Laugh It Up at the Leith Festival

Phil Kay and Fred Macaulay Ð neither should be missed by any self-respecting Leither.

Feature by No author | 15 Jun 2006
With over 250 performances (up from 33 only three years ago) in 60 venues all within a mile of the bottom of Leith Walk, this year headline acts like the Fence Collective and Scottish jazz giants Tommy Smith and Brian Kellock are joined by the strongest line-up of comedy the festival has ever featured.

It all runs from June 2-11 and has a heap of comedy going on including the following highlights, all on at the Queen Charlotte Rooms. First up 'Die Clatterschenkenfietmaus', described as "Europe's worst pop group" perform their unique brand of musical comedy (Monday June 5, 8.30pm, £5/£4). 'Bob Doolally's World Cup Balls' then takes over "with incisive footballing satire, drink-fuelled ranting and smut" (June 6, 8.30pm, £6/£5) and a few days later the Best of Scottish Comedy, which explains itself really (Friday June 9, 8.30pm, £8).

Two very talented women are also down at the rooms of Queen Charlotte (obviously a big comedy fan!) with Barbara Nice (Wednesday June 7, 8.30pm, £7/£6) and Francesca Martinez (Thursday June 8, 8.30pm, £6/£5). The big guns then close out the comedy section of the festival, with Phil Kay on Saturday June 10 at 1pm and 3pm (£7.50/£5) and stalwart of Scottish comedy Fred Macaulay at 8.30pm on Sunday June 11 (£10) – neither should be missed by any self-respecting Leither.

Audience numbers in 2005 were nearly 24,000, representing a four fold increase in three years and with more acts on than every before, you'd be in the minority if you didn't see something – for details pick up a program or check out: www.leithfestival.com