See some of the best of Rich Hardcastle's photographs

Photographer Rich Hardcastle has spent 25 years capturing comedians on film.

His evocative images date from the early 1990s, when he caught stand-ups backstage at the notorious Late N Live at the Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, and he has gone on to create eyecatching portraits of some of the biggest names in comedy, including Ricky Gervais, Eddie Izzard, Steve Coogan and Louis CK.

Now he is set to publish around 120 of his favourite photographs from the last quarter-century in a lavish coffee-table book, 25 Years Of Shooting Comedians, provided he can raise enough money from a Kickstarter campaign to get it off the ground.

He has support from some of his previous subjects, including Gervais who has written a foreword for the book (as well as being on the cover), and Adam Hills, who is helping produce the book.

Below are a selection of the images planned for the book – if the crowdfunding is successful. All the backstage pictures come from Late N Live in 1994-5… and click the ‘expand gallery’ icon in the top right to view the pictures in best effect.

Contribute to Hardcastle’s crowdfunding page or put in an advance order here.

Published: 28 Jun 2017