The Stage

The School of Comedy launches annual Edinburgh residency

Published Friday 18 November 2011 at 11:05 by Matthew Hemley

Young comics from the London-based School of Comedy clubs are to benefit from more opportunities to showcase their talent, with an annual presence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, content for CBBC and a dedicated YouTube channel all planned.

The School of Comedy, which spawned the E4 series of the same name, is also set to increase the classes it offers at both the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick and at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, to accommodate the increasing number of young people looking to take part.

School of Comedy co-founder Laura Lawson told The Stage that the YouTube channel will be managed by Jack Harries and Will Poulter, two former School of Comedy members who went on to star in the E4 comedy. She said the internet channel will feature content recorded at the different schools, and footage from forthcoming gigs in Edinburgh, where the School of Comedy will have a presence at the Assembly Rooms annually from next year.

“The way forward for us is live performance, but we have to have an online presence as everything is online now. The channel, managed by Jack and Will, will give the kids a presence. It will feature kids from all the clubs - those who have come up with the best characters. It will be a talking heads to start, and we will grow it from there,” she said.

Lawson added that talent will be “grown online”, with the best of the year taken to Edinburgh.

In addition, she said School of Comedy is looking to launch an awards ceremony at the festival, to honour the best comedic talent under the age of 18, and that the company is also working with CBBC to develop interstitials - short chunks of content that can he shown in between main programmes.

She said six sketches are being developed for CBBC featuring the young performers from the clubs.

School of Comedy is also launching classes for children aged four to eight years old in January next year.