Laughter is best enjoyed as a communal experience, which is what makes Slapstick Festival such a significant player in Bristol’s comedy calendar. The event - which has just finished its 19th edition - celebrates physical comedy including films from a hundred years ago to the present day and invites legends of the craft to speak on some of the works that have framed the trope to what it is today.
The festival led by Chris Daniels concluded its five-day run on Sunday night (February 19) with an in-conversation show between Sir Michael Palin and comedian Rob Brydon ahead of the actor's 80th birthday in May. This year’s Slapstick programme fell under a music theme and was co-curated by the Monty Python star, including a special screening of This Is Spinal Tap in the IMAX cinema, now part of Bristol Aquarium, for a screening of a film that Palin described as one of the funniest he’d ever seen, recounting the first time he watched it in a specially recorded introduction before the showing.
Michael appeared in person at two events commemorating Python and his huge body of work for Slapstick Sunday at Bristol Old Vic, the first time the festival had taken over the historic theatre. Rob Brydon had the impossible task of consolidating 60 years of work into an 80-minute show, showing clips from the 1960s that Michael himself had never seen, discussing his work on Python, The Frost Report, A Fish Called Wanda and his very first TV job with Television Wales and the West, which was filmed in Bristol.
