theories, fake news and more in this funny, frank and sometimes frightening discussion. Joly’s new book The Conspiracy Tourist: Travels Through a Strange World sees him meeting followers of QAnon in Cornwall, New Age-ers in Glastonbury and UFO hunters in Roswell, and taking a flat-earther to the edge of the world. In Wallace’s book Somebody Told Me he encounters families torn apart by accusations and fake news, journalists putting themselves on the frontline of the disinformation war, reformed conspiracy theorists and more.

Gain a rare insight into the life of the legendary, late comedian Barry Cryer, whose work included BBC Radio 4’s long-running I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. His son Bob Cryer speaks to actor Miriam Margolyes about the man behind the jokes. Filled with candour and warmth, this discussion is an ode to Barry Cryer’s incredible life and to the lessons he imparted on the art of comedy during his 60-year career.

Bob Cryer is an actor and writer best known for Coronation Street and Hollyoaks. With his father, he created the book series Mrs Hudson’s Diaries, which was adapted into a play for Wilton’s Music Hall. Mrs Hudson’s Radio Show soon followed for Radio 4 in 2018. Their joint podcast, Now Where Were We?, launched just before Barry Cryer’s death in 2022. His book Same Time Tomorrow? is about Barry Cryer's life and career. Cryer and Margolyes talk to Alex Clark.

The nation’s twelfth-favourite doctor brings his brand new show to Hay Festival, fresh from a record-breaking run at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sell-out season in the West End. His book This is Going to Hurt was a literary sensation, selling three million copies and becoming a multi-BAFTA-winning BBC series. Undoctored follows on from This is Going to Hurt, and will leave you laughing and crying with Kay’s unique tales of life on and off the wards. It also contains the ‘degloving’ story because people ask for refunds if they don’t hear it. “Darkly hilarious – this show will have you in stitches” – The Standard.

Join Angela Barnes (Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown) as she tries out some new ideas she’s had. There will be thoughts, there will be stories, there will be successes, there will be failures, and there will be jokes – so come along to find out which is which… “She’s just a gloriously down-to-earth, straight talking and extremely funny comic” – The Guardian.

Angela Barnes swapped a career in health and social care for stand-up in 2010 and hasn’t looked back. Within just a couple of years she had won the 2011 BBC New Comedy Award and toured around the country with her stand-up shows. She is a firm favourite on BBC Radio 4, having featured on The Now Show and The News Quiz.

The journalist and humourist recounts some of the strangest, funniest and most hazardous adventures from his 25-year career: sneaking into Bohemian Grove with the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, getting chased by the shadowy Bilderberg Group, trying to spot psychopaths in the corridors of power, uncovering a secret unit of soldiers endeavouring to kill goats just by staring at them, and the horrors that ensued when he wrote the first book about what became known as ‘cancel culture’. Enjoy Ronson’s hair-raising, funny and sharp observations about the strange world we’ve created for ourselves.