With Ed Byrne, Shappi Khorsandi ... and celebrity chef Tom Kerridge

Mark Watson is spearheading a new series of drive-in comedy shows.

The comic will compere a ‘carpool comedy club’ as part of a new touring venture called Drive & Dine Theatre, which kicks off from July 7.

It will visit a number of venues for a week, offering movies and a stand-up night, while offering food from celebrity chef Tom Kerridge.

Other comics taking part include Shappi Khorsandi, Ed Byrne, Ed Gamble, Zoe Lyons, Hal Cruttenden and Daliso Chaponda.

In a newsletter to fans, Watson wrote: ‘As soon as you heard people are starting to do comedy as drive-in nights, you knew deep down I’d get involved.  And here we are.

‘It’s a new kind of challenge, and someone who’s been doing this for more than 15 years doesn’t often get the chance to say that. 

‘The truth is nobody knows what they’re going to be like. I can only tell you that my approach to it will be, as usual, to make it the absolute best, most interactive, most two-hours-of-escapism that it can be.  And that I’m cautiously excited.  And cautiously excited is about as good as it’s been since March.’

The gigs start in the week of July 7 at Luton Hoo Estate and Bath Racecourse before moving to the showground in Henley-on-Thames (the Oxfordshire town which is also hosting two Comedy Store-branded nights of comedy earlier in the month), Hever Castle in Kent, Warwick Racecourse, Chichester College, Syon Park in West London and Selhurst Park in South London.

Yesterday other drive-in gigs were announced in North and East London with headliners including Bill Bailey, Jason Manford and Omid Djalili.

Tickets for Drive & Dine Theatre cost £35 a person and are available here.

Published: 10 Jun 2020