The fastest selling show in the 28 year history of Leicester Comedy Festival has been announced as No More Jockeys Live!, featuring Mark Watson (as seen on QI, Mock The Week, Would I Lie To You?, Live At The Apollo), Tim Key (Edinburgh Comedy Award winner) and Alex Horne (host of Taskmaster), which sold out 500 tickets in less than 13 hours. 

The show, promoted by award winning promoters TripleCeePee, was announced on Monday night after Mark Watson’s online solo festival show, and all tickets had sold by midday Tuesday 9th February. 

A limited number of additional tickets are being arranged for the show and these will be available via the Festival’s website www.comedy-festival.co.uk from midday on Friday 12th February.  Further announcements will be made on Leicester Comedy Festival twitter account @LeicsComedyFest

The show is a special version of the YouTube sensation game that has had more than half a million views and has sent quite a few people completely mad.  On 30 April 2020, comedians Alex Horne, Tim Key and Mark Watson uploaded a YouTube video of themselves playing a game they’d invented called No More Jockeys. Nine months, 29 episodes and nearly 1.5 million views later, No More Jockeys has become a lockdown phenomenon and the live show as part of Leicester Comedy Festival is the first time the team have played the game live in front of an audience.

The trio had been playing the game on and off for years, but took it online when the first lockdown hit the UK. “I thought it'd be fun to record one,” said Mark Watson, “at that point I don't think any of us thought we'd start doing sets.”

“Even when we did decide we should put it out there, I think there was a policy of doing it with very little fanfare or noise and just seeing what happened,” said Tim Key.

The trio reckons “at least an hour” is edited out of each game before it’s uploaded so this live version will be the first time fans will get to see the show played in its entirety.

Colin Bowles from TripleCeePee said “I’m thrilled that the boys have agreed to play this special game as part of Leicester Comedy Festival. I've been a fan of the game since it started so I was delighted when the enquiries I made about a version for the festival were received so positively.  I can’t wait to watch the special edition next week. 

Geoff Rowe, Founding Director of Leicester Comedy Festival said “I’m struggling to think of any festival show which has sold so quickly over the last 28 years so this really is a record breaking show.  The demand for tickets, and interest we have had on social media, has just been amazing.  Colin and the trio are trying to ensure as many people can watch the game as possible.”

More about this show and the Leicester Comedy Festival here: www.comedy-festival.co.uk