A Night of Edinburgh Previews

Join us as two of our finest comedians present a night of preview shows before they head to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Some bits will be comedy genius, the kind of moment that will let you say to your grandchildren ‘I was there! I was there when it was first performed! It was brilliant and beautiful and changed me as a person!”

And some bits will be… less good. It’s a preview. We will pretend to the grandchildren that these bits didn’t happen.

Unlike most other performance disciplines, comedy is unique in how it uses live shows as the rehearsal room. The audience becomes a de facto director, and it’s a fascinating insight into the creative process to watch a show develop in front of you.

The two comics sharing their work, Pierre and Matt, are frequent contributors to BBC R4’S The News Quiz. Pierre is a frequent collaborator with Frank Skinner on their morning show for Absolute Radio, whilst Matt has previously teamed up with fellow comic Mark Watson to give climate change the comedic once-over.

Join them for a night of laughter on the 29th of May!

 

Who are they?

Dr Matt Winning is a London-based Scottish comedian and environmental economist who performs live climate change comedy.

Matt has a PhD in climate change policy and is still an active researcher, combining his two worlds of comedy and environmental issues in an attempt to help save the planet. In 2021 he published his book Hot Mess which encompasses these two worlds. Adam Kay described it as “a very funny, important and only moderately terrifying clarion call of a book”. He performed his latest stand-up show of the same name across the UK and was awarded Pick of the Fringe at Bedford Fringe Festival.

On TV Matt appeared as the environmental correspondent on Dave’s Unspun with Matt Forde and has also featured in BBC Scotland shows The State of It and Scot Squad. On radio, he has most recently presented BBC Radio 4’s Net Zero: A Very British Problem which is a 4 part series. Previously he was a guest on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and BBC Radio Scotland’s Breaking The News.

Matt hosted the podcast Operation Earth and has a TEDx talk about the importance of using humour to discuss climate change.

Early in his comedy career Matt quickly gained a reputation as an exciting new act after winning the Hilarity Bites New Act of the Year in 2011 and appearing in the final of the BBC Radio 2 New Comedy Awards in 2012.

 

Pierre Novellie is a stand-up comedian, writer, radio host and podcaster. He is co-host of The Frank Skinner Show on Absolute Radio, and recent TV appearances include World’s Most Dangerous Roads (Dave), The Mash Report (BBC2), and Stand Up Central (Comedy Central). On the radio, Pierre has performed on The Now Show (Radio 4), hosts the BBC Sounds podcast series Obsessed With… SAS: Rogue Heroes and co-hosts the hit Budpod podcast alongside Phil Wang. As a writer, Pierre was one of the regular writers on the rebooted Spitting Image (ITV/Britbox) and has also written on shows including Mock the Week (BBC2), The News Quiz (Radio 4) and The Mash Report (BBC2).

One of the UK’s most acclaimed live acts, Pierre‘s latest show Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things? saw a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and was his third show to have been placed in the top 20 best-reviewed comedy shows across the entire festival. Following an extended run at Soho Theatre, Pierre will be taking the show on his debut nationwide tour in the Autumn. He first special, Quiet Ones, was distributed by US comedy label 800 Pound Gorilla Records and has amassed over 250,000 views online.

 

 

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