The 1st to the 7th of June, saw the Hastings Comedy Festival, take over numerous venues across the town. Comedians flock to the seaside, using the event as one of their warm up gigs on route to the Edinburgh Festival.

 

There is a huge programme to choose from, with most of the acts being unknown to us, but as tickets start from as little as £6.50, what’s not to like. The hardest part is choosing who you see and where. We took the logical approach, deciding which dates we were available, then finding two acts performing in close proximity to each other and just go for it. As it turned out it wasn’t too difficult.

On the second day of the festival, we opted for two venues in St Leonard’s. First stop, the Piper hosting Lou Wall, an Aussie lady recently moved to the Uk. There was plenty of seating and I thought I’d got lucky, with no one choosing to sit in front of me, I had a clear view of the stage. But I needn’t have worried about the view, as at 6’5” Lou could be seen from wherever you sat.

She used her height as the basis for her show, wondering why she never met any tall old ladies. We went on a journey, discussing her theories and research about where have all the tall Grandmas gone. There were jokes, videos and song about her findings and conclusions. Her anecdotes and songs were funny, though not LOL funny.

She ended the show with video of her, alongside her tall Mum and two tall Aunties, all of which are in fact ……….. Tall Grandmas.😂

As we exited, the rain was starting to tumble, so it was just as well we only had a short walk around the corner to the St Leonard Pub, where we were due to see Tez Ilyas.

 

He was a more familiar face, having been on telly over several years. His show, also a work in progress towards the Edinburgh Festival, was more a look at life today, from the perspective of a non white, British born man.

A proud northern lad with a strong northern accent, he is also very proud to be British. We explored, with him the problems we face in Britain today. He made us laugh about the furore, last year, over people flying Union Flags and the St George’s Cross, and red crosses being painted on mini roundabouts. Probably the only country in the World where flying your national flag can be deemed racist 🤷‍♀️.

He made light of the stresses of everyday life, from marriage, to raising kids in the current climate, from mother in laws and extended family, to life working on the road.

All very familiar and relatable topics, made funny by realising how mundane and irrelevant some “issues” can be. A great hour long, laughter filled look at life.

Two days later, we enjoyed the company of our friend Vj, as we headed to the Old Town, in search of more fun and laughter.

First stop was the Jenny Lind Inn, to see Maia Tassalini and her “I was 22 and stunning”show. Naturally, we thought we were going to learn all about her. She started by explaining her childhood, being the daughter of a famous Mum, was often spent sitting in the corner at celebrity bashes.

 

The show is based around an encounter, aged 13 she had at one such bash, where a Drag Queen told her she looked like Monica Lewinsky. Being too young to know who Monica was, she found herself later in life researching her story.

Her very funny show takes us on a trip down memory lane, to a time when men were very powerful. How Monica had felt shame and public humiliation as the stories of a sex scandal emerged.

She put herself in the 22 year old Monica’s shoes at the heart of American politics, the advances of a President and her subsequent downfall as she was trampled beneath the power of men. All things women of today can relate to, yet now have the power themselves to overcome such advances.

A very clever performer, able to include the entire room, referencing how things have changed over the decades, such as the beginning of the internet, which us oldies understood and social media and influencers the younger ones amongst us found funny 🤷‍♀️

She was very interactive with her audience and had us laughing out loud with her observations of how life for women has evolved and her attempts over the years to contact Monica Lewinsky. Brilliant 🤩 

 

Our final stop was a short hop skip and jump away at Ye Olde Pumphouse. Although it appears ancient, and some parts of the building date back to circa 1600’s, it was extensively refurbished in the mid 1950’s remaining relatively untouched since then. It is a wonderful unique, quirky building, with the main bar and restaurant, complete with creaky floorboards, on the first floor, entered through a door to the side of the building.

Although we entered into the bar, we were directed to seating in the tiny room at street level, ready to see Trevor Bickles. Being a London Black Cab driver, in another life, his show is about some of the hilarious conversations he’s had with customers as he drove them around London.

He is an old style comedian, and a few times I was waiting for the “boom boom” at the end of his tales. (If you know you know 😂), His stories, about the experiences we’d all had navigating the streets of London, were very relatable. With his cheeky smile, he was very witty and with a small, mostly retired audience, he interacted well and kept us engaged and laughing all the way through.

As we chatted with him afterwards, he said he wasn’t heading to Edinburgh this year as it would be too expensive for him. We think he should definitely try to get there next year, he will be very well received.

Much like our own trip to Edinburgh last year, we had only enjoyed a small snippet of what was on offer at our local Hastings Comedy Festival.

However what a wonderful couple of evenings we’d had. It’s not quite on the same scale, but if you’ve often dreamed of experiencing EdFringe, but never quite made it, definitely try out Hastings next year. Incredible value for money and just a bus ride home.