Between Thursday 22nd and Sunday 25th January 2009 @ Various Venues, Bristol

Bristol’s Fifth Silent Comedy Festival

Slapstick returns to Bristol for its fifth year, bringing laughter at a time of year when we need it most. This year’s festival is packed with some of the world’s funniest silent comedies brought to life by an unprecedented line-up of special guests at venues across the city.

Paul Merton returns as the inimitable host of Slapstick’s Comedy Gala at Colston Hall, presenting Buster Keaton’s ‘Our Hospitality’ accompanied live by the finest ensemble of silent film musicians in Europe, The Prima Vista Social Club.

This year, alongside long-standing Slapstick venues Watershed and Arnolfini, Bristol Old Vic hosts some of the festival’s highlights and welcomes an array of very special guests including beloved national treasure Eric Sykes and The Goodies in conversation with Phil Jupitus.

The Slapstick festival evolved from the ongoing Bristol Silents programme at Watershed and has built upon a close working relationship with Paul Merton. A shared passion for silent films and especially silent comedy led to the first Slapstick weekend in 2005. The festival was such a success it has become an annual event ever since and it even lead to the commissioning of a BBC TV series Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns which screened in 2006 and 2007.

www.slapstick.org.uk