We are so saddened to hear the news that comedy legend and national treasure Barry Cryer has passed away. As you all know, Barry was a fantastic guest and friend of the festival. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.
From Festival Director Chris Daniels:
It is with deep deep sadness that my Slapstick colleagues and I have learned of the passing of Tim Brooke-Taylor last night. Everyone involved with Slapstick joins me in sending sincere and heartfelt sympathies to his family and friends.
Join us Sunday for a special watchparty! Some of the Slapstick team will be live tweeting as we watch our latest
#laughterinlockdown
video featuring
@Dawn_French
and
@ferrifrump
receiving their
@Aardman
Slapstick Comedy Legend Awards in 2017. Details here:
Please join us in wishing the wonderful
@GraemeGarden1
a very happy birthday today! We can’t wait to have him back with us next month for
#Slapstick2021
!
Join us in wishing
@barrycryer80
a very Happy Birthday! We were so lucky to have him with us for
#Slapstick2020
! Photo credit - David Betteridge Photography
Sadly, today would have been Tim Brooke-Taylor's 80th birthday. We miss him very much! A
@JustGiving
page has been set up (with the approval of Tim's widow) to help raise funds for the
@tvapSN
of which Tim was a great supporter. You can donate here:
It has been such a thrill to have Citizen Smith himself,
@RobertLindsay
, as part of
#Slapstick2024
and to present him with the
@Aardman
Slapstick Award for Comedy! Power to the people!
It has been such a pleasure to have visionary director Terry Gilliam as a part of
#Slapstick2024
and to present him with the
@Aardman
Slapstick Award for Visual Comedy!
Do we have bad news? No, we've got More Bad News! Part of
#Slapstick2023
, we will be screening this metal mockumentary featuring a live Q&A with two of the stars.
@NigelPlaner1
& Peter Richardson will be joined by host
@robinince
for the special Q&A.
Our tribute to Barry Cryer on Sunday is looking to be very special! Not only do we have some wonderful guests like
@GraemeGarden1
& Colin Sell, but we've also received some very special video messages from
@stephenfry
,
@RobBrydon
,
@ericidle
, & more!
We are so excited about our news that we decided to reveal it early! Our Silent Comedy Gala is back
@bristol_beacon
! We will be screening
@chaplinofficial
's The Gold Rush with special guest host Hugh Bonneville! General tickets on sale tomorrow at 10!
We will be telling a parrot joke or two during our special tribute to comedy legend Barry Cryer on 27 March. Barry's son
@bobbicee
will be part of this celebration of Baz's finest moments and memories with proceeds going to
@RoyalVariety
Charity.
We have some great events coming for all of you
#LaurelandHardy
fans out there! Coming up is the nearly sold out
@StephenMerchant
's Laurel & Hardy Classics, an event celebrating their solo work AND an event featuring a special Laurel & Hardy surprise!
"I have a childhood memory of a giant cat destroying everything and pulling down the then post office tower....That’s my episode" - Tony Hawks
@thefridgeman
Make sure to let us know your favourite episode of
#TheGoodies
here:
Baz's long-time friend and comic collaborator
@LesDennis
will be hosting our special tribute to Barry Cryer on Sunday. Les will be appearing on
@BBCRadio4
's Saturday Live between 9:00 & 10:30. Profits from our event will be going to
@RoyalVariety
charity.
Win a silent film Blu-ray pack! See below for how to enter👇
This March Criterion are delighted to announce the release of Charlie Chaplin's timeless classic MODERN TIMES on Blu-ray. We have a copy to give away from
@SonyPicsAtHome
in a pack including THE CAMERAMAN & SAFETY LAST
We hope you'll join us for some parrot jokes, moments and memories in our special tribute to Barry Cryer. Friends and family, including his longtime collaborators on
@ISIHAClue
@GraemeGarden1
and Colin Sell, will be celebrating his memory.
Tim Brooke-Taylor was a dear friend of the festival and we miss him greatly. Ahead of this evening's final event of 47 Years Without a Clue, we would love for you to share your favourite Tim Brooke-Taylor memory with us. Our social media admin Rustin will start things off 👇
In case you missed it - we have a brand new video on our YouTube channel! In January 2020, we celebrated 47 years of
@ISIHAClue
with
@RobBrydon
,
@barrycryer80
,
@GraemeGarden1
, Colin Sell, and Tim Brooke-Taylor. You can revisit this very special event here:
We are very sad to hear about the news of Neil Innes passing away. He was a great supporter and a friend of the festival! He will always be remembered for his work in music and comedy - Monty Python, The Rutles, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and much more.
We have just opened the doors for More Bad News! Hope you’ve got your ticket for this event which also features Peter Richardson and
@NigelPlaner1
in conversation with
@robinince
!
📣📣📣 We have some BIG news! Tickets are now on sale for our 2019 silent comedy gala at
@BristolHipp
on 10th Feb 2019! 📣📣📣 Hosted by
@marcusbrig
it'll feature
#CharlieChaplin
's Modern Times and much more! Info and tickets here 👇👇👇
👉👉👉 👈👈👈
With 25 unique events, 7 special guests and 36 musicians at 4 key venues in Bristol., we're bound to have something that will make you laugh as much as these guys! Find out more:
#Slapstick
#Comedy
Due to unforeseen circumstances Omid Djalili is unable to host our Stand Out Stand Up event in Reading on 17th Nov. We are delighted to announce that legendary stand-up performer, actor & author, Alexei Sayle, will now be taking the stage as host.
Barry Cryer was such a great friend of Slapstick and we loved seeing him with us in
#Bristol
! His Bristol connections go back further - did you know that Barry Cryer got married to Theresa Donovan 60 years ago this year in Bishopston?
It's the last day of
#Slapstick2024
!
Events include:
Big Jim and the Figaro Club
Brazil
Kenneth Williams
@adamhillscomedy
Desert Island Comedy Flicks
The Laugheologists
The Dark Comic Genius of Terry Gilliam
The Laurel & Hardy Cabaret
@RobertLindsay
R4 6.30 tonight- a special I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue. This is a lovely tribute to a much loved, kind and very funny man. It made me laugh AND moved me to tears. We miss him.
We were so pleased that we were able to present
@HarryHill
with one of our Slapstick Legacy Medals yesterday. We present this medal to individuals who keep the spirit of slapstick and visual comedy alive!
We are so excited to be bringing you our first live stream event on August 7th!
@DrMatthewSweet
will be in conversation with
@GraemeGarden1
discussing his contributions to radio comedy! Details on how to book can be found here:
#FilmFeelsConnected
On this day in 1936, Charlie Chaplin premiered "Modern Times" in New York.
On Sunday 10th Feb 2019, we’ll be screening the same film at our gala!
@marcusbrig
@BristolEnsemble
@SWSilents
Our full programme for March is out now! We've got individual tickets and full passes on sale! Join us for events celebrating silent, visual, & classic comedy w/special guests including
@RealMattLucas
,
@noelfielding11
,
@lucyportercomic
, and many more!
Gender Rebels is coming up on April 22! We are teaming up with
@PamHutch
,
@Words_and_weeds
, and
@MalaikaKegode
for a day long look at some of the wittiest ways in which movie-makers explored and disrupted gender roles during the 20th century!
On the lookout for a different night out? Join our host with the most
@MisterABK
for a tour of silent film's wierd and surreal shorts! Excited to be at
@TheRoomAbove
on 12 November for a night of comedy, film, performance, and cocktails!
#StrangerFilms
We are screening Ernst Lubitsch's raucous & flirtatious silent comedy I Don't Want to Be a Man as part of our Gender Rebels day at
@Wshed
on 22 April!
@PamHutch
will be providing an intro to the film and Meg Morley will be accompanying the film on piano.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the broadcast of the first episode of
#TheGoodies
! It was wonderful to celebrate this milestone during the festival in January (made bittersweet by the passing of Tim Brooke-Taylor in April). You can view our event here:
Our
#BigComedyNightIn
fundraiser hosted by
@RobinInce
is a week today! Help support the festival during this uncertain time AND join us for an evening of laughter featuring messages from
@frankieboyle
, Jo Brand,
@RobBrydon
...and many more!
This clip comes from our event that
@LeeMack
hosted in 2018. Lee is a longtime fan of Laurel & Hardy, and it was such fun having him introduce his favourites! You can watch his introduction to the classic short Liberty (and the short itself!) here:
We've just released one of our most requested events to our YouTube channel! Revisit this special 47 Years Without a Clue event which features
@RobBrydon
in conversation with
@GraemeGarden1
,
@barrycryer80
, Colin Sell, & Tim Brooke-Taylor.
@ISIHAClue
Thank you so much to
@RobinInce
and Stewart Lee for providing a laughter-filled Saturday evening! We enjoyed that so much! We will be back tomorrow!
#SlapstickLOL
#Slapstick2021
It was absolutely wonderful hearing the laughter and the love at our event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of
#TheGoodies
! Here are some great photos from the night! Photo credit -
@davidthesnapper
#Slapstick2020
So much goes in to producing the festival each year and we wanted to take a moment to show our appreciation! Jacqui Ham is our producer and has been working tirelessly over the last week to make sure everything runs smoothly.
We are screening Ernst Lubitsch's raucous & flirtatious silent comedy I Don't Want to Be a Man as part of our Gender Rebels day at
@Wshed
on 22 April!
@PamHutch
will be providing an intro to the film and Meg Morley will be accompanying the film on piano!