New festival celebrates the best internet comedians

Some of the most successful online  comedians are to present their videos on the big screen in a unique new festival

The Blue Tick Festival will feature Alistair Green, The Pin, Chi with a C, Megan Stalter, Bilal Zafar, Chris Fleming, MBBants and Olaf Falafel.

It has been put together at the Rio Cinema in Dalston, East London, from August 10 to 19 by comedy promoters Show And Tell, who have previously staged several sell-out screenings for Green at London’s Prince Charles Cinema. 

Their founder Tom Searle said: ‘I’m hugely excited to be giving these incredible talents a platform to share their work to live audiences.’

Tickets available, priced from £15, will be available from www.bluetickfest.com from Friday.

Here’s their programme:

Alistair Green, whose fans for his online skits include Judd Apatow, Ricky Gervais and Bob Odenkirk, will open and close the festival with his  Volume One (Aug 10) and Volume Two (Aug 19).

Comedy duo The Pin (Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden) gained viral success for their Zoom-style sketches early on in lockdown, and are taking time off from their smash-hit West End play The Comeback to bring their screening, Pinema, to the festival (Aug 12).

Lucia Keskin, better known as Chi With A C, is the 20-year-old from Margate who has amassed a huge online following thanks to her  DIY parodies of famous shows. She presents Night of the Living Chi (Aug 10).

Megan Stalter is a rising star of the US comedy scene, currently appearing in HBO’s Hacks. The Guardian declared that her 2020 YouTube special ‘announces a formidable new talent’ (Aug 19).

Comedian Bilal Zafar shot to fame early in lockdown thanks to his mastery of inventive comedy on Twitch, where he is best known for bringing the world of Pro Evolution Soccer to life. He presents The Damned PES United (Aug 18).

American stand-up Chris Fleming has amassed millions of views for his YouTube series Gayle, while his more recent content is an artistic smattering of songs, sketches and monologues (Aug 17).

Ghanian-born North Londoner Michael Boahen, known online as MBBants, has developed a huge online following for his recurring characters and catchphrases, which led to a starring role in a BBC Three  pilot earlier this year. He presents In A Bubble With MBBants (Aug 11).

Comedian and illustrator Olaf Falafel is best known for his Youtube series Art Club. He presents a family-friendly compendium of silly and surreal videos for kids and adults, Look What Fell Out Of My Head (Aug 14).

Published: 30 Jun 2021