Capacity audience enjoys first night of Stourbridge Comedy Festival

Katie Fitzgerald's in Stourbridge is the venue for more than a month of laughs, one-liners and puns as the host of the Stourbridge Comedy Festival.

The festival began on Saturday, August 7 with a raucous and hilarious set from Irish comedian Ed Byrne, all played out in front of a sold-out and capacity crowd of 200 people.

Byrne was ably supported on the night by sets from Radu Isac and Ben Briggs, and was hosted by MC Wayne Beese, whose company Funny Beeseness is running the festival.

It was the first time Katie Fitzgerald's had hosted an event of this size since reopening after Covid restrictions were lifted and co-owner Eddy Morton said he thought it has been a great success.

He said: "Saturday night was absolutely fantastic as it was sold out and everything went really well, with Ed Byrne smashing it and doing his second encore in two nights.

"The other acts on the night were superb as well and it was a great and really funny show.

"It's the first event we've done to full capacity since we reopened, having done a number at limited capacity, and we were a bit nervous, but it turned out to be a great night for everyone."

Among the acts set to come to the festival include Rhys James on Friday, August 13, Shappi Khorsandi on Saturday, August 14, Chaser Paul Sinha on Saturday, September 4 and two nights on September 11 and 12 by Rich Hall.

Eddy Morton said he hoped the next few weeks would provide the same quality of entertainment and said it was a great boost to the venue as well.

He said: "Everyone really enjoyed the first night here and I'm hoping for more of the same as the demand never ends for comedy and it's the perfect antidote to everything that's gone on.

"It's a great boost to us as well as we have gone from nothing to having six weeks of entertainment on offer, for which we've nearly sold out every night as well."

To find out more about the festival, go to funnybeeseness.co.uk