Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival

Leicester Comedy Festival, UK's longest running comedy festival, and home of original comedy events, announces a new deal with Dave, the award-winning home of witty banter.

The longest running comedy festival in the UK turns 19 in 2012 and to celebrate its birthday it has teamed up with UKTV's home of witty banter, Dave, to continue to champion live stand up. With immediate effect the festival will be known as Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival.

At a breakfast launch in Leicester today, Founder & Director of the Festival Geoff Rowe said that: "As the longest running comedy festival in Europe, it's been a pleasure to work with some of the best stand up comedians over the past 19 years. We've also developed a tradition of producing original and special events which can't be seen anywhere else. The festival has become a crucial part of the UK's live comedy scene. I'm delighted to be announcing the sponsorship with Dave, which will allow us to grow and develop the festival over future years."

Dave's General Manager, Steve North, said, "Since launching in 2007, Dave has been committed to an ethos of support for quality comedy, from Dave's Comedy Society Live to the prestigious Dave Joke of the Fringe in Edinburgh. We're proud to be taking the next step in our evolution as a great entertainment brand - both on and off the telly - by announcing our headline sponsorship of the hugely credible Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival."

Leicester Comedy Festival started in 1994 with 40 events programmed into 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracting an audience of 5,000.

In 2011 the festival took place across 50 venues with 370 shows, over 17 days attracting an audience of 60,000. The past 19 years has seen many top names appear under the LCF banner, names such as Roseanne Barr, Jo Brand, Paul Merton, Jack Dee, Dave Gorman, Tony Slattery, Rory Bremner, Barry Cryer, Alan Davies, Jeremy Hardy, Bill Bailey, Garth Marenghi, Rhona Cameron, Ross Noble, Lee Hurst, Johnny Vegas, Simon Day, John Shuttleworth, Daniel Kitson, Rich Hall, Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Russell Brand, The Mighty Boosh, Dara O' Briain, Simon Pegg, Lee Mack, Dave Spikey and Harry Hill.

The festival has also developed a worthy reputation for quirky, highly original one off events; Stewart Lee taking part in a debate about Jerry Springer the Opera in Leicester Cathedral; John Ryan performing his Hurt Until It Laughs show in two Leicestershire prisons; a special event to honour writer and Leicester lad Joe Orton, featuring Sue Townsend, Joe's 2 sisters and Simon Fanshawe; Hotel D'Comedie performances in the beautiful Hotel Maiyango; Comedy in the Dark, in Leicester, London, Edinburgh & Copenhagen which proved that you can turn the lights off, have fun and save the planet, and many, many more.

The Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year competition, which takes place on the final Saturday of the festival, continues to discover the stars of tomorrow. Previous award winners include Mitch Benn, Rhod Gilbert, Jason Manford, Johnny Vegas, Henry Paker, Seann Walsh and Josh Widdicombe.

The complete programme for the 2012 Dave's Leicester Comedy festival will be available from mid December from www.comedy-festival .co.uk