Stand Up Tragedy - Tragic History

On Friday May 16th, Stand Up Tragedy will be finding out if comedy equals tragedy plus time as we take a look at Tragic History.

Dave's Funniest Joke of The Fringe award winner Rob Auton and the anarchic yet charming comedian Ben Target lead a brilliant collection of musicians, spoken word artists, theatre makers and academics on a journey through the history. We’ll be jumping backwards and forwards in time.

Expect each act to take you to a completely different place, while host, Sony and Radio Academy Award nominated podcaster, storyteller and writer, Dave Pickering, guides you through the cathartic twists and turns of this unique night that was recently featured in the Guardian’s selection of the 10 best storytelling nights to go to in the UK: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/10-storytelling-nights

What is Stand Up Tragedy?

It "takes in everything from music to comedy and is characterised by an emphasis on truth."
The Independent

An "entertaining bunch of melancholic oddballs"
The London Word

Stand Up Tragedy aims to make audiences laugh until they cry and cry until they laugh. It’s a monthly live show and podcast where people stand up and tell tragedy. We make you sad; we make you think; we make you smile. Expect music, comedy, fiction, spoken word, true stories and more, all playing up to the tragic form but not always taking it too seriously. The night ends, not with a whimper, not with a bang, but with a cathartic sing-a-long.

At Stand Up Tragedy, we combine established acts like Robin Ince, Josie Long, Ben Target, Grace Petrie, Sara Pascoe, Helen Zaltzman, Simon Munnery and Helen Arney with new and upcoming acts, creating evenings of variety based around a theme. Performers often write new material especially for our nights and relish the opportunity to put a tragic spin on what they do. The nights are recorded and put out into a weekly podcast.

To get a taste of the tragedy, you can listen back to it on our podcast. For example, here’s Tragic Christmas: https://soundcloud.com/standuptragedy/sets/tragic-christmas