NextUp, the digital comedy club dubbed the ‘Netflix of Live Comedy’, is staging a virtual festival throughout July.

Sarah Henley, co-founder of NextUp, joked: “We’re billing this as the ‘biggest’ comedy festival of 2020*, mainly because everything else has been cancelled!  But seriously, this is a fabulous feast of stand-up comedy. We’ve got 31 comedians performing on our virtual stage in a series of 50-minute nightly shows throughout July.  Our aim is to give audiences the closest thing to a live comedy festival as possible with a huge variety of comedy styles - some great names you’ll know and some brilliant rising stars to discover.”

Throughout the pandemic, NextUp has provided platforms for comedians to earn income by streaming performances. NextUp even launched a ‘Heckle the Virus’ Crowdfunding initiative which raised over £120,000 to soften the impact of live events being cancelled and venues shutting. 

Sarah says: “All the money raised by our Crowdfunding has gone entirely to support the livelihoods of comedians. We’ve been doing everything in our power to keep the comedy circuit going and to bring live comedy to the masses. Over recent months there’s been lots of talk about the impact of Lockdown on our mental health and the need to combat loneliness. Laughter is a brilliant release for us all. Comedy is a great way to ease tensions and bring much-needed light relief in these turbulent times.”

Building on this momentum, NextUp is now launching its month-long ‘Edinburgh Fringe-style’ comedy virtual festival that everyone can access digitally with a different stand-up comic on every night. Using video conferencing software to put their comedy line-up in the same space as the audience, NextUp will create a ‘live gig’ atmosphere to enable comedians to be seen, heard and to interact.  Tickets cost £9 to take part in a session with a maximum audience of 200 people. Think of these as large group calls, led by comedians, with an incredible potential to create a one-off shared experience.

Sarah says: “Being part of our Zoom audience means you can interact with our performers – ask questions and take part in the banter. Proceeds of each show will be split 50/50 between the comedian and NextUp.”     

For the hard-core comedy fans, NextUp are offering ‘Festival VIP Passes’, including a NextUp annual subscription, and allowing access to every show, even when they’re sold out. The VIP pass costs just £77 with a beer delivery to your home, worth £15, to give as much of a live gig experience as possible from your sofa. *See website for full terms and conditions.            

NextUp is also offering advice to all their comedians on how to get the best from their virtual performances.   Sarah says: “We recommend a very high level of audience interaction to help connect with audiences remotely. Our performers will be able to see everyone’s faces (and visa-versa) so they should take advantage of that and facilitate connection. 

“To enable the audience interaction, during the ticket-buying process we may ask audience members customised questions and provide our performers with the answers to use as interactive comedy ammo. However, at the end of the day audiences will have booked to see our comedians perform because of their own unique brand of comedy.”

Among the comedians who have signed up to the Digital Festival of Comedy is Irish comic Andrew Maxwell (pictured), who appeared in last year’s ‘I’m a Celebrity…’ Commenting on his recent NextUp experience Andrew says: "I excused myself from parental duties, donned my lederhosen, and took myself off to the shed with my laptop…to find myself in a group chat with hundreds of strangers, looking at me to entertain them!  Not my usual Wednesday night. 

Also appearing are many more acts including Jordan Brookes, Olga Koch, Josie Long (pictured), Abandoman, Tim Key (pictured), Ivo Graham and Maisie Adam (pictured). The full list is at the link below.

Tickets on sale now here: https://nextupcomedy.com/festival/

The Leicester Comedy Festival was bigger, but maybe this is the biggest online comedy festival of 2020. So far anyway...