About Grin Up North
Well, can you believe it’s six? We have started to think of the festival like one of our kids; so by now it has passed through the nursery stage, the tantrums are calming down and it should be fully continent (at least in the day).
Grin Up North was originally conceived in a radio studio with the two of us chatting during Elton John’s Rocket Man.With naive enthusiasm we thought a comedy festival would be a great idea, and so Grin Up North was introduced to
the world. As it has grown we have tried to be supportive parents and avoid being too pushy along the way.
So now we find ourselves with one of the biggest comedy festivals in the country, a festival that the huge acts want
to play and where newer acts want to get noticed. The phone starts ringing every November with Agents wanting
to get slots for the following year, we have media interest from all over the world and last year over half the tickets
sold to people from outside of Sheffield. Once again this year, old friends who have supported us from the start like
Jimmy Carr and Ross Noble are back, whilst making their debuts in the festival we’ve got such luminaries as
Dara O’Briain, Stewart Lee, Tommy Tiernan, Stuart Francis, Ardal O’Hanlon and Sarah Millican. All brilliant!
The festival has lots of aunties and uncles, like Billy, Julian, Jill, Marie, Foxy and Vicky who all help out with the
childcare at some point. And we can’t forget the Godparents, Sheffield City Council, Creative Sheffield, SIV, Sheffield
Theatres, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Telegraph & Star, Travel South Yorkshire, Real Radio, Welcome to
Yorkshire, Yorkshire South, East Midlands Trains, Novotel, Exposed, Supertram, Stagecoach and First, all who help
steer the festival on its path with advice and moral support. Last but not least Nicky, Jill and the Foster and Barton
kids who have accepted this new sibling into the fold even when it is demanding far too much of our attention.
To everyone, thank you.
Then every October we meet the festival’s delightful friends - the thousands of you that buy tickets for the big
shows at The Lyceum and City Hall, and the “festival fiver” tickets at The Lescar, where you might take a chance on
someone you’ve not seen before, make it all worthwhile.
Post October, we sit down and talk about the festival. We read its school report and listen to what people are saying
about it. We always feel the same. Of course we love it, how couldn’t you love it? Eighty odd shows means eighty
odd great nights out. So yes, we love it.But more than anything else, we’re really proud of it.
For more information about how to get to Grin Up North click here.
For more information about the events taking place at Grin Up North click here
