The first ever Oxford Comedy Festival kicks off on Saturday with a fantastic line-up. Local compere and stand-up comedian Paul Fung tells Katherine MacAlister all about it

Thirty-one-year-old Paul Fung from Marston was spotted by Oxford Comedy Festival organisers while working with acclaimed sketch troupe The Awkward Silence and earmarked to compere the OCF’s first performance and star in the second.

So is he nervous? “If you have confidence in your material and know what you’re doing, it’s not that nerve-wracking because people are there to laugh. That’s what they come for, not to judge you, so they give you the benefit of the doubt. And stand-up is enormously addictive. It feels really good when you are up there and doing well. So I never sit down and write new material but a gem of an idea will come to me when I’m walking to work and I’ll mull it over until it’s in the bag.”

Describing his own style as ‘meandering and looking at things in far too much detail”, Paul, left, tried to ignore his stand-up urges for years, until it got too much: “I was at Oxford University which would have been the ideal time to explore my comedic tendencies,” he sighs, “so it was a bit of a missed opportunity really.”

Instead, Paul graduated and took a job with OUP until he couldn’t suppress his urges any longer.

But one bad gig put him off, so he went off for two years to do an MA and only signed up to perform some more gigs on his return to Oxford.

The first few were so terrifying that Paul promised himself each time he’d never put himself through that again. But then he’d find himself standing up on stage with new material, unable to keep away.

Now gigging several times a month around Oxford, Paul says stand-up is utterly addictive and practice makes perfect. So is he tempted to go professional then? “Yes, I’d love to, but I don’t know if I could deal with the practical side — sitting in a car with four other comedians for eight hours to get to a gig in Solihull.”

In the meantime Paul’s looking forward to taking part in the first ever Oxford Comedy Festival. “It’s a great opportunity for Oxford to see what a great mix of comedy it has right here, and getting everyone together under one roof means everyone will be able to enjoy the talent and variety, because it’s really funny stuff,” he promises.

THE LINE-UP

The Oxford Comedy Festival 2014 will showcase emerging talent from Impromptu Shakespeare who improvise an entire Shakespeare play from the audience’s suggestion; to sketches from Lead Pencil, Surname and Surname and Lazy Susan, pictured, who between them gathered an embarrassingly high number of stars at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe; as well as award winning stand-up comedy from the likes of ‘Bladock New Act of the Year’ Daryl Perry.
 

Fantastic local acts include widely acclaimed sketch troupes The Awkward Silence and The Dead Secrets, as well as stand-ups Elf Lyons (runner-up in the national ‘Funny Women’ competition 2013) and Paul Fung.

All profits from the Festival will be donated to The Disasters Emergency Committee and Oxford-based charity Pathway Workshop .

The Festival performances are at 2-5pm and 7-10pm on Saturday March 29 at The Old Fire Station Theatre, George Street, Oxford.

Tickets are available from Tickets Oxford (ticketsoxford.com).