The fourth annual Wells Comedy Festival took place this weekend – May 25-27 – and saw audience numbers increase by nearly 2000 on 2017’s festival.

A total of 6725 tickets were sold – compared to 4853 in 2017 – across 66 shows taking place in six venues.

The festival included sell-out shows from Welsh powerhouse Rhod Gilbert, the godfather of alternative comedy Alexei Sayle, Netflix star James Acaster, TV regular Sara Pascoe (pictured) and a surprise appearance from Glastonbury Festival supremo Michael Eavis as the guest on Richard Herring’s podcast.

It all kicked off with Friday night’s Opening Gala – with a surprise line-up featuring Sara Pascoe, Nish Kumar and others – and rounded off with the Comedians Cinema Club’s improvised recreation of Wells’ very own ‘Hot Fuzz’, as is festival tradition.

Other shows included cult Scottish comic Limmy; Edinburgh Comedy Award-winners Tim Key, Adam Riches and John Kearns; Chaser Paul Sinha, ‘Live at the Apollo’ stars Mark Watson, Dane Baptiste and Spencer Jones; ‘Harry Potter’ actress Jessie Cave; west country hero Jayde Adams and many more.

Ben Williams, the Festival’s Director, said, ‘This year’s Wells Comedy Festival was a huge success – the biggest and best yet. The feedback we’ve received from audiences and acts has been overwhelming positive. A huge thanks to everyone who made it possible – performers, staff, volunteers, venues, partners – we couldn’t have done it without you.’

Next year’s festival will take place May 24-26 2019. For more details sign up to the mailing list here. 

Picture: Matthew Highton