Headliners glad to be back as Stourbridge Comedy Festival rolls on

Headliners Rhys James and Shappi Khorsandi left the sold-out audience at Katie Fitzgerald's in raucous laughter, ably assisted by the supporting acts on the bill on Friday, August 13 and Saturday, August 14.

The bill on Friday was headlined by Rhys James, as seen on Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo, who joked about renting a flat during lockdown with his girlfriend and all issues which came from it.

The 30-year-old also spoke about booking into a hotel and having the receptionist say to him "I know you, you're famous" and then proceeding to ask him who he was.

Rhys was supported by Josh Pugh, who opened with a funny set about his wife and his life in lockdown, and Scott Bennett, who put on a fast-paced and, at times, hysterical routine about his family.

Rhys said the room had been the perfect venue for comedy, describing it as having all the right components.

He said: "It's such a good set up for comedy, with a low ceiling, pillars and good and bad sight lines in the same room, as well as a bar and the prospect of sticky floors in the future.

"I always find that comedy works best when you're not that comfortable in the audience physically and while I don't think this place is haunted, it could be and that makes it a perfect comedy room.

"I enjoyed it and I was very flattered to be asked to be here as one of the headliners, given the calibre of some of the other headliners, so I'd recommend people come along and take in one of the shows in the future."

The show on Saturday was headlined by Shappi Khorsandi, who riffed about being a twenty-something in the 1990s, being on I'm a Celebrity, and growing up as an Iranian-Persian in London.

The set provoked hysterical laughter from the sold-out audience, who had already enjoyed laugh-a-minute sets from support acts Ben Van Der Velde and Jack Gleadow.

Ben spoke about his life during lockdown with his wife and some of the adventures he'd had during lockdown.

Jack mixed very funny lines about his girlfriend and pop music with some hysteric bits involving music about Tinder and elaborate mime about shopping in Argos.

Shappi said it has been nice to work in intimate rooms again after so long, having done outdoor gigs during lockdown and coronavirus restrictions.

She said: "It means a lot to be playing these venues again as we've all been working in places that have much intimacy such as car parks and outdoor venues.

"I've just come back from Edinburgh, where I performed in a multi-storey car park and all the audience were stood in the pouring rain, so it's been fun to find new ways to make people laugh, but nothing beats an intimate club.

"I love Stourbridge though as I used to date a guy from here who taught me all the local dialect and it's great to be able to come here again to perform."