Tag: Tony Vino

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Friargate Theatre to play host to inaugural Jorvik Comedy Award competition. 36 Yorkshire entrants confirmed for four heats

Step this way: Jorvik Comedy Award search for champion comedian starts on February 12

FOUR heats, 36 hopefuls, one ultimate Viking comedy champion. Who wil ltake the crown in the Jorvik Comedy Award 2026 competition in York?

Presented by Fair Laughs and hosted by veteran Get Up Stand Up comic Tony Vino, the search for York’s funniest comedian will be supported by Indie York and the JORVIK Viking Centre, with Heat 1 as part of JORVIK Viking Festival Fringe pre-event.

Thirty-six of Yorkshire’s sharpest new comedians will descend on Friargate Theatre, in Lower Friargate. Across the four heats, nine feisty acts each will perform a tight, gag-filled ten-minute set, with only two winners per heat going through to the June 11 final.

The line-up for Heat 1

Quick-witted Tony Vino will invite the hopefuls to the stage as they try to impress the panel of esteemed judges. No safety nets. No sympathy laughs. Only jokes that land or die trying. One title. One year. One winner.

Who is taking part?

Heat 1: Thursday, February 12, 8pm

Marty Riley, Ben Robinson, Stuart Thomas, Fil Milton, Alex Camp, Graeme Rayner, Robby T, Louis Etienne and Diane Fitton.

The line-up for Heat 2

The line-up for Heat 3

Heat 2: Thursday, March 12, 8pm

Liam Alexander, Daniel Colbeck, Josh Sedman, Wendy King, Jake Breeze, Edi Johnson, Laurence Tuck, Rex Purnell and Mikey Milligan.

Heat 3: Thursday, April 9, 8pm

Alfie Carter, Henning Nilsen, Ravi Saini, Jonathon Kiernan, Fred Carver, Stephen Catling, Bobby Jethro, Maxine Wade and Lewis Howard.

The line-up for Heat 4

Heat 4: Thursday, May 14, 8pm

Charlie Lewis, Tim Biglowe, Michael Carter, Benny Shakes, Halls of Ridiculous, Matt Wheelwright, Dom Hutchins, Kie Carson and Debra Holt.

Further comedy events at Friargate Theatre include the monthly home-grown Right Here Right Now improv comedy show (audience participation optional but encouraged!) and monthly Get Up Stand Up live comedy acts hosted by Tony Vino.

Look out too for Alfie Moore: Fair Cop Live – Radio Warm-Up on July 9, when he brings a new show to York ahead of recording his BBC Radio 4 comedy series It’s A Fair Cop. 

For tickets for the Jorvik Comedy Award and Friargate Theatre comedy events, call 01904 655317 or go to https://friargatetheatre.co.uk/.

The poster for the Jorvik Comedy Award heats and final at Friargate Theatre

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Justin Panks to headline Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club on Saturday at The Basement

Headliner Justin Panks

JUSTIN Panks tops Saturday’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club bill at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, Coney Street, York.

Tony Vino and Liam Bolton will be performing too, introduced by promoter and regular master of ceremonies Damion Larkin from 8pm.

Comedian and podcaster Justin Panks combines a skewed observational eye with the ability to approach seemingly ordinary subjects from extraordinary angles, striking a balance between the relatable and the outrageous.

His tales of relationships, parenthood and life in general are raw, honest and above all humorous, as heard on his weekly podcasts, The Pranks & Firth Show and 3 Speech Podcast.

He prides himself on his ability to adapt to any room, be it rowdy and crowded, a large theatre or an intimate comedy club setting such as The Basement, and he tours internationally, in demand in New York, Valencia, Ibiza, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Menorca, Sweden and Denmark.

Tony Vino bills himself as “the only half-Spanish, half-Scottish hybrid working comic in the world”. Born in Malaga, he was subsequently raised in the Costa Del Preston, Lancashire. When he was only a toddler, his father looked around, saw the sea, the sand and the sunshine of the Andalucian coast and thought “we need to be nearer Wigan Pier”.

Comedian and compere Vino has been touring the UK and international comedy circuit since early 2005, mixing observational humour with audience interaction and quick-witted responses.

He hosts festivals and corporate events, called on to entertain for charities such as Christian Aid, Oxfam, Fairtrade Foundation and TearFund, as well as once being the warm-up comedian for BBC One’s Songs Of Praise – a low point in his career, he says.

Experimental comedian Liam Bolton favours a bewildering, train-of-thought approach to unpredictable stand-up comedy.

He co-wrote and featured in the comedy webseries Danger Precinct, starring alongside big names from the UK comedy circuit, such as Mick Ferry and, against his better judgement, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club’s big cheese, Damion Larkin (“semi-famous in Stoke only”). The show was considered an “underground success”, drawing praise from  none other than Jonny Vegas.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Box office:  lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or on the door.