Join us for a comedy showcase evening featuring some of the funniest finalists and winners of Britain’s Got Talent from the past few years!

We’re delighted to have the talented Lost Voice Guy on the bill! With a comedy career beginning in 2012, Lost Voice Guy (real name Lee Ridley) stands out from most comedians through his disability, which has left him unable to speak (hence the name!). He channels his comedic gift through a communication aid, riffing on daily life, improvisation, and his experiences of disability. In June 2018, Ridley won the 12^th series of Britain’s Got Talent, having made it through the audition stages and winning the show by a public vote. Ridley is also an alumni of our very own UClan!

Next up, bringing a little bit of magic to our stage, it’s Mandy Muden! Otherwise known as Magic Mandy, Muden is a London-based comedian and magician. A member of the Magic Circle, she was awarded the Magic Circle Carlton Award for Comedy in Magic, and was the first and only woman to host the secretive group. Adding to her list of accomplishments, she is also a trained actress, and has been in theatre productions of both Aladdin and Cinderella! We’re very excited to see her perform!

We’ve also got Mickey P Kerr, a comedian who uses the vehicle of music to deliver his act! He delivered an intense passion for music at an early age, describing locking himself ‘away for days on end. Folk came to marvel at this spectacle. Some would flatten sandwiches and pass them under his door, others would simply sit, wait and listen.’ At the age of 20 he wrote his first song, and in his own words it was “sad, melancholy, and crap”. He’s gotten a lot better since then. The comedian from Leeds has also performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, was a runner-up in the 2016 Musical Comedy Awards, and was a finalist in the latest series of Britain’s Got Talent.

Next on the line-up is 2017 finalist Daliso Chaponda, who came third in the 2017 se ries of Britain’s Got Talent. Chaponda was born in Malawi, and has since lived in various countries such as Thailand, Australia, and Switzerland. In 2001, while living in Canada, he began his comedy career, performing at stand-up clubs and open mic nights. During one of his Britain’s Got Talent performances, he was given the prestigious ‘Golden Buzzer’ by judge Amanda Holden. We can’t wait to see Chaponda’s act!

Last, but definitely not least on the line-up is Noel James. For the last eight years, James has performed his comedy all throughout the country. In his own words, James is ‘Surreal, bizarre, absurd, intelligent, and yet, somehow strangely attractive. No, seriously he is a very accessible act who generally goes down well anywhere.’ Noel specialises in surreal stand-up, mixing odd jokes and wordplay into his act. He is also an actor. We’re sure that his off-kilter comedy style will leave audiences wanting more!

Hosting the night is Preston’s own funnyman, Tony Vino! Vino hails himself as the ‘only half Spanish half Scottish hybrid working comic in the world’. Born in Malaga and raised in ‘Costa Del Preston’, he was only a toddler when ‘his Father looked around saw the sea, the sand and the sunshine of the Andalucian coast and thought we need to be nearer Wigan Pier.’ He’s now been a comedian for over 10 years, best known for the way he seamlessly mixes well thought out observational humour with audience interaction and quick witted responses. He has performed and compered for Christian Aid, Oxfam, Fairtrade Foundation and TearFund. He does warm up work for BBC Songs of Praise (tough crowd) and is a regular comedy pundit on BBC Radio Manchester. We’re really looking forward to having this industry professional take us through the whole laugh-filled evening.

*Line up subject to change

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Stewart Francis, the Canadian one-liner king, has announced his farewell comedy tour, aptly named ‘Into The Punset’, and will be coming to Preston Guild Hall in May 2019.

Francis has made waves in the comedy industry, making multiple appearances on ‘Mock the Week’, ‘Live at the Apollo’, ‘Crackerjack’, and ‘Qi’. He also won Dave’s Funniest Joke Of The Fringe in 2012, with the rib-cracking ‘You know who really gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks’, also coming in with the eighth funniest; ‘I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!’

Since 2013 Francis has been speaking about quitting comedy, in order to pursue a career as being a cartoonist.‘Stand-up – I’ve been there and done it now. I’m grateful for everything it’s given me, including the chance to be what I always wanted to be – a cartoonist. It’ll be a step back financially but personality-wise and creatively, a step forward as far as I’m concerned.’

See him before he heads off… Into the Punset!

“One of the funniest comedians in the world.”
Craig Ferguson, CBS’ Late Late Show.

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As well as being the all-round entertainer we all know and love from the telly, Count Arthur Strong is also a lifelong fan of astronomy, since having been given a microscope, or whatever it is they use, for Christmas when he was a small precocious baby. In fact, it’s said the first word he spoke was ‘Uranus’. In this, his brand-new show, he seamlessly combines the very best showbiz entertainment you’ll currently find, in the world, possibly? as he wrestles with some of the big questions that other all-round entertainers shy away from. Such as:
Are we alone in the universe?
Is there life on Mars bars?
2lbs of potatoes.
Packet of ginger nuts.
Don’t lose this shopping list.

‘Do not miss this not to be missed type of thing! If I wasn’t in the show I’d definitely be in the audience watching myself intently. Laughing and learning in equal measure. Thoroughly happy to pay the admission fee and definitely not asking for a refund. Also not rustling sweet wrappers and fiddling with my sodding telephone with a gormless expression on my face. See you there!’.

Arthur

On sale Friday 14 December at 10am!

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