Jimmy had been at the Brighton Comedy Festival in 2003 (here) and he was back again in 2004, as a part of his Public Display of Affection tour.
This 3rd Brighton festival was officially the Paramount Brighton Comedy Festival (sponsored by the Paramount Comedy UK TV channel) and it ran from October 8th to 23rd. The venues were the Corn Exchange, Pavilion Theatre and the Dome Concert Hall.
With 2 series of Your Face or Mine under his belt, UK Distraction, QI, Parkinson (and lots of C4 shows as a presenter, see TV page) he got a number of press articles this year, in the run up to the fest.
He was listed as one of the “big guns” appearing and one of the pre-festival pieces said:
Following a meteoric rise to fame, he has now become one of the biggest stars on British television, his infamous one-liners and distinctive style earning him a place among the entertainment elite.
It goes on to say that tickets for Jimmy’s show were £16 and
…you can expect to hear lines so abrasive they’ll strip the pain off the auditorium walls.
The Argus (here) described the Dome as “very nearly sold out” (the capacity is around 1,700) and said he “unassumingly shuffled on stage” with “a clipboard and numerous bottles of water”. The clipboard would have been because he was working on his next tour, Off The Telly.
Who Else Was There?
The names / dates listed as appearing at the festival’s Brighton Dome included the below. Although I’m slightly dubious about Mel and Sue playing the Dome and suspect they may have been at one of the other 2 venues. They were not as big a draw as, for example, Alan Carr, Dara O’Briain or Adam Hills. All of which were in the smaller venues.
- Gala Night for the Sussex Beacon charity, 8th
- Jimmy Carr, 9th
- Mel and Sue (Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins), 10th
- Jeremy Hardy, 14th
- Best of the Fest, 15th and 22nd
- Ross Noble, 17th
- Perrier Award Show, 21st
The Dome’s Sussex Beacon Gala night, on the 8th, was listed with a line-up of:
- Alan Carr
- Adam Hills
- Sarah Kendall
- 4 Poofs and a Piano
- Jeremy Hardy
- Julian Clary
- Jack Dee
- Jimmy Carr (according to The Scene piece, after the event)
Tickets for that show were £20 and it was to be shown on Paramount Comedy2 on October 10th. Unfortunately, I can’t find a TV listing that confirms whether everyone’s appearance made it into that show.
And at the Corn Exchange:
- Ed Byrne, 15th
- Jeff Green, 16th
- Tommy Tiernan, 15-16th
- Howard Marks, 18th
- Big Howard and Little Howard, 19th
- Rebecca Carrington, 18th
- Dara O’Briain, 20th
And the Pavilion Theatre:
- Sarah Kendall, 8th
- Adam Hills, 8-9th
- Alan Carr, 9th
- Alex Horne, 11th
- Four Poofs and a Piano, 12-13th
- Lady Julia Morris, 16th
- Jason Wood, 16th
- Jo Caulfield, 17th
- Brendon Burns, 20th
- Reginald D Hunter, 20th
- Marcus Brigstocke, 21st
Listed as “Brighton Centre”
- Keith Barret Show (aka Rob Brydon), 11-12th
- Danny Bhoy, 10th
- Tony Robinson’s Worst Jobs in History, 13-14th
Also said to have been scheduled to be there, but no dates / venues specified, that I could find:
- Jack Dee
- Julian Clary
- Jo Brand
- Bill Bailey
- Paul Merton
- Stewart Lee
- Chris Addison
This October archive, for the Argus has pieces about some of the performers. The Alan Carr one caught my eye as it says an integral part of his act involved a projector. When it broke, he ended up “holding a laptop to the audience and cursing”.
To add to his woes a man in the audience tried to leave, halfway through, fell over and was dragged out by his mates.
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