ABOUT US

CULTURAL COMEDY TOURS

= Comedians x Culture Sites

Combining the most exciting comedians on the circuit with favourite cultural sites, Cultural Comedy Tours brings the best of both worlds together for an unforgettable tour. We collaborate with cultural institutions to produce bespoke events that are often funny, sometimes moving, always insightful and shaped by collections, exhibitions and buildings.

Whether it’s taking a trip around a contemporary art show, going on an expedition through an Ancient Egyptian collections or exploring an old manor house, our comedian tour guides work with each organisation to help break down perceived barriers for visitors using play, entertainment and insider knowledge.

Cultural Comedy Tours is about having fun at museums, galleries and heritage sites, not making fun of them, utilising the joy and community-building nature of live comedy to further bring the subjects to life.

With years of experience working with a range of cultural institutions, we are perfect for providing different ways to engage existing and new visitors, whilst also bringing new perspectives and dialogues to both long-established collections and newly opened exhibits.

WHO WE ARE

Meet Cultural Comedy Tours'

key personnel

Who we are

EDY HURST

Edy Hurst is a Manchester based stand-up comedian and musician. Since beginning performing comedy in 2013, he has been across the country showcasing a playfully skewed take on musical comedy. He’s been nominated for the BBC New Comedy Award, as well as appearing on MTV UK and BBC Radio 4. Edy made his Fringe debut with Hurst Schmurst, receiving critical acclaim from publications including the Skinny and taking it on a tour of the UK.

Edy studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds, with a focus on participatory performance art. He has shown works at the Tetley, Leeds City Art Gallery and worked across the North West engaging hard to reach young persons with art through podcasting and workshops. Working in the arts both creatively and as a facilitator for a number of years, Cultural Comedy Tours came from combining both a love of comedy performance with that of sharing a love of art, history and cultural sites.

DANIEL NICHOLAS

Daniel Nicholas is a comedian, theatre maker and an Independent producer. As a producer he has worked with organisations such as In Good Company, LittleMighty and more recently Discerning Nights, as well as a wealth of independent artists. From managing Arts Council Projects, to booking tours, or making his own shows, Daniel is one of those people who has his fingers in many pies.

Notable works include Eugene, a one man sci-fi show that uses integrated captioning via Difference Engine software, to take a look at Artificial Intelligence. And D.A.N.C.E, a project where comedians and dancers collaborated together, a huge success with over 90% of the audiences saying it made them think differently about dance and comedy. As a stand up he has been nominated and won various awards, including Best improv Show at Leicester Comedy Festival, and being shortlisted for the BBC Comedy Award. He has appeared regularly at the Edinburgh Fringe and gigs across the country.

HOW WE WORK

An insight into our process

How we work

Cultural Comedy Tours is all about bringing the creativity, ingenuity and humour of comedians into cultural sites across the country.

We do this through a process that delivers tours with the most appropriate performers for each site, combined with an availability of time and resources that our partner galleries and museums wish to provide.

Before introducing and selecting suitable comedians for an exhibition, museum or space, we begin with a discussion with you to outline what your mission statement for the tours will be, alongside the history and identity of a cultural site. From there, we can establish the best method of working, based on time available for the comedians from members of staff through to availability of spaces for research.

This can be as simple as allowing the comedians to conduct a self-led visit into the gallery space to prepare a tour using material that is available to the public. This lighter touch approach would be suitable for producing a tour that is based around the experience of the visitor and exploring the space itself.

A more in-depth development process, with input from your curatorial team and artists, will enable us to create a tour that digs deeper into the specific themes and subject matter of your exhibitions, making a visitor experience that not only entertains but offers new and unique ways of deepening visitor engagement with your programmes.

The latter has ranged from tours by the artists themselves to the comedians -leading to a firmly established tour that reflects the sensibilities of the artist, their practice or their estate - to sharing stories from behind the scenes of social history collection objects, how they can into the collection to potentially challenging pre-existing narratives and perceptions.

For these reasons, Cultural Comedy Tours are scalable to the requirements of each partner we work with, providing you with an opportunity to explore different ways of exploring your collections to new and existing visitors.

Working closely with staff or with existing information about collections and exhibits, Cultural Comedy Tours will put a humorous and entertaining interpretation on your cultural site, having fun in the space, but not making fun of it.

Our processes are highly adaptable to existing requirements and mission goals with each partner we work with. This can include practical necessities such as performing as part of an existing event such as gallery lates, within a festival programme, or collaborating with income generating parts of your site such as a combined food and drink event. And it can be with a specific audience in mind, delivering a tour to schools combined with a workshop, or to regular members groups.