MIRTH of FORTH Productions

Well we’ve managed to produce 3 videocasts over the summer as we took part in 3 different online festivals, with the Buxton, Reading and Ludlow Fringe Festivals (see the Past Events page for links to these). But there is nothing remaining in the diary for 2020. Things are of course still very much up in the air in terms of what’s possible to organise, or even on a knife-edge in terms of the survival of some venues, so it’s unlikely much else will happen in 2020.

However we still have shows already booked in for 2021, predicated on the assumption that things will be more back to normal or at least we will be able to run shows again in viable settings.

So we look forward to taking part in the Brighton Fringe in May 2021 and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2021 and very much hope to be filling in the diary with other events in the not too distant future. Watch this space and keep your fingers crossed for the survival of as much live comedy as possible beyond the Covid-19 crisis.

It’s a new month and we can announce two performances coming up of It Just So Happened later this very same month.

The first of these shows will be broadcast at 13:30 on Saturday 18th July as part of the Buxton Fringe Festival. The panel will be Charmian Hughes, James Frinton, Gerard Harris and Kevin Hudson discussing events from 18th July, and the history of Buxton.

The second will be broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday 26th July as part of the Reading Fringe Festival. The panel for this show will be Iszi Lawrence, Dave Chawner, Sallyann Fellowes and Terry Dixon, discussing events from 26th July in history, and looking into the history of the town of Reading.

Links to the videocasts will be published on the website at www.itjustsohappened.co.uk

In keeping with government advice about stopping all non-essential and social gatherings there will be no further Mirth of Forth run comedy gigs for the time being and until such time as recommended restrictions are lifted again. This includes those events which were due to take place in the Glasgow Comedy Festival this month, in Buckhaven and in Kinghorn.

We have 3 events coming up towards the end of March.

On Thursday 26th March our showcase show 5 Fifers for a Fiver returns to the Glasgow Comedy Festival for the eighth consecutive year. The show is at DRAM on Woodlands Road and this year features Ross Leslie, Richard Pulsford, Iain Hume, Jay Miles and Graeme Lees. Tickets from the festival at http://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/shows/2593

On Saturday 28th March there will be an inaugural curry and comedy night at the Wellesley Inn in Buckhaven. The line-up for the event has been confirmed as John Scott, Ross Leslie, Allan Lindsay and Bryan Ghosh. Tickets from the venue.

And on Sunday 29th March we return to the cafe above The Harbour View in Kinghorn for our monthly afternoon of comedy. This month the comedians are Lee Kyle, Krystal Evans, David Callan, Ralph Brown and James McLuskey. Tickets are £5, from the venue.

Our next event is a town twinning fundraiser on Saturday 29th February at The Sands Hotel in Burntisland. Chris Weir (Scottish Comedian of the Year finalist 2019) is supporting Phil Differ (BBC Comedy writer) as the main act in this comedy night.

Burntisland is twinned with Flekkefjord in Norway and money raised from this event will help support the town twinning initiatives, planning a week’s visit for the young Norwegians coming here this summer along with their local Burntisland twins, and the return visit next year.

Tickets are £10 and can be obtained from the venue or a member of the town twinning committee. Door are open from 19:30.

Our regular showcase show ‘5 Fifers for a Fiver’ returns to the Glasgow Comedy Festival on Thursday 26th March, featuring some of the best Fife-based acts on the circuit. It’s the 8th year in a row we’ve taken part in the festival. The show starts at 8:15pm and you can get tickets here: Tickets

Monday 20th January is known by some as ‘Blue Monday’, supposedly the most depressing day of the year. It’s after Christmas, it’s still dark and cold, and the credit card bills need to be paid.

The management team at Silverburn Park near Leven in Fife have organised a ‘Beat Blue Monday’ event with drop in activities for locals such as hand massages, woodland walks and some stand-up comedy.

Fife stand-up comedians Ross Leslie and Richard Pulsford will be providing an hour of laughs to help beat those blues in the Park on Monday, between 2pm and 3pm. Other activities start in the late morning. Let’s hope the sun shines for everyone too!

We ran a total of 17 events over the course of 2019.

The event at the Harbour View in Kinghorn has become a regular monthly feature on the last Sunday of the month, and it’s great to see a newly-fledged comedy club set up then still going strong into a third calendar year, with 3 further events in the diary already for 2020.

We continued our involvement with local festivals, with events at each of the Aberdour, Culross and Outwith (Dunfermline) Festivals, as well taking our Fife showcase show to the Glasgow Comedy Festival for the seventh consecutive year.

And we expanded our connections with local Rotary Clubs by organising the comedy at fundraisers for Raith, Methilhill and Burntisland Rotary Clubs.

We look forward to organising further comedy events in 2020, in what will be our tenth anniversary year!

The next comedy event will be on the usual last Sunday of the month (24th November) at the café above The Harbour View on Pettycur Road in Kinghorn, Fife.

This month we have a great line-up including Chris Thorburn, Angus Coutts and Craig Wilson, the headliner is the amazing improviser ‘MC Hammersmith’ and everything will be compered by Megan Shandley.

Tickets are £5.00 from the venue and the event gets underway at 15:30.

The next Sunday afternoon comedy event is this Sunday, 27th October, 15:30 at the café above The Harbour View on Pettycur Rd in Kinghorn.

The line-up includes Vladimir McTavish, Ross Leslie, Chris Weir, Darren Harty and Luis Alcada.

If the comedy alone isn’t enough to entice you, in one of the breaks at the event last month we spotted a dolphin swimming down the Firth of Forth, leaping out of the water!