Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival announces stellar line-up

The longest running comedy festival in the UK turns 19 in 2012, and thanks to the first flush of its exciting new partnership with top comedy channel Dave, it's looking more radiant than ever.

From the 3-19th February 2012 Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival will be celebrating in style with 17 days of the highest quality comedy showcasing the talents of some of the most popular, innovative and engaging acts on the circuit. Highlights will include Alistair McGowan, Sarah Millican, Josh Widdicombe, Seann Walsh, Shappi Khorsandi, Jarred Christmas, Mitch Benn, Tom Rosenthal, Greg Davies, Carl Donnelly, Chris Addison, Dave Spikey, Gareth Richardson, Alex Horne, Josie Long & Andi Osho.

Consolidating its reputation as the creator of unique events and in a bid to outdo all the young bloods on the circuit Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival has teamed up with Silver Comedy (www.silvercomedy.co.uk) in a search for the best stand ups (established, amateur, or up and coming) aged 55 years and above. The Die Laughing: Silver Stand Up Competition will hold heats 17th February with two winners (judged by industry insiders) announced on the same day. A day's training on the 10th February is available at a cost of £25.00 to beginners by comedy trainer and Silver Comedy co-founder Chris Head.

Festival favourite Hotel D'Comedie is also set to return. Set in the plush confines of Leicester's first boutique hotel, the audience is invited to "check in" and wait for the hilarity to unfold, as each suite toured reveals a new and unexpected performer behind its door. With the acts and the plot changing each night, the one constant is that Hotel D'Comedie has proven itself to be a truly unforgettable and uniquely immersive comedy experience for its lucky "guests".

The ingenious Comedy in The Dark will be dazzling festival goers for the third year running, with top comedians performing entirely in the dark. Expect the unexpected in an environment with no visual distractions, where the audience's senses are heightened and the performers must dig deep to raise laughs using entirely new performance skills. The result is a highly gratifying and unorthodox show, which also highlights Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival's green credentials through its partnership with Leicester's Environment Partnership Board, One Leicester and The National Forest which aims to promote responsible attitudes towards the environment and lower the carbon footprint of the festival.

The highly regarded Leicester Mercury of the Year Competition will continue to do what it does best: rooting out the stars of tomorrow. Previous award winners include Mitch Benn, Rhod Gilbert, Jason Manford, Johnny Vegas, Henry Paker, Seann Walsh, Josh Widdicombe, and 2011's joint winners Tom Rosenthal (2011 British Comedy Award nominee, Best Breakthrough Act for Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner) and Ben Target.

A groundbreaking festival first will be Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival taking up residence in Leicester eatery Chutney Ivy, which, for the festival's duration will be transformed into Dave's Curry House. This will function as the festival's hub and hang- out; a place to convene, enjoy curry, and of course comedy in plentiful supply. Expect some more Dave related surprises and exciting additions to be announced in the run up to the start of the festival.

Once again the festival has given over its final night to a Gala Charity Finale at Curve Theatre, hosted by Arthur Smith. All proceeds from Comedy Heaven, featuring the best acts from the festival, will go to Amnesty and Prostaid.

Leicester and London preview shows
At De Montfort Hall, Leicester on Friday 13th January the Leicester Preview Show will be hosted by Tim Vine and feature acts including the exuberant Rob Rouse, BBC Comedy Roadshow's Keith Farnan, 2011 Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Nick Helm, Leicester Comedy Festival Best New Show nominee 2011 Vikki Stone, the truly uplifting Jason Cook and joint Leicester Mercury Comedians of the Year Tom Rosenthal (British Comedy Award nominee, Best Breakthrough Act for Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner) and Ben Target. The Leicester Preview Show is sponsored by De Montfort University.

At Kings Place on Thursday 19th January, the London Preview Show will be hosted by Arthur Smith and feature acts including award-winning, international stand-up Paul Sinha, Vikki Stone, anarchic sketch troupe The Dog-Eared Collective, Amused Moose laugh-off Winner, SYTYF runner-up and member of sketch trio WitTank, Naz Osmanoglu, BBC New Comedy Award finalist Pat Cahill, the observational Luke Benson and the surreal and charismatic, John Kearns.