A wealth of comedy talent will descend on Brighton Dome’s three historic venues this month for the inaugural Brighton Dome Comedy Festival. From 24-27 October, big name stars including Nish Kumar (pictured bottom), Maisie Adam (pictured top) and Fern Brady will perform their latest stand-up shows, cult cartoonists Modern Toss present the world premiere of a free to attend 20th anniversary exhibition, and there are events and workshops especially for children and young people. In an in-person UK comedy festival first, all performances will be BSL-interpreted to welcome comedy fans who are deaf or have hearing loss.
A Festival edition of Brighton Dome’s flagship comedy showcase Live at Brighton Dome takes place in the Concert Hall on Saturday 26 October, with sets from sitcom star and best-selling author Sara Pascoe, comedian-turned-documentarian Jamali Maddix, storytelling stand-up Phil Kay and co-host of hit comedy podcast All Killa No Filla, Rachel Fairburn. In a Brighton Dome Comedy Festival exclusive, the evening will begin with a never-before-seen choral rendition of Modern Toss’s Periodic Table of Swearing by Brighton-based indie choir Jam Tarts.
For parents and young comedy fans who bond over Taskmaster and TikTok sketches, there’s Live at Brighton Dome Bleeped next door in the Corn Exchange. With a line-up including viral stand-up Finlay Christie; Insta/Tik Tok star Daniel Foxx; Mo Gilligan-favourite Chantal Nash; and Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Ian Smith, Bleeped contains all the jokes without the rude bits and is suitable for ages 11 and up.
Celebrating 20 years of their unique brand of caustic humour, Modern Toss’s The First 8000 Days exhibition opens on Friday 25 October and runs 10am-5pm until Wednesday 30 October. Free to attend, the exhibition includes token-operated artwork, inflatable balloons, stone sculptures and the opportunity to be sketched by the artists themselves in the Portrait Booth. Additional events include a late-night screening of classic Modern Toss satirical films, plus new material, and a Q&A with the duo’s own Jon Link.
Elsewhere, there are live performances from Spencer Jones (aka BBC Two’s Herbert Clunkerdunk) and Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees Alfie Brown and Kiri Pritchard-McLean, plus Taskmaster star Sophie Duker and Estonian-born, London-based clown Julia Masli, who attempts to solve the audience’s problems with the help of a mannequin’s leg. Stand-up doyen Paul Foot, former Glastonbury poet in residence-turned-comedian Rob Auton and TikTok star (and celebrity backing singer) Christopher Hall are also on the bill and the UK’s first – and funniest – refugee comedy collective No Direction Home give one of their first performances outside London.
In the run up to the Festival, young people aged 11 to 16 from across the community have been practising their stand-up at free comedy workshops in held Brighton Dome’s community space, Anita’s Room, in partnership with Komedia Productions. On Sunday 27 October, they’ll have a chance to demonstrate their newly honed skills in The Young Comedians Comedy Show. Also over the weekend, younger children can express their wild side in Phil Kay’s interactive Gimme Your Left Shoe and there’s another chance for families to enjoy Shelf’s Brighton Festival sell-out The Kids’ Show, packed with sketches, songs and silliness.
Brighton Dome Comedy Festival builds on the success of Brighton Dome’s year-round comedy programme and is supported by Mayo Wynne Baxter.
The Festival’s inclusive line up offers something for comedy fans of all generations. A recent major refurbishment of Brighton Dome’s Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre supports an even wider and more accessible programme of events, for artists, audiences and the local community.
For the full line up and to book tickets, visit brightondome.org.
Maisie Adam picture by Matt Corckett; Nich Kumar picture by Matt Stronge
