Aberdeen International Comedy Festival returns for 2022
Aberdeen International Comedy Festival returns with a gut-busting selection of comedians like Jack Dee, Olga Koch, Sofie Hagen, Jordan Brookes and Liam Farrelly – but there are plenty more reasons to visit the Granite City outwith the comedy
Comedy fans should look northeast next month! The Aberdeen International Comedy Festival returns with a splendid selection of standups, from rising talent on the Scottish scene to bonafide comedy legends. The event kicks off with Irish funnyman David O’Doherty (Tivoli Theatre, 6-7 Oct), who’s promising a night of talking, apologising and songs played on a glued-together plastic keyboard. Festivities come to a close, meanwhile, with the master of lightning-quick one-liners, Milton Jones (Tivoli Theatre, 16 Oct).
Among the hottest tickets will be everyone’s favourite big-collared absurdist Harry Hill (Tivoli Theatre, 10 Oct) and Daniel Sloss & Friends (Music Hall, 14 Oct), a one-off show that sees the Scottish standup joined by some of his talented pals. There’s also Jack Dee (Music Hall, 8 Oct), who’ll be his usual ray of sunshine with new show Off the Telly. More energy should be expected from Justin Moorhouse’s fresh routine (Aberdeen Douglas Hotel, 9 Oct), titled Stretch & Think. You should also be first in the queue for the latest shows from rising standup stars Sofie Hagen (The Lemon Tree, 7 Oct), Krystal Evans (Books & Beans, 13 Oct) and Stephen Bailey (Cheerz, 8 Oct).
We’d also heartily recommend MC Hammersmith (The Priory, 11 Oct). He may look like the love child of Harry Potter and Louis Theroux, but as soon as he starts spitting his hilarious improvised raps you know he’s the real deal. And the bracingly honest Olga Koch (The Lemon Tree, 14 Oct) brings her relentlessly hilarious Just Friends, a raucous show diving into what it means to be a “horny sex woman” in 2022. There are plenty of other amazing acts coming to Aberdeen with hot shows from the Fringe. Among those we’d point you in the direction of are Mancunian sweet boy Brennan Reece (Tunnels, 12 Oct), Edinburgh-based bad boy Liam Withnail (Park Inn, 14 Oct), the blistering Jordan Brookes (The Lemon Tree, 9 Oct) and youthful Glaswegian Liam Farrelly (Under the Hammer, 9 Oct) whose Fringe debut show, God's Brother-In-Law, is set to be another hot ticket.
You’ll also find Farrelly on one of two packed Supernova lineups playing consecutive evenings on the first weekend of the festival and overflowing with Scottish talent. The first, on 8 October, features rising star Connor Burns, the whimsical Gareth Waugh and saucy storyteller JoJo Sutherland. Then, on the following night, Supernova includes the aforementioned Liam Farrelly, Scot Squad’s Chris Forbes and the delightfully crude Kai Humphries (a Geordie, but an honorary Scot).
That’s two hefty showcases of Scottish funny folk, but if you wanna see more there’s Doric’s Funniest (O’Neill’s, 6 Oct), and you’ll also find headline sets from other Scottish faves like Glasgow’s Christopher Macarthur-Boyd (Blue Lamp, 12 Oct), the perennially kilted Craig Hill (Tivoli Theatre, 15 Oct) and Stuart McPherson (Siberia, 16 Oct), who’s bringing his acclaimed 2022 Fringe show The Peesh. The festival also features kids' shows, improv, musical and drag artists so there is something for everyone in the programme.
As well as the comedy, there’s also the opportunity to explore Aberdeen itself. What’ll strike you first about Scotland’s third largest city is the architecture. The extensive use of sparkling granite, used to build everything from grand buildings to humble tenements, makes Aberdeen totally unique. And you don’t need to stray too far from the Comedy Festival to experience these knockout structures, with venues like the Douglas Hotel, Tivoli Theatre and the Music Hall all examples of great granite buildings in the city.
There’s also plenty to see on the façades of buildings, thanks to an abundance of amazing street art that’s the legacy of the ongoing Nuart Aberdeen street art festival. Not all of this street art is graffiti and stencils. Huge murals adorn city centre buildings and have helped transform the heart of Aberdeen into a glorious outdoor art gallery featuring masterpieces by world-class street artists from all over the world. This year’s collection includes Spanish artist Slim Safont’s mural of a girl in a tartan kilt on the side of Union Plaza, which topped the Street Art Cities list of Best Murals in the World in June 2022. There’s also small playful installations to look out for like Jan Vormann’s brightly coloured LEGO pieces that plug up holes and cracks in centuries-old structures.
Another standout attraction in the city is the Aberdeen Art Gallery, which houses an impressive array of French Impressionist and Pre-Raphaelite paintings as well as a wide range of works by contemporary Scottish and English painters. The elegant neoclassical building itself, which recently received a major facelift during a four-year restoration, is a stunner too. Add to this some of the best retail in the country and a great selection of places to eat, drink and stay, and you’ve many reasons to make your way to the Granite City this October.
Aberdeen International Comedy Festival takes place 6-16 Oct at various venues across the city. The event is sponsored by Event Scotland and Original 106, and partnered with charity Mental Health Aberdeen. For more info and tickets, head to aberdeencomedyfestival.com