Bloody funny! It's the Cannibal Comedian

Gruesome new horror flick set in the world of stand-up

Stand-up might have a reputation for attracting society’s outsiders… but what about a psychopathic cannibal?

That’s the premise of a new, low-budget comedy-slasher film now seeking a distributor.

Horror filmmaker Sean Haitz says he was drawn to the idea of Cannibal Comedian after trying his own hand at stand-up.

He said: ‘I discovered how brutal that world was. Comics also use phrases like "I killed" or "I murdered tonight" and I thought it would be fun if we had a serial maniac who really did kill on and off stage, and so Cannibal Comedian was born.’

Om his script, cannibal Charlie - played by Aaron Prager- tries comedy in an attempt to ‘satisfy his appetite for normalcy’ and try to find more ambition in his life makers say.

Producer Ryan James, who also Bruce, another comic, added: ‘Cannibal Comedian is designed to bring both the pain and the funny, so fans of both genres will have their hands full of entertainment while screaming with laughter and terror.

‘While Charlie is no stranger to using his zany charm to kidnap victims for the nutritional value of their bodily organs, the film wholeheartedly captures the process behind the artist’s journey about following your dreams and not letting anyone stand in the way, including yourself.

‘Between crafting creative kills in the desert and writing horrifically lived-in jokes for the stage, it’s both fascinating and mesmerising to watch Aaron tap into Charlie’s passionate pursuit while juggling his slasher side.’

The film, set in the American West is described as ‘a love letter to stand-up comedy and horror films such as Tobe Hooper’s 1974 cannibal classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ – and features two cast members from that Edwin Neal, who played The Hitchhiker, and Allen Danziger, who was Jerry.

The trailer has just been released – and kicks off with a joke usually attributed to British comic Darren Walsh.

‘I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free,’ says a terrible comic on stage at the start of the clip. Walsh won Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe with the gag in Edinburgh in 2015, although it later transpired he was far from the first to have made it.