Laughing Horse is a British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

promotion company and venue operator. The company was established in the UK in 1998, and now operates venues in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

, Brighton,

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, Hitchin,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

( Brixton, Covent Garden,

Lancaster Gate Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the Bayswater district of central London, immediately to the north of Kensington Gardens. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them openi ...

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, St Neots,

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

and

Wyboston Wyboston is a village in the English county of Bedfordshire,adjacent to the town of St Neots, on the Cambridgeshire border. The eastern part of the village is dominated by the A1 Great North Road. Approaching the Black Cat Roundabout from the B ...

. They run three venues at

Brighton Fringe Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England and one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. The programme of 2018 included 1008 events at over 166 ve ...

, seventeen at

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and also have a presence at the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and Melbourne Fringes. It is run by Alex Petty and Kevin McCarron. At Edinburgh, they have run the Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 2004. At these shows, audiences do not have to buy tickets. They simply pay what they choose as a donation at the end of the show. Since 2001, they have run the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition, which has been won by several famous British comedians at early stages of their career. For that reason, it has been called "a big deal to British newcomers".

Greg Davies Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Greg in ''We Are Klang'', Mr Gilbert in ''The Inbetweeners'', Ken Thompson in ''Cuckoo'', the Taskmaster in '' Tas ...

won the competition on his fourth ever gig, and

Russell Kane Russell Kane (born Russell David Anthony Grineau; 19 August 1975) is an English writer, comedian, and actor. He has 4 times been nominated at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, winning the Best Comedy Show award in 2010. Although known mainly for st ...

won it within the first six months of his career. Others to have won or made the final include

Rhod Gilbert Rhodri Paul Gilbert (born 18 October 1968) is a Welsh comedian and television & radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award (as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards w ...

Nina Conti Nina Margarita Conti (born 25 August 1973) is a British actress, comedian, and ventriloquist. Early life Conti was born and raised in Hampstead, London, the daughter of actors Tom Conti and Kara Wilson. She attended King Alfred School, Londo ...

Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series '' Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series '' Bad Education'' (2012–2014, 20 ...

and Carl Donnelly. The company also run comedy training courses.

New Act of the Year Winners

*2001 - Matt High *2002 -

*2003 -

Marek Larwood Marek Ryan Larwood (born 2 June 1976) is an English comedian and actor. He is best known for the BBC Three sketch show '' Rush Hour'' and for being one third of the comedy trio '' We Are Klang''. Early life Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Larwood live ...

*2004 -

*2005 - James Branch *2006 - Carl Donnelly *2007 -

Daniel Rigby Daniel Rigby (born 6 December 1982) is an English actor and comedian. He received a BAFTA TV Award for his leading role as Eric Morecambe in the 2011 television film ''Eric and Ernie''. Early life Rigby was born in Stockport, Greater Mancheste ...

*2008 - Darren Ruddell as "Kev" *2009 -

Sam Gore Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...

*2010 - Julian Deane *2011 - Adam Belbin *2012 -

Bobby Mair Bobby Mair is a Canadian stand-up comedian based in London, England. Mair has appeared on ''The Hour (Canadian TV series), The Hour'', ''Russell Howard's Good News'', ''Sweat the Small Stuff'', ''Virtually Famous'', ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', ' ...

*2013 - Sofie Hagen *2014 - Jenny Collier *2015 - Donal Vaughan

The Edinburgh Fringe

Laughing horse run numerous venues at The Edinburgh Fringe under the name The Free Festival with acts including

Joel Dommett Joel Patrick Dommett (born 8 June 1985) is an English actor, author, comedian, and television presenter. He is known for his television roles in '' Live in Chelsea'', ''Impractical Jokers UK'', '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!,'' ''Joel ...

, Paul McAffrey, Ahir Shah, and Sean Mcloughlin

References

External links

Official websiteFree Edinburgh Fringe Festival website
Edinburgh Festival Fringe {{comedy-stub