Exeter gets a new comedy festival

New weekender spearheaded by Will Adamsdale and Spencer Jones

Exeter is getting its own weekend comedy festival.

Running across eight venues on June 7 and 8, the even tis the brainchild of comedians Will Adamsdale and Spencer Jones – both of whom made the move from London to Devon at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic

Others taking part include Mike Wozniak, who also lives in the city, and Josie Long, who is making the trip from Glasgow to perform. She said: ‘This is so exciting! So many interesting, silly and fun things are going to happen!’

Adamsdale said: ‘I think Spence and I are unusual in that we’ve both got some profile in comedy and performance, but we’ve chosen to work out of Devon rather than London, and I think that it’s really important to both of us that we contribute to the area in which we live.

‘ In fact, everything’s a bit unusual about this whole enterprise; we’re celebrating emerging artists trying their first hour and established performers bringing work in progress shows – and we’re putting them on in all sorts of spaces: a barber’s (Roots Foundation) and Bunyip Craft store are our most recent additions to the line up!

‘We hope that by platforming exciting new acts from the South West alongside a few we’ve coaxed into making the journey down to Devon, we can showcase Exeter as a great place to live and work for artists and audiences alike.’

Other comedians taking part include Kev Mud, winner of this year’s UK Pun Championships, Louise Leigh Alasdair Wallace, and Alex Kitson.

Kitson, who grew up in Devon and set up the Locally Sourced comedy night in Exeter, said: ‘I’m so looking forward to performing at the festival.

‘Growing up near Tiverton, I was always so jealous of comedy fans elsewhere who got to see amazing funny stuff on their doorstep because I never thought that could happen in Devon.

‘Since then, Locally Sourced starting has not only managed to establish a scene in Exeter, but also somehow epitomised what comedy should really be about in the process.

‘The festival line-up is wonderful and feels like something you want to be able to say you were at the genesis of. And I’d say that even if I wasn’t part of it.’