The statement released by Beyond Prison project manager read “Thanks to all that worked on the initial project for the super effort and all of those currently working on the legacy of Bringing the Outside In.

The film can be watched here:

www.beyondprison.org.uk

The actual awards is on display at the reception area at Lumiere Court from today to Friday 28th of October, come check it out and grab some Scottish toffee sweets.

Kindest Regards

Fabio Gomes
Manager
Beyond Prison Services”

Comic Voice Management comedian John Ryan, whose role has been instrumental throughout the project was ‘made up’ following the news of the prestigious award.

To learn more about John Ryan’s mental health shows and projects, please contact us here.

“The show went down brilliantly and Imran was very well received by the audience. We have had some amazing feedback and have raised a wonderful £14,000.00 for Amnesty” Amenesty International

To book/hire top comedian Imran Yusuf for your event, please call 0845 459 56 56 or contact us here.

To view Comic Voice Management comedian Imran Yusuf’s full biog please click here.

John has recently been performing for the armed forces across the world and headlining comedy club shows across the UK so is in unstoppable form ahead of this run of gigs ahead of next weekend.

View John Ryan’s Comic Voice Management biog.

“Geoff Norcott was excellent, very funny and great entertainment. With a mixed audience he was able to encapsulate the mood and showed a good understanding of people and their obvious personality traits. The fundraising auction was a big success due to Geoff’s drive and enthusiasm to encourage the audience to part with their much earned funds. Would we have him again most definitely.” Ellon RFU

View Geoff Norcott’s Comic Voice Management Page

“Yusuf is one of the best things to have happened to British comedy in ages.” Telegraph

Spending an hour in the company of Imran Yusuf – whether on stage or in person – can achieve the near-impossible in these dark days of riots, double-dip recessions, terrorism and global unrest: it can make you feel happy, positive, and ready to face the future.

Yusuf is one of the best things to have happened to British comedy in ages. Fast-talking and funny, this skinny London geezer bathes whoever he’s addressing in a feelgood aura without any recourse to simple-minded escapism. He may leaven his stand-up with cheesy chat-up lines, confessions about his disastrous love-life and the odd dinosaur impression, but he doesn’t stray far from the main topic at hand – being Muslim in Britain today, and why, for all the pessimism, he thinks we’re going to be OK.

Born in Kenya to parents of Asian descent but raised in Hackney Downs after the family fled Uganda, Yusuf, 31, was such a breath of fresh air at the white-dominated Fringe last year that he went from being an unknown, performing for free in a tiny venue, to one of the hottest tickets in town – with queues round the block and even extra volunteers drafted in to cope with demand.

In swift succession, he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, stormed an appearance on Michael McIntyre’s Roadshow and bagged a BBC3 sketch-show pilot, so all eyes will be on his follow-up show this year, Bring the Thunder. It promises to develop the themes of last year’s set – and in particular tackle David Cameron’s contentious and dispiriting line that multiculturalism in the UK has failed.

“It does feel like I’ve been tarred with this brush,” he says. “My perceived value is that I come from a group of people who aren’t very nice, that’s the way it can feel sometimes. But at the end of the day, pointing fingers and trying to blame people is never going to be the best thing. For me, growing up as a Muslim in Britain has been a positive experience. Most of my friends aren’t Muslims, they have all kinds of faiths and backgrounds.”

hat diversity is reflected in the make-up of his audiences: he attracts, he says, “the lightest of the light to the darkest of the dark, the youngest of the young to the oldest of the old – I get girls in hijabs and guys with tattoos all over them.”

Has he encountered hostility on the circuit? For sure, he answers: “Once in a blue moon, by the time I’ve got on-stage someone has shouted ’suicide bomber’ or ‘check what’s in his shoes’, so you have to address that perception. But I’ve also had people come up and tell me how they love what I’m doing and that I’m helping to defuse some of the tension that exists. There’s a lot of hate out there and a feeling that ‘only what looks and sounds like me is for me’. That’s why I want my comedy to have a broad appeal.”

Having come adrift in a career in the video games industry during his twenties, Yusuf’s dedication to his newly discovered vocation is inspiring. He wasn’t even aware of stand-up in his teens and only made a serious attempt to be a comic in 2007.

“I’ve turned my life around,” he says, radiating can-do energy. “A few years ago, I was broke and things were hopeless. When I first came to Edinburgh in 2008, I remember thinking, ‘I don’t belong here – I’m never going to be one of these big festival comedians.’ I quite can’t believe where I am now.

“And I want to tell people that that kind of change is possible for them, too. You shouldn’t be defeatist. I know it sounds schmaltzy and American, but life is an amazing opportunity. It’s how you choose to look at things that counts.”

‘Bring the Thunder’ is at Pleasance Courtyard (0131 556 6550), until Aug 29

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“strong, clever material which builds to a thoroughly uplifting finale…fascinating” **** FEST

Date of live review: Sunday 7th Aug, ‘11

Imran Yusuf is by no means short of confidence. It’s perhaps not surprising: the Kenyan-born, Hackney-raised ex-computer games tester played 101 shows in 25 days at the 2010 Fringe. It’s an experience which, clearly, has left its mark. Here Yusuf breezes through a set of strong, clever material which builds to a thoroughly uplifting finale.

It is identity—specifically it’s malleability and ambiguity—which provides Yusuf with his comedic fodder. Undoubtedly, he speaks from a fascinating place on the topic, his mixed heritage providing him with a unique angle on national identity. This is a cultural no man’s land he works to his advantage, allowing him to exercise his knack for taking topics to the bounds of acceptability, digging deeper into uncomfortable territory on race and religion before dropping, erm, the comedic bomb.

This ebb and flow also allows him room to be, for want of a better word, preachy. But Yusuf steers well clear of boorishness, instead crafting a well rounded show whose central message—that it’s totally right-on to be yourself and to let others do the same—comes through gleefully, stripping away our various affiliations rather than asserting a political one of his own.

There’s the odd weak point – Yusuf can do much better than jokes about boobs and Back to the Future, and a recurring theme of him being “gangster” never looks close to sprouting wings. But these are moments of timidity among otherwise braver material. There are few comedians willing to recite the Qur’an as part of their finale – and still fewer who could make it work.

Review by Evan Beswick, FEST Mag

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You can find all there show details here:

The Noise Next Door – Their Finest Hour – Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) – 4.30pm

Imran Yusuf – Bring The Thunder – Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) – 7pm

Simon Feilder – AAA Stand-up – Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) – 7.15pm

Jonathan Elston – AAA Stand-up Late – Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) – 11pm

Nik Coppin – Award Winning Comedian – The City Cafe (Venue 85) – 5.30pm

For press tickets, please contact us here.

http://www.itv.com/showmethefunny/comics/rudi-lickwood/

Want to see comedian Rudi Lickwood perform live? Check out Rudi’s Comedy Club dates here

Want to book stand-up comedian Rudi Lickwood for an event? Contact us here (Comic Voice Management exclusively manages Rudi Lickwood worldwide)