Slapstick Festival

Slapstick Festival returns to Bristol from 10 to 14 February 2027, with screenings and events spread across several venues in the city centre, including Watershed, Bristol Beacon and Bristol Old Vic. It's a celebration of screen and visual comedy, drawing on silent-era masterpieces, classic sitcoms, anarchic stand-up and big-screen favourites. The festival's mission is to keep silent, visual and classic onscreen comedy alive for future generations by raising awareness, interest and appreciation of the art form, while also developing new audiences for archive cinema.

The centrepiece is the Silent Comedy Gala, which runs at 19:30 on Friday 12 February in Beacon Hall at the Bristol Beacon. The headliner is Buster Keaton's The General (1926), accompanied by live music from the European Silent Screen Virtuosi, led by Maestro Günter A. Buchwald and Frank Bockius. It's paired with Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer (1917) and Laurel & Hardy's With Love and Hisses (1927). Beyond the Gala, the festival includes Slapstick Conversations, a stand-up fundraiser and the Slapstick Lecture.

Festival Director Chris Daniels describes one of his greatest joys as discovering how comedy still speaks directly to the anxieties and absurdities of our own age. The festival has awarded prizes like the Terry Gilliam Award, and its Gala is billed as one of the highlights of Bristol's cultural calendar, with previous hosts including Victoria Wood, Hugh Bonneville, Martin Freeman and Stephen Mangan.

Tickets range from £15 to £60, including booking fee. A VIP ticket costs £60 and comes with a Terrace After Party and a commemorative laminate. Under-18s, students and those who are unwaged get £5 off.