Mammoth line-up for Easter gig

An array of top-flight comedians from the North of England are to stage a major fundraiser for the victims of the war in Ukraine.

Stars including Johnny Vegas, Jason Manford, Les Dennis and Dave Spikey are taking part in the gig at  Manchester’s O2 Apollo on Easter Monday,  April 18.

The event was put together by John Thomson and  Justin Moorhouse, who said, ‘Everyone has been shocked, saddened and powerless by what’s been happening in Ukraine over the past few weeks.

‘We knew we had to help out one of our own, Ukrainian president and former comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy and all those affected by conflict by putting on a very special show to raise money for the Legacy of War Foundation.’

The bill also includes Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Mick Miller, Ted Robbins. Britain’s Got Talent finalists Daliso Chaponda and Steve Royle,  Have A Word podcaster Adam Rowe, Tez Ilyas, Nina Gilligan and Tom Binns

Alan Erasmus, the founder of Factory Records, also helped put together the event following a trip to Lviv.

He said: ‘Seeing the queues of refugees looks normal at first glance. There are lines of Western European families, not the typical images of refugees familiar from the TV, in smart winter clothing as if they were queuing at the airport for a skiing holiday.

‘When you get closer, you realise that it is no holiday that they are on – they have all the belongings they can carry, kids with pull along cases, cats and dogs on leads and bags and they are actually fleeing from the Russians. This is a huge displacement of people – they all need our help.’

Tickets for the Easter Comedy Eggstravaganza will go on sale at 10am on Friday  here.

Published: 24 Mar 2022