An army of students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are preparing to tickle hundreds of funny bones when they help run events at the world famous Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival.
Some of the biggest names in comedy including Vic & Bob, Ed Byrne, Johnny Vegas, Romesh Ranganathan and Katherine Ryan are lined up for what is the longest-running comedy festival in Europe, writes Farah Suleman.
As most festival fans are aware, director Geoff Rowe came up with the idea of running the event in Leicester 23 years ago as a project for his degree at DMU. Since then the festival has grown to the point that this year there will be 780 performances over 19 days at more than 60 venues.
Each year DMU students are able to gain invaluable hands-on experience by doing everything from appearing on stage, running the tech backstage to booking and scheduling acts.
De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU) kicks off proceedings with the Live in the Lobby event on Tuesday 2 February, at 7.30pm which costs just £3.
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Leading the line-up is DMU graduate and English Comedian of the Year Jack Campbell, who performed as a member of the student union’s comedy society for three years. He will be supported by Pat Monahan, winner of the 2011 ITV series ‘Show Me The Funny’ and Sofie Hagen, Best Newcomer at the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2015.
Then on Wednesday 17 February DMU will host the “I Say” event with comedy legend Nicholas Parsons in conversation with Geoff Rowe before a Q&A session.
Thirty students from the first year of DMU’s BA (Hons) Arts and Festivals Management course will be helping run the Peter’s Pizzeria venue for the festival.
VICTORY: DMU graduate Jack Campbell wins English Comedian of the Year
They have been gaining a wealth of experience covering everything from helping with bookings and scheduling to running the box office and even operating the sound and lighting.
Course head Tony Graves said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity for the students to get involved and the experience will be very rewarding.
“They get the chance to build a long lasting relationship with a festival grown from our own course.”
Tony said that making a good impression in a work experience role can really go a long way.
“Aspiring to leave a long lasting impact and legacy like some of our previous students have, during this invaluable experience, is wonderful.
“A student who graduated three years ago is now a Project Manager for the Big Difference Company that runs Leicester’s Comedy Festival.”
Adam Redfern, Vice President of Media and Communications at DSU, said: “We have a long-standing friendship with Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival and I am delighted we are able to team up with them again.
“It’s a fantastic festival, and for us to be involved again provides yet another fantastic opportunity for the Demon Media team.
“It’s a pleasure to hold one of the first events of the festival; it feels like we’re kicking it all off in a way.”
Demon FM, the student-run radio station (107.5 FM) which is broadcast across Leicester, will have live interviews with some of the artists during the festival. The shows will be hosted and organised by second and third year students from DMU.
Simon Walsh, Senior Lecturer at Leicester Media School, said: “This is a fabulous opportunity for our students.
“It’s an event for the city, but there are a whole range of opportunities for our students. It’s great for DMU to be represented and the students will be immersed completely and utterly in 100% real world stuff. What an experience!”
He added: “DMU’s long standing relationship with the Comedy Festival is all down to Geoff of course. We’re very proud that he studied here.”
For more information on the artists, dates and times, visit the Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival website
Posted on Monday 1 February 2016