Liverpool hosts comedy festival

Liverpool is to hold a second comedy festival, including shows by Peter Kay, Daniel Kitson and Les Dennis.

This year's event will be bigger than last year's successful debut, and will see 82 performances in 22 venues over 16 dates.

Peter Kay launches the event with three sold-out dates at the Kings Dock Big Top from June 27.

The festival will also see Dennis playing his first home town gig for more than a dozen years - even though his tour has been hit by disappointing audience numbers at other venues.

Other stand-ups appearing at the event include Phil Nichol, Jimmy Carr, Dara O'Briain, Ross Noble and more, many of them previewing their Edinburgh shows.

Special events include Ferry Funny, in which stand-ups will perform on Mersey Ferries, and Drink Up, Stand Up a Comedy Pub Crawl that was a roaring success last year and Stand Out, a stand-up course for 14- to 18- year olds in the city.

Published: 11 May 2003