Event: St Andrew's Bookshop Comedy Festival

Andy Kind, who recently contributed a chapter titled 'Infectious Laughter: Humour in a time of tragedy' to Healthy Faith and the Coronavirus Crisis, is hosting three evenings of comedy later this month.

Andy's chapter begins with the kind of question that this event might be the answer to...

"No matter what happens, we still need to laugh,’ a close friend reminded me as I watched 100% of my live work shrivel and drop off like a cursed hand in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown announcements. As a preacher and comedian (Promedian, if you like – which I do) the vast majority of my work over the last fifteen years has been staged (literally, not in a Truman Show sense. Or at least I hope not.) The stage has become my safe space, my second home, my panic room. But what happens when the panic room gets boarded up? How do you bear fruit when all your live work falls to the ground and dies?"

Steve Barnett from St Andrew's Bookshop, who are running the event, told us more:

I was listening to the Folk Show on BBC Radio 2 and was inspired by the Front Room Folk Festival which has been happening to raise money for musicians whose income has dried up.

I thought that a Comedy Festival would be a fun way to raise some money for some of the comedians who normally perform in churches and at Christian Festivals. 

So the St Andrews Comedy Festival was launched involving Andy Kind, Paul Kerensa, Adrian Plass, Tony Vino and many more

 ne of the things we are doing is asking people to record "My favourite joke"  and send it to us. 

The event is hosted by St Andrew's Bookshop.

You can find out more here.