Sketchfest

Celebrating live, scripted comedy the festival shines a spotlight on the best and most exciting comedy acts, handpicked each year. Established in 2013 as an alternative to mainstream stand-up comedy festivals, SketchFest has gained a reputation for discovering unknown comedy talents – with a showcase of 12 unsigned acts performing in front of a panel of industry judges that includes Alex Hardy (the comedy editor for The Times), Kate Copstick (revered Scotsman comedy critic) amongst others. Many of its winners have since gone on to sign development deals for TV.

Alongside it’s Best New Act Competition the festival also boasts a Feature Series with established talent who can be found across TV and radio. It also has a film competition Sketch Screen highlighting the best new video comedy talent run in conjunction with COFILMIC comedy film festival. And for 2015 it’s introducing two new parts to its programme – the Solo Series featuring exciting character and single-performer acts and Sketch Scribe where aspiring sketch writers will get a chance to have their work performed by comedy troupes and win a mentor session with a leading comedy professional.