Slapstick Festival

At the centre of Slapstick’s satirical comedy strand is Stanley Kubrick’s award - winning visionary cinematic satire of the cold war.  Stanley Kubrick’s dark satire follows the chaos after an unhinged US general orders a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union. As both nations scramble to prevent Armageddon, Peter Sellers delights in multiple roles, alongside George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, and James Earl Jones. Even though now 60 years old, Dr. Strangelove remains razor-sharp and worryingly relevant.

Plus:

Is Satire Dead? Navigating the Madness of Modern Politics

This screening will be followed by an onstage panel discussion hosted by presenter Samira Ahmed, discussing the place of satire in the 21st century. 

Nigel Planer is a man of very many parts– actor, poet, comedian, author, playwright, voiceover artist, musician– and possesses a showbiz CV which takes in everything from starring roles in award-winning musicals, TV whodunits, fondly-remembered comedies and stage dramas. However, in this event, he’s focusing on two of his best loved comedy parody characters– Neil, AKA Neil Wheedon Watkins Pye, the pacifist, vegetarian hippy from The Young Ones who earned a surprise chart hit and BRIT Award for his version of A Hole In My Shoe, and the spoof luvvie even luvvies love, Nicholas Craig, classical actor and self-styled “sage of the stage”.

In conversation with Robin Ince. 

Whether it’s the flamboyant pratfalls of The Pink Panther films or the aural anarchic of The Goon Show, the essence of Slapstick comedy was vital to the comedy career of Peter Sellers. Robert Ross, Britain’s Comedy Historian and the author of the new book, Best Sellers: Peter Sellers A Life in Comedy, presents an affectionate and hilarious celebration of the comic genius in this, his centenary year.

Rik Mayall (1958 to 2014) was a pioneer of alternative comedy, writing and performing in a style which revolutionised TV sitcoms and led to such memorable series as Filthy Rich & Catflap, The Comic Strips Presents, Bottom, The New Statesman, and the one which still brings location tourists to Bristol, The Young Ones. Here, his Young Ones and The Comic Strip Presents co-star, Nigel Planer, discusses Rik’s legacy with superfan Robin Ince, using clips from Rik’s output to salute his creative brilliance, including rare and previously unseen footage. 

This event will be BSL-interpreted.

As his brother’s band The Beatles were enjoying their first chart success, the younger of the McCartney brothers was adopting the name Mike McGear and forming satirical comic trio The Scaffold, with poet Roger McGough and comedian John Gorman. 

They went on to score UK hits with Lily The Pink, Thank U Very Much and Liverpool Lou but Mike always had a parallel interest to music and performance – photography.

And his showbiz connections, tours and travels mean he has albums filled with fascinating images and a fund of remarkable anecdotes to go with them. 

Now he’s opening up his collection of images to share stories and moments that inspired by him with his friend, comedian and host of Channel 4’s The Last Leg, Adam Hills.

Against a perennial backdrop of party rivalries worldwide, cast leaders Sir Michael Palin and Robert Lindsay take a timely look back at Alan Bleasdale’s highly controversial, dark comedy about political divisions and abuses of power. 

First shown in 1991 on Channel 4 as a seven-parter, the series attracted the attention of fraud police and threats of libel suits, while also earning multiple Best Actor awards for Robert Lindsay and BAFTA nominations for Sir Michael and Lindsay Duncan. Also features appearances by Dame Julie Walters, Anna Friel and Coronation Street’s Jane Danson, among many other well-known names, with an Elvis Costello soundtrack. Series superfan, writer and comedian Robin Ince hosts.

From Punky Business with Jane Asher to Joan Sims and June Whitfield as gangsters running the world of ballroom dancing, Samira Ahmed and Graeme Garden provide a follow-up to their hugely popular Slapstick 2024 show, this time drawing on a rich archive of clips to discuss the importance of the many comic actresses who featured in The Goodies TV series, and the roles they played.

This year’s winner of the Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend Award is comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director Ben Elton. He first achieved widespread fame for the left-leaning satirical rants he delivered as the host of Channel 4’s Saturday Live. 

But his career as a scriptwriter began in 1980 and went on to give him writing credits and cameo roles in a wide array of TV comedy classics, among them The Young Ones, the showbiz spoof Filthy Rich & Catflap, some of the Blackadder series and Upstart Crow, and to collaborations with stars such as French & Saunders, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry and Rowan Atkinson. Along the way, he has also written over a dozen novels and worked on musicals, including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game, and on the smash hit jukebox musical built around Queen songs, We Will Rock You. With onscreen extracts, Ben will be talking with Last Leg presenter and comedian, Adam Hills, about highlights of his career prior to receiving a personalised Morph, conferring on him Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend status.

This event will be BSL-interpreted.