We happened to come across the details of Machynlleth Comedy Festival a few weeks back. We had never heard of it but we found out that Steve McNeil (from Go8Bit fame) was there so we just had to go! (We’re big fans of Steve). With babysitters and a hotel room booked we headed down to beautiful Machynlleth on Friday. I’ve travelled through Machynlleth a fair few times but never stopped to explore. It’s in such a beautiful part of the country… not quite Snowdonia but close enough.
WiFi Wars Pub Quiz
The first show we had booked was the WiFi Wars Pub Quiz at Machynlleth Bowling Club. It’s a spin off from the hugely successful WiFi Wars and hosted by the lovely Steve McNeil and the genius that is Rob Sedgebeer. The Pub Quiz had some awesome comedians hosting each round including Aisling Bea, Bec Hill, Garrett Millerick and Tom Perry. Each of them did a few minutes stand up before then going on to ask their round of questions. It was great! We were doing well after Aisling’s round but it went downhill pretty quickly from there.
The Video Game Game Show Show
Second show (also at the Bowling Club) was The Video Game Game Show Show (aka Go 8 Bit). So similar to Go 8 Bit, two comedians fought it out on video games and the audience would vote on who was going to win. I can’t remember all the games played but one of them was my all time most favouritest games ever – Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I think it was Bec Hill who was playing for our team and she was rubbish!! I could’ve done way better! Other comedians playing this show were The Beasts, Brett Goldstien, Bec Hill, Ed Gamble, Jayde Adams, James Acaster and the awesome Nish Kumar. The show was again hosted by Steve and masterfully looked after by King Rob. So plenty of funny people there!
After these two shows we had a mooch around Machynlleth to see if we could catch any of the other shows. Unfortunately for us, both showcases were sold out! So back to the hotel it was.
WiFi Wars – Let’s Do A Gaming!
Saturday morning was another beautiful morning at Machynlleth Bowling Club. The show of choice for Saturday morning was of course Wifi Wars! Similar to the Video Game Game Show Show it saw two teams battle it out on retro games. Rob Sedgebeer had coded these games to be beamed to everyone’s smartphone. The whole audience would then join in with the gaming. The audience is split into two teams and a player selected at random from each team to be team captains. The team captains play the special buttons so for example, in Field and Track they were in charge of the “jump” button. It was all great fun and I even came 8th overall! Woop woop!
But the best part of it is the fact that both Steve and Rob are genuinely nice people. Both were so welcoming and helpful… and Rob is a pure genius at the techy stuff! He’s awesome and Steve loves to embarrass Rob by making everyone yell “All Hail King Rob” at the end of each show. To be fair, without King Rob the show would be a bit of a disaster!
Josh Widdicombe & Friends
I failed to get tickets for Josh Widdicombe’s actual show but I managed to nab tickets for Josh Widdicombe’s showcase event. In this one, Josh acted like the host and introduced us to a few comedians. A couple I had never seen/heard of and some familiar faces. In this one we had Josh (of course), Ed Gamble, Nish Kumar, James Acaster and Kiri Pritchard-McLean. We had wanted to see Nish’s show but he was sold out so it was awesome we got to see him here instead. Ed Gamble was great and we would definitely go see him again. Kiri Pritchard-McLean also ace and a local lass (Anglsesy woop woop!) and will be looking out for her future shows for sure. James Acaster wasn’t really our thing… sorry guy!
Famous Faces
So as you can see from the photos above we met a few of the entertainers (including our absolute fave Steve McNeil!). We had walked past a few of them on occasions without really spotting them – Ed Gamble was one. He walked past us a number of times before husband clicked who it was. Husband did manage to spot Mark Watson and we had a nice chat with him… and a selfie of course! We also walked by Nish a few times but he was either deep in conversation with someone or we were too starstruck to go “oi Nish!” at him.
So with that in mind, it was really surreal to have Michael Sheen walk into the same boozer as us before the Pub Quiz! I wasn’t sure if it was really him first but then the couple next to us went to ask for a selfie. I found my voice then and he kindly posed for a selfie with us. He then went over to the bar to queue for a pint and no-one bothered him. It was really weird!
Machynlleth You Were Beautiful!
The weather was amazing! The views were just lovely and the people were so friendly! A special shout out to the barman at the Machynlleth Bowling Club who was really friendly. If you’r reading – thanks for making “Blaenau Ffestiniog” feel welcomed. And I’m sorry if I sent you some rain! We will definitely be back next year!
