Balham Comedy Festival

COMEDY legends including Robert Newman, Susan Calman, Mark Steel, Marcus Brigstocke, Milton Jones and Stephen K Amos are among the line up at this year's Balham Comedy Festival.

Following the success of its eight night run last year, this year's event once more feature the very best in established names and up and coming talent over eight nights and nine days at the Bedford pub in Bedford Road.

So far more than 25 acts have been announced to appear at the festival which runs between Friday, July 11 and Saturday, July 19 with organisers promising more to come.

The individual performances in The Bedford's Round Room, Ballroom and Tavistock Room will be complemented by several star turns from The Best of Banana Cabaret on July 11.

The evening will be hosted by John Moloney, festival co-founder and star of BBC's Grumpy Old Men and the forthcoming BBC Radio 4 series The Gospel According to John and will feature a line up including Zoe Lyons, Steve Williams and Rudi Lickwood.

John said: "Last year's festival built on the success of the previous years and this time it's even better.

"When Dave Vickers and I were planning it in February we had a wish list of who we wanted to invite and our wishes have by and large come true.

"We have some great names - some who people will know very well and some not so. The beauty of it is that whoever you come and see you will have a great time because they are all seasoned comics and are very, very funny.

"I'm particularly excited about Kevin Day who is the comic's comic. It will be his first stand up for about 10 years and it's going to be fantastic. He's so well respected in the industry and is a real craftsman so it's a real treat to have him in the line up

"But we have some people like Marcus Brigstocke who have been every year so there is a lot of loyalty to the festival.

"I also love the fact it's become a kind of drop in so comics come along and do a turn and hang out with the rest of the audience to see the rest of the set."

As well as the stand up, free comedy workshops for both adults and children will take place once again this year and will be led by John Moloney, Adam Bloom and Dave Fulton.

John said: "I'm really excited about the comedy workshops because they are so fascinating and great fun.

"We encourage the parents to stick around and see what happens when the kids sit in a circle and talk about funny stuff - it's hilarious to watch and they had a great time last year."

Tickets start at £10. Visit www.balhamcomedyfestival.com for full listings