The Slapstick Festival

Various

Thu 22nd January - Sun 25 January

Slapstick silent comedy festival returns for its fifth year bringing laughter to Bristol just when we need it most. This year’s festival is stuffed to the brim with some of the world’s funniest silent comedies, brought to life by an unprecedented line-up of special guests. Paul Merton is back once again as the inimitable host of Slapstick’s FRIDAY NIGHT GALA at Colston Hall, presenting Buster Keaton’s Our Hospitality accompanied live by the finest silent film ensemble in Europe The Prima Vista Social Club.

Slapstick is a Bristol Silents/Watershed event presented in partnership with Aardman Animations, BFI National Archive, Colston Hall, Arnolfini, Bristol Old Vic and Festival of Ideas.

The Goodies (Theatre Royal)

Thursday 22 January '09 8pm

Slapstick ‘09 welcomes two of Britain’s much loved comic performers as a modern day homage to the great silent comedians of the past. For over a decade, The Goodies TV show delighted millions of viewers with their inventive and often hilarious slapstick comedy and its writers/performers became household names and major pop stars! With The Goodies enjoying a new lease of life on DVD both in the UK and overseas, we are delighted to welcome both Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden to discuss their unique show with comedian and Goodies fan Phill Jupitus.

Tickets: £5-£20

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Proudly Presents: UKULELESCOPE

Saturday 24th January ‘09 8pm
 
The world premiere of a brand new show. The UOGB have collaborated with BFI National Archive to find a host of unusual and little seen gems from the early days of silent film, and have sculpted them into a delightfully eclectic evening of music, film, comedy and pathos. This mixed bill combines short films and clips including adverts, singing pictures, 'actualities', dramas, Science and nature, hints and hobbies and documentary footage to amaze, amuse and baffle. All of this, of course, presented in the UOGB’s own inimitable style, and set to a programme of original scores and old favourites from musical history. 

Tickets: £5-£20

An Audience with Eric Sykes (Theatre Royal)

Sunday 25th January ‘09 4pm

Iconic actor, writer and comedian Eric Sykes comes to Bristol’s Slapstick Festival as our special guest to discuss his extraordinary career in television and film and his association with British comedy legends including Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Frankie Howerd. Onstage in conversation with Graeme Garden and using extracts of this best work focusing on the three decades of the ‘silent’ comedy shorts he produced for cinema and television including his masterpiece The Plank (1967), this promises to be an unmissable event and a rare chance to hear a comedy master talking about his craft.

Tickets: £5-£20