The Fringe’s longest running stand-up showcase is back for its 20th year with four of the freshest talents on the circuit.
Recognised as the place to catch the best new stand-ups on the Fringe, The Comedy Zone has helped launched the careers of DAVE GORMAN, HARRY HILL, RUSSELL HOWARD, MARK LAMARR, STEWART LEE, SIMON MUNNERY, AL MURRAY and ROSS NOBLE.
This year, the line-up stars: IVO GRAHAM (So You Think You’re Funny? 2009 winner), NAZ OSMANOGLU (Amused Moose Laugh-off Competition 2009 winner), DAVEY SEE (The Stand's Red Raw compere) and JOSH WIDDICOMBE (Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2010 winner).
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What the press has said about The Comedy Zone
“The Fringe’s leading stand-up showcase.”
The Times
“Comedy’s finest new additions.”
The Observer
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Pleasance Cabaret Bar
Date: 4th - 30th August
Time: 22:45
Box Office: 0131 556 6550
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Ben Nolan, Fran Cherry, Bea Gwynn, Jo Cross or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: benn@avalonuk.com, franc@avalonuk.com, joc@avalonuk.com, beagwynn@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
BIOGRAPHIES
IVO GRAHAM
After just eight months performing as a stand-up, IVO GRAHAM has won 2009’s So You Think You’re Funny? and been nominated for Best Newcomer in the 2010 Chortle Awards. Displaying a quality of writing rarely seen in such a young performer, as well as a grasp of callbacks that eludes many more experienced comedians, IVO’s mix of family observations, razor-sharp gags and stories of his fellow students has also seen him booked to appear at the prestigious 2010 Montreal Just For Laughs Festival. In addition to his work on the circuit, IVO has also written for BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz.
NAZ OSMANOGLU
NAZ, winner of the 2009 Amused Moose Laugh-off Competition, is already a Fringe veteran with acclaimed, irreverent sketch trio WitTank. He is now diverting his angry Anglo-Turkish energy to stand-up as well as sketch comedy, and in addition to the Amused Moose win, he has already been a So You Think You're Funny? finalist and a Best Newcomer nominee at the 2010 Chortle Awards. NAZ has also been selected to be one of the new stars on Laughtershock for BBC Three, a hybrid of stand up and sketch comedy.
DAVEY SEE
DAVEY SEE has been gigging since 2008, with his very first gig at The Stand's Red Raw night. Since then he has played the major clubs, in addition to supporting JENNY ECLAIR at The Citizen's Theatre during the Magner's Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2010, earning a reputation for his confident, laidback style. 2010 will see DAVEY become The Stand's Red Raw compere by the end of the year and support JENNY ECLAIR on her 2010/11 UK tour. DAVEY is currently developing projects for the BBC and is part of the sketch show The Stockholm Syndrome.
JOSH WIDDICOMBE
JOSH WIDDICOMBE was the winner of 2010 Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, having previously been a finalist in So You Think You're Funny? in 2008, just months after starting stand up. He has performed on Arthur Smith's Balham Bash on BBC Radio 4 and has written for Mock the Week and 8 out of 10 Cats. A talented comic, in 2009 JOSH wrote and performed in the sketch show Superclump at the Edinburgh Festival, which received critical acclaim and packed audiences throughout the run.
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics CHRIS ADDISON, SIMON BIRD, JENNY ECLAIR, DAVE GORMAN, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD, LEE MACK, and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Stadium; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed highly successful runs in Australia and London’s West End; and present 20 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 18 Perrier Award/Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees in just 21 years.
