One month to go! Have you got your tickets? #Fantasy #Bristol #Highlander #80sFantasy #Wuxia #RayHarryhausen

Born on this day, 23rd, we celebrate comedy legend and beloved #SlapstickFest patron Barry Cryer! We're excited to continue his legacy collaborating with @bobbicee.bsky.social on The Golden Baz, awarded to writer @aiannucci.bsky.social for his commitment to the craft of comedy.

It's a month until we return to The Hexagon, Reading, for the Big Comedy Bash 2026! We're excited to welcome #JoeLycett as host for the evening, MCing for a star-studded lineup of #RiaLina, #HarryEnfield, #RoryBremner and #JasperCarrott. Tickets are selling fast; book below to get involved 👇

Happy Birthday to Brummie comedy legend #JasperCarrott! We're excited to welcome the British Comedy Awards’ Lifetime Achievement winner as a special guest for our Big Comedy Bash at #TheHexagon, Reading, on Wednesday 22 April 19:30 - link below for tickets 👇

“Fab, gear & all the other pimply hyperboles.” Tickets for Apr 8 BFI Beatles film screening & my A Hard Day’s Night book signing now on sale. As Ringo says, You can learn from books.📕 whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...

The Big Comedy Bash now boasts TWO of Birmingham's finest comic talents. Do with that information what you will. (and then buy a ticket)

We're excited to welcome special guest #JasperCarrott to the BIG Comedy Bash 2026! The comedy legend joins us at The Hexagon, Reading @rdgwhatson.bsky.social on Wed 22 April 19:30 in a star-studded line-up of #RiaLina, #HarryEnfield and #RoryBremner, hosted by #JoeLycett - link below for tickets 🎟️

Welcome to a world of gods and monsters... Of swords and sorcery… Of heroes and villains… Prepare for high adventure as Forbidden Worlds celebrates the cinematic world of fantastical myths and legends from around the world! 23-26 April, Bristol Megascreen www.forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk

We pay tribute to the legendary silent film star #HaroldLloyd, who passed away on this day, 8th March 1971. Alongside #CharlieChaplin The Pilgrim, #SlapstickFest26 featured Lloyd’s For Heaven's Sake at Bristol Megascreen, introduced by comedian @robinince.bsky.social and actor #PaulMcGann.

Inspired by #WorldBookDay, here are some of our reading recommendations from special guests at last month's festival, such as @robinince.bsky.social Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, and exciting upcoming releases including @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social A Hard Day's Night 📚

Lucy Porter writes a 'rallying cry' for middle-aged women

Slapstick Festival is proud to announce that the 2026 Legacy Medal has been awarded to physical comedian and filmmaker Mulindua Freddie, a passionate contemporary champion of silent screen comedy working in Uganda.

It's BIG And it's BACK

Announcing Slapstick's Big Comedy Bash 2026 🥁 Join us at The Hexagon, Reading, on Wed 22 April 19:30 for a star-studded line-up of #RiaLina, #HarryEnfield and #RoryBremner, hosted by #JoeLycett! With more great names to be added, raise funds for Slapstick Festival by joining us - link below.

I talked about my favourite film festivals on this with shout outs to @cineredis.bsky.social @fwfilmfestival.bsky.social and @slapstickfest.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/5MFL...

We've got something special to announce coming soon! Want to hear about future Slapstick Festival events first, special offers and more? Subscribe to our newsletter via the link in bio or heading to our website. #newsletter #slapstickfestival #fundraisers #comedy #slapstick

On this day, 23rd Feb, we pay tribute to comedy legend Stan Laurel, who passed away in 1965. One half of Slapstick’s iconic double act Laurel and Hardy, our 2026 festival featured multiple events dedicated to their legendary career - We look forward to showing more Stan & Ollie for years to come!

A very Happy Birthday to one of our biggest supporters, @robinince.bsky.social! The comedian hosted an incredible six events at this year's festival, including revisiting STUFF with #AlexeiSayle. Follow his socials to keep updated with his next events 📸 David Betteridge Photography

Thanks @popcornchat.bsky.social & @slapstickfest.bsky.social! This screening of Keaton's lesser-known French sound film LE ROI DES CHAMPS ELYSÉES was a delight, many laughs from a packed cinema at @wshed.bsky.social. Such a pleasure to share it 🤣🍿❤️

Another Buster Keaton feature ticked off Sarah aka PopcornChat’s watchlist 🍿 With thanks to Keaton expert Polly Rose for sharing their knowledge whilst introducing at Slapstick Festival; we can't wait to have them both back next year. #keaton #buster #silentfilm #slapstickcomedy #slapstickfestival

Reasons to volunteer at Slapstick w/ Arwen! Whilst we LOVE Silent Film, it's great to celebrate Slapstick in all forms, as comedian @robinince.bsky.social shares with critic @admagnetic77.bsky.social ahead of our After Dark screening One Cut of the Dead. We hope to see you volunteer next year!

Roaming Reporter Martha Redfern reviews Yasujiro Ozu’s Where Now Are The Dreams of Youth? following its screening at Watershed for Slapstick Festival 2026 - link below to read the full piece.

Slapstick Festival celebrated #ValentinesDay a week early at our 20 Years of #NotGoingOut with #LeeMack event 💘 We hope the now-engaged James and Kerry are having a lovely romantic day, and that @alexlovell.bsky.social was able to give Lee Mack a lift home 🚗 😂 📸 David Betteridge Photography

What a turnout at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social for the Silent Comedy Gala last week! Thank you to our host, @stephenmangan.bsky.social, special guest Rick Wakeman, and live music accompaniment from maestro Guenter A. Buchwald, the Bristol Ensemble, and the European Silent Screen Virtuosi.

Thank you @slapstickfest.bsky.social and @robinince.bsky.social for a fantastic evening + screening of One Cut of the Dead 🧟 The Boomsatsuma student films really made the evening special. All the submissions were excellent 📽️ An honour and a pleasure to be involved 💜

Submissions for our Genre Film-Makers of the Future: Shorts Showcases are still open… however the final deadline is this Friday (13 February)! Move quickly if you're still hoping to submit your short film! filmfreeway.com/fwfilmfestival

Don your shades, unleash the doves and prepare to dive in slow motion as on 27 March, @wshed.bsky.social is hosting a John Woo double bill of @arrowvideo.bsky.social's new restorations of The Killer and Hard Boiled! www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/seas...

We loved partnering with Bristol Film School boomSatsuma to showcase three one-minute, one take horrors at our One Cut of the Dead screening! Thank you to @robinince.bsky.social and @admagnetic77.bsky.social for introducing them, and everyone who participated. See below the films and artists 👇

A BIG thank you to everyone who helped make Slapstick Festival 2026 a huge success! We really appreciate our special guest speakers, musicians, partners, patrons, volunteers, the venues, and all the team behind the scenes who organised these events. 📸 David Betteridge Photography

2026 Watching #33: Laurel and Hardy’s Yorkshire Adventures. Engaging film by Dean Sills and Rebecca Sills which follows the comedy duo around Yorkshire on their 1950s tour. One audience member called it moving. Part of @slapstickfest.bsky.social 2026.

2026 Watching #36: The Kid plus Slapstick gala. Evening at @slapstickfest.bsky.social with one of Chaplin’s best (though I still find him overly sentimental). The gala is always a remarkable evening and we had Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, live music, Rick Wakeman and more.

This was a highly enjoyable way to spend Sunday afternoon, listening to the brilliant Armando Iannucci being interviewed about his work in radio, TV and film:

A big thank you to the @slapstickfest.bsky.social team for a great festival. It was a delight to be part of it and to present two Keaton films - many thanks to musicians John Sweeney 🎹 & Frank Bockius 🥁, BSL Paul Mancini 🧏🏻 and to Buster's granddaughter Melissa Talmadge Cox for joining us!

An honour to have @bobbicee.bsky.social present the inaugural ‘Golden Baz’ award to @aiannucci.bsky.social! A tribute to Patron Barry Cryer, we thank Armando for accepting the award and sharing incredible insights with us and presenters @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social and @andrewkelly.bsky.social.

My favourite first watch at last week's Slapstick festival was this gem. Buster Keaton with sound, in French, but with comic inventiveness and timing as sharp as his silent heyday. Thank you for treating us with it @slapstickfest.bsky.social @theflyingeditor.bsky.social

Enjoyed hugely my @slapstickfest.bsky.social five days. I’m delighted they took up my suggestion of a short Adolphe Menjou season. And very pleased to have my silent pass with the fine actor on it.

An incredible turnout for our final event, @aiannucci.bsky.social and @mrchrisaddison.bsky.social introducing In The Loop at @wshed.bsky.social 🎬

The inaugural 'Golden Baz' award, presented to @aiannucci.bsky.social from @bobbicee.bsky.social and Chris Daniels, with @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social!

My penultimate film for this year’s @slapstickfest.bsky.social is the better than its reputation Atoll K aka Utopia aka Robinson Crusoeland. Laurel and Hardy’s final film and parody of geopolitics, boarders, governance and… the Libertarian Seasteading movement? boxd.it/d2VbJR

Finally got to see One Cut of the Dead thanks to @slapstickfest.bsky.social The best zombie film that I’ll tell everyone to watch but never say why. But I will say that it is one of the most original takes on the genre I have ever seen. Plus it’s really funny. boxd.it/d2QsBb

The ever amazing @sanjeevbhaskar.bsky.social at @slapstickfest.bsky.social

An historic day for @bristolbeacon.bsky.social and Slapstick Festival as we witnessed a proposal at Lee Mack’s 20 Years of Not Going Out 💍 Congratulations to the happy couple Kerry and James 🥂 Thank you to @alexlovell.bsky.social and #LeeMack for being so accommodating💐

I’ll be there. I’m hosting The Thick of It at 15.00. I’ve rewatching all the episodes this week and what a week in politics to do this. Mind you, it feels like we’ve had weeks like this every month for a decade.

Thanks to @slapstickfest.bsky.social I made Doncaster Free Press. I am the one in a Sons of the Desert Fez.

A stacked Day Five, and final day, of #SlapstickFest26 🎉 Let's make it a fun one!

Thank you to everyone who came to a *bonkers* Day 4 of #SlapstickFest26 at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social! Keep an eye on socials tomorrow for the context behind this photo of #LeeMack and @alexlovell.bsky.social 👀

I rarely post, but just want to say thank you to audience and the students that contributed super cool short films and @robinince.bsky.social for being so kind and generous. Thank you @slapstickfest.bsky.social

Alexei said he wants people to write in to the BBC and ask if Stuff can be added to iPlayer. You know what to do.

Just enjoyed Alexei Sayle talking about Stuff, including the time he told Floella Benjamin about his heroin addiction. #SlapstickFestival