What’s on – Jonny Awsum at The Studio at Festival Theatre

Jonny Awsum, the guitar wielding comedy whirlwind, heads to Scotland

Armed with an impressive arsenal of jokes and his trusty guitar, the comedy whirlwind Jonny Awsum will bring his special feel-good brand of musical comedy to Gilded Balloon Comedy at The Studio at The Festival Theatre, tomorrow 5 November 2016.

The guitar-playing comic rabble-rouser, blessed with gangly comic features and an old-fashioned, slightly surprised looking face that radiates bonhomie, is irresistibly infectious.  His endlessly entertaining sets of satirical songs and warm comedic musings will have Scottish audiences laughing, singing and maybe even performing on stage!

Jonny Awsum will be joined on stage by the multi-award winning Australian comedian, writer and actor, Felicity Ward and the 2014 finalist of The Gilded Balloon’s So You Think You’re Funny competition, Jim Smith.  The ’ballistic ranter – not to be missed’ (The List), Raymond Mearns, will be keeping the comedians in check and the audience on their toes.

Croydon based Jonny Awsum’s dead simple, but sure-fire crowd-pleasing sets are full of original songs, parodied popular tunes, sing-a-longs, raps and silly jingles; and he’s not beyond deploying a classic track just to keep the party moving along at lightning speed. The crowd are an integral part of his gigs, and because Awsum exudes a powerful feelgood vibe when he playfully engages with them, both individually and as a group, they not only leave entertained they also leave as true fans.

The tremendously entertaining and charmingly funny Felicity Ward brings her heart warming comedy back to Scotland after a fantastic run at the Edinburgh Fringe. The uplifting Aussie storyteller is an inspired clown, daft and enthusiastic with a nervy, quirky energy on stage. Her sets are gregarious, frank and unflinchingly honest. Her whirlwind delivery fizzes and flashes and bangs like an untethered Catherine Wheel, showering white-hot sparks everywhere, all to hilarious effect; making the audience adore her right from the off.

It’s town meets country when Jim Smith, a Perthshire sheep and beef farmer turned talented comedian hits the stage.  Using a varied range of characters, regional accents and impressions, including amongst other things an inspired parochial take on Die Hard and a Fife-made porno film, he gives his audience an insight into how this north country boy sees the outside world.  It will be no holds barred with controversial views on many taboo subjects such as attending young farmer dances, tractor envy and the village hall beetle drive doping scandal of 1998.

The evening will be compered by one of the most trusted comperes and respected headliners on the Scottish circuit, Raymond Mearns.  Larger than life and twice as much fun, Mearns is a quick with his brain as he is with his tongue.  This Glaswegian is always ready to dish out a bellyful of laughs to hungry audiences everywhere.

Gilded Balloon Comedy at The Studio at the Festival Theatre

Venue: The Studio at the Festival Theatre, 22 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BL

Dates: Saturday 05 November 2016

Time: 20:00 – 22:00 (doors open 19:30)

Tickets: £12.50 (£10.50 conc)

Box Office:  Festival Theatre – +44 (0)131 529 6000 | http://www.edtheatres.com/festival

In person at The Festival Theatre – 13/29 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9FT

For further information on Gilded Balloon Comedy at The Studio at The Festival Theatre go to: http://www.gildedballoon.co.uk