Michael Akadiri is an award-winning stand-up comedian and junior doctor who has been featured on ITV2’s Stand Up Sketch Show, BBC’s New Comedy Award, and recently starred in the latest series of Comedy Central LIVE. His sold-out debut Edinburgh Fringe show No Scrubs was praised as “consistently funny, occasionally dark” (Scotsman) and nominated for NextUp’s inaugural Biggest Award in Comedy; it will tour around the UK in early 2023. He has won the Komedia New Comedy Award 2020, is a nominee for NextUp’s Biggest Award in Comedy 2022 and London Finalist of the BBC New Comedy Award 2021, while being crowned South East New Comedian of the Year 2019. Critics describe him as “charismatic”, a “sharp-witted everyman” with “effortless control” according to Chortle; Metro described him as “supremely talented and likeable”, while Evening Standard noted that people should expect to laugh at his future shows.
Multi-award-winning comedian, actor, and writer Ian Smith has achieved much success in recent years. He’s been featured on BBC Fresh From the Fringe, BBC3 panel show Sweat the Small Stuff and BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show – not to mention being one-third of the popular Dave podcast The Magic Sponge which has topped iTunes’ comedy charts. His Edinburgh Fringe shows have garnered accolades such as the Amused Moose Comedy Award, and ThreeWeeks Editors’ Award, run at Soho Theatre. In 2015 his association with Richard Gadd – Waiting for Gaddot earned him even more attention and awards. The same can be said of Half-Life, which was met with rave reviews when it played to sold-out crowds. For his last three shows, he was invited to perform at New Zealand Comedy Festival, as well as take part in the prestigious New Zealand Comedy Gala (TVNZ). This year he’s set to appear at Adelaide and Melbourne Comedy Festivals for Best of the Edinburgh Fest.
Sunil Patel is a stand-up comedian and actor who first made his mark on Jonathan Ross’ Comedy Club (ITV) in 2020, and has since made appearances on This Time with Alan Partridge (BBC), Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4) and Live at the Moth Club (Dave). He serves as host of Dave’s Backchat series on YouTube, as well as having his own BBC Radio 4 series titled An Idiot’s Guide to Cryptocurrency.
Sarah Callaghan was named ‘One to Watch’ by Time Out in 2014; in 2015, she brought her highly praised debut show Elephant to the Edinburgh Fringe. This confessional exploration of flight and ambition proved to be extremely popular with the public, leading to her being hailed as a fresh comedic voice. Her work was recognized by a nomination for the Malcolm Hardee Award for ‘Act Most Likely To Earn A Million Quid’; moreover, she also featured on E4’s Virtually Famous alongside Seann Walsh. Afterwards, Elephant went on tour to the renowned Soho Theatre in 2016.
Performing at The Attic Comedy Club in Southampton.