Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival: 5 days of laughs!

Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival (SCIF) was established in 2016 by Kevin Bland, a former stand-up comedian who has promoted comedy in Shropshire and beyond for over a decade and Beth McGowan, who holds over 20 years’ experience in sound production and event management. Kevin retired in 2023.

Shrewsbury Comedy Festival showcases a diverse line up

This year’s event will take place on 9-13 July with a mix of well-established and up-and-coming comedians. These have previously included Greg Davies, Joe Lycett, Russell Kane, Dan Nightingale, Adam Rowe and Thanyia Moore.

Kicking off on 9 July Mick Miller and Nina Gilligan’s show will take place at St Mary’s Church. SICF co director Beth McGowan said: “Our aim has always been to grow the festival in a sustainable manner, and this is a good starting point. We are looking forward to Mick and Nina’s performances and especially at a new venue for us in St Mary’s Church.”

Mick Miller first came to prominence on the iconic ITV show The Comedians. In the 1980s Mick co-hosted his own Saturday evening show on ITV called The Funny Side along with Cheryl Baker and the late Mike Smith. He has appeared in IDEAL with Johnny Vegas, and Peter Kay’s Car Share.

Nina Gilligan trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She is sometimes outrageous, but always hilarious with a charming, loveable persona which belies an acerbic wit. Described by The Skinny as “A bolshier Mrs Merton, she’s not one to suffer fools lightly so watch out for a razor-sharp wit used at will.”

The gala show

The highlight of SICF will take place at Theatre Severn on the evening of Sunday 13 July and the Live At The Apollo format currently incudes Troy Hawke, Abandoman, Lindsey Santoro, Tez Ilyas and MC Scott Bennett. Cally Beaton also joins this lineup.

Beaton is a keynote speaker, awards host, comedian, business leader, podcaster, writer and entrepreneur. Well-known for being a natural storyteller, full of intelligent, distinctive and insightful material, Cally is one of the UK’s most sought-after names for live comedy work. During her ten-year stint as Senior Vice President at the US studio giant ViacomCBS, she oversaw brands such as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount and helped to bring South Park and SpongeBob SquarePants to the world.

While working for Comedy Central the late Joan Rivers advised her to take to the stage. She did so and with her unflinching, acerbic and clever brand of comedy, quickly cemented her position as one of the most exciting and original new stand-ups in the country. Her television appearances to date include being a regular panellist on QI (BBC2), The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Live At The Apollo, Pointless Celebrities, Richard Osman’s House of Games and The Blame Game. Radio 4 appearances include The Now Show, The Unbelievable Truth, Saturday Live, Museum Of Curiosity, PM and Woman’s Hour. She is also a regular contributor on Radio 5 Live, Times Radio, Scala Radio and BBC London.

5 nights and 4 days of comedy around Shrewsbury

Other festival venues in Shrewsbury are Henry Tudor Inn, The Loft at The Old Post Office and the soon-to-be-opened Red Brick, (on Castle Street) with comedians Mrs Smith, Chris O’Neill’s A Comedy Tapas and A Political Brunch, Stella Graham, Terry Christian, Frankie Munroe, Dave Chawner, Tony Law and Sally-Anne Hayward, as well as up-close-and-personal shows by Tez Ilyas, Ignacio Lopez and Troy Hawke.

Co-director Beth McGowan said: “Once again we have secured a diverse mix of performers, delivering a variety of humour to cater for all tastes. In addition, we will also be offering comedy at new venues Red Brick and St Mary’s Church, where the festival will start a day earlier on 09 July this year. Cally is the icing on the line up cake for the gala show and we hope audiences not only enjoy that but all the events taking place over the four days.”

Tickets for the SICF gala show on 13 July are £38.00 are available through the Theatre Severn box office 01743 281281 or online.