Drum roll please as we unveil the exciting and star-studded programme for Slapstick 2024, including the long-awaited return of our cherished Gala to the venue where it all began, now renamed Bristol Beacon and looking and sounding truly glorious after its extensive refit.

Gender Rebels On Saturday 22nd April Slapstick presented a series of screen comedies at Watershed, Bristol examining how queer-coding and gender play was taking place onscreen as far back in the 1910s. With three films and three guests hosts feedback from attendees gave us rave reviews with over 85% saying they found the screening’s ‘excellent’. … Read more

Slapstick Sgt. Pepper’s Competition There’s been so much interest in the Sgt Pepper-esque image created by Keith Kilpin of Aardman for the cover of the Slapstick 2023 brochure and other publicity print that we’ve decided to make it the subject of a Guess Who competition. To enter, study the original artwork, then turn to the … Read more

Gala Chris Daniels All Photos © David Betteridge Photography 1 uai 516x772 1

Welcome to the 19th edition of Bristol’s very own Silent, Visual and Classic Comedy Festival. Music has been a key ingredient of every Slapstick since the festival began, but for our 19th annual edition, we’re giving it extra special attention.

Hello everyone, As you will no doubt have heard, yesterday we learnt the news that we had lost singular comedy genius and very dear festival friend, Barry Cryer.

We have screening notes for a number of our programmes, you will find them on the programme pages for the individual films.

For years animation has been one of the most impressive and entertaining disciplines in cinema.

Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin. All three began their careers more than a century ago

Laughter in Lockdown 2 – John Cleese, Rory Bremner and Friends hosted by Tim Vine

Laughter in Lockdown 2 – John Cleese, Rory Bremner and Friends hosted by Tim Vine

For our second Laughter in Lockdown stream (see details about Laughter in Lockdown 1 here), we’ve selected a comedy fundraiser from Autumn of 2016 which at the time we styled “A Slap Up Feast Of Fun: A Evening Of Music And Laughter”

Headlined by none other than comedy icon, writer, actor and Python John Cleese, the evening also featured a set by Rory Bremner, who had lots of material to play with bearing in mind Autumn 2016 was just months before Donald Trump was elected president of the US. As such, this event not only provides lots of laughs but also a fascinating snapshot of an important period in history seen through the eyes of one of the world’s leading impressionists.

WATCH NOW!

The wonderful Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes, who is mainly known for his work in the Rutles and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, opened the show with some quintessentially and intrinsically witty songs. The “music and comedy” theme was further enhanced with a set by the inimitable Ronnie Golden and Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend and ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue’ star Barry Cryer, who also might just have slipped a parrot joke or two into the proceedings buy inderal tablets (spoiler: he totally did).

Compering the evening was that king of the one-liners Tim Vine, brilliantly providing the glue that held all the other sets together.

In their review of the evening Bristol 24/7 wrote:

“All the performers are such national treasures that there was a very British family feel and innocence to the show that modern comedy somehow doesn’t evoke.”

…and concluded…

“It really was a gem of a line-up.”

We hope you enjoy this rare chance to watch a once in a life time line up.

N.B. These recordings were made for archive purposes and as such are not recorded in ‘broadcast quality’. Where the odd word is hard to hear or the artist can’t be seen as they’re side stage, please remember that these films were never meant to be seen in public and this is a rare chance to glimpse these films thanks to the generosity of the artists involved allowing us to view them. Enjoy!

We’re releasing one video a week for the duration of lockdown – or for as long as we have events available. They will be going live on YouTube first so please subscribe to our channel over there via the button below.

Laughter In Lockdown – Slapstick To Release One-Off Gems From Its Archives Laughter In Lockdown – Slapstick To Release One-Off Gems From Its Archives In recognition of the unique circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment with the ongoing C-19 pandemic, Slapstick have taken the decision to try to make a small difference in … Read more

GOLDRUSH COMPETITION Want to win two VIP tickets to our Silent Comedy Gala screening of Charlie’s Chaplin’s The Gold Rush? One of cinema’s most iconic scenes is the bread roll dance from The Gold Rush! We would love to see your modern reinterpretations of this comic gem. To win two VIP tickets to The … Read more

Goodies fans will be thrilled to hear that the long wait is finally over as The Goodies: The Complete BBC Collection has, at last, been released!!! We have full details about this quite magnificent artefact below – plus a chance for two lucky people to win a copy of it! The low down: “The DVD set contains … Read more

Slapstick Festival 2018 Slapstick ’18 – In Photos Here are a selection of photos from the 14th edition of Slapstick Festival which we reproduce here with thanks to our brilliant team of photographers, Paul Lippiatt, David Betteridge and Dave Nelson. Check out more of their work on their websites, which can be found here (for … Read more

THREE AGES (1923) Directed by Buster Keaton USA 63 mins U Three Ages is the first feature-length film that Buster Keaton wrote, directed, produced and starred. The film contains three different stories set in three different time periods of human history: the Stone Age, ancient Rome, and modern times (the Jazz Age). The film was … Read more

SO FUNNY IT HURT: BUSTER KEATON AND MGM (2004) Directed by Kevin Brownlow UK 38 mins U Buster Keaton is currently the most popular comedian of the silent era. But in the late 20s, he was giving anxiety to his producer, Joseph M. Schenck. Schenck decided that since his releases for United Artists were not as … Read more

THE VAGABOND QUEEN (1929) Directed by Géza von Bolváry UK 62 mins U This unparalleled essay in European absurdism was one of the most regrettable casualties of the coming of sound. Released as a silent in May 1929, it was re-issued with synchronized music and sound effects in August 1930 – but too late. Variety, … Read more

SKINNER’S DRESS SUIT (1926) Directed by William A. Seiter USA 70 mins PG This show is intended to revive the reputation of a comedian of the silent era – not on the scale of a Lloyd or a Keaton, but extremely amusing and entertaining in his own right. I have several of his Universal comedies … Read more

SPITE MARRIAGE (1929) Directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton USA 76 mins PG Spite Marriage is the tale of a tailor who is madly in love with an actress… so in love, that he’s gone to see her play countless times! He is given the chance to marry the woman of his dreams, but … Read more

We’re running a cheeky little competition to win a pair of tickets to Saturday’s event with Ronnie Golden in The Lantern at Colston Hall. To enter just answer this simple question: Ronnie Golden was the former leader of cult 70s New Wave quartet Fabulous Poodles who were famously radio 1 DJ John Peel’s favourite band. Can … Read more

It’s Just a Jump to the Left! Slapstick 2018 is just around the corner! We’ve got so many great events in January to help brighten those cold winter days and nights! Make sure you check out our full programme as we have four days chock-full of laughs, music and classic comedy with some great special … Read more

Why is Slapstick Violence Funny? The subject of this post was originally going to be on an entirely different topic, which will be saved for a later time! When I was doing research for that topic, I came across this TedxEmory talk on YouTube. The title of this video is, “Technology and the New Aesthetics … Read more

Lucy and Ethel – Sitcom’s Best Friends Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance created one of television’s most enduring comic duos – Lucy and Ethel. Lucy and Ethel were neighbours and best friends on the beloved sitcom, I Love Lucy. The two were constantly getting into trouble with all of Lucy’s crazy schemes! I remember growing … Read more

Anita Garvin and Marion Byron – A Classic Comedy Duo I hope everyone has seen our exciting event coming up in June! It’s so great that we will be able to present the Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend award to that fantastic comedic duo, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders! The event has now sold out… so … Read more

Great Dictator Ronnie Golden Neil Innes 2 All Photos © David Betteridge Photography

Ronnie Golden and Neil Innes perform a song for Donald Trump During the 2017 edition of Slapstick Festival the organisers programmed a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America, something that happened the day before this … Read more

It all started with Alice… One of the tasks that I’m doing for the festival now is organising its DVD library. It is very interesting going through all the titles… I enjoy coming across new and different films. One of the discs that I was reviewing contained two of Walt Disney’s very early animated shorts. … Read more

Max Linder – French Silent Star One of my favourite events from the festival was the screening of Max Linder’s Seven Years Bad Luck. David Robinson’s excellent introduction gave some insight into what had been a very troubled life for the early silent film star. If you weren’t at the event, I thought I would … Read more

A Bit About The Freshman Last month, Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman was screened at our annual Silent Comedy Gala. I thought I’d take a moment to share some trivia about it. “The more trouble you get a man into, the more comedy you get out of him” – Harold Lloyd A little bit of trivia: … Read more

Simon Callow 3 All Photos © David Betteridge Photography

Day 5 of Slapstick 2017 – A Quick Recap of Yesterday It’s the morning of the last day of the festival! Yesterday was jam-packed with exciting events at the Watershed and Colston Hall. The day started with Chris Serle presenting a Fairbanks and Chaplin double bill. This was followed by a conversation with Roy Hudd … Read more

Day Four at Slapstick Festival 2017 – Reliving the Gala Last night was our annual Silent Comedy Gala hosted by the wonderful impressionist, Rory Bremner. Topical as always, his Donald Trump was spot-on! He soon had the audience chuckling with his very funny political satire (extremely appropriate considering the timing of the gala with the … Read more

Slapstick Festival Day 3 – A chat with Daan van den Hurk Wow – time is flying here at the festival! We’ve just finished our morning screenings of Paths to Paradise and Master of the House. This afternoon brings us Max Linder, Keaton, and Beckett…. all leading up to our Silent Comedy Gala this evening … Read more