"We have been going to the Hay Festival for a few years now, we love the picturesque old book town and after seeing Kate Adie do her thing on Iraq and various other serious literary figures talk solemnly etc. In the evening we are in the mood to let our hair down a little and have a bit of a laugh.

Apart from the fact that the Guardian has shipped the festival out of town. The comedy shows they present, as well as being over subscribed... the acts presented seem strangely incongruous to the kind of crowds there.

We then noticed a "What's a festival without a Fringe?" poster in town, intrigued by the idea, we decided to seek it out... We went to a couple of events and found it to be pretty much poetry in the village hall with carrot cake.

Dissapointed and somewhat, being veterans of Edinburgh, we thought, surely as comedy promoters there's an opportunity here? Surely we can we can do better than this?

We know and have seen many comics out there that have a real literary slant on comedy that isn't always appreciated by Edinburgh revellers and the dreaded Jongleurs stag night atmosphere on the circuit.

Comics with something on their mind and a way of putting it over; intelligent sometimes wordy not always roar with laughter but giving you something to think about. Guys with story telling and real intelligent aim to their comedy material.

So I spoke to a few friends and colleagues in the comedy industry who thought it was a grand idea, 2 of them true Welshbloods and now we have a little network together and a cunning plan.

We will be in the Baskerville Hall just the other side of the Wye 24, 25, 26 May as it stands and even longer if more of the right acts come on board.

Lets hope this is the start of something big.

Article written by Mike Fox