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The XIII Old Town Beer Festival opens with a Comedy Night on Thursday 7th May at Christ Church Swindon.
Our Comedy Night is proudly sponsored this year by The Drink Valley Swindon …
Winners of the ‘Best Pro Comedy Night’ in the West of England and Wales at this year’s Chortle Comedy Awards, beating the cities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and many other towns.
The annual Old Town Beer Festival 2026 kicks-off on Thursday May 7th with a night of stand up comedy from The Swindon Old Town Comedy Club – now an established tradition for opening our beer festival for the last four years.
Doors open at 6pm for Hot Food, Beer and Cider, ready for an 8pm Show Start!
The night promises to be full of side-splitting laughter with an absolutely banging line-up of award-winning comedians!
Comedian Line Up Includes:
Esther Manito (Live at the Appollo, Comedy Central, The Stand Up Sketch Show, Best Headliner Chortle Award Winner 2026)
Samantha Day (Leicester Comedy Festival Silver Stand Up Award Winner)
Alex Farrow (Devon Comedian of the Year Winner)
Holding it all together will be your host and MC, Swindon Old Town Comedy Club’s Sam Michael.
Tickets for the evening are only £15 and include entry, top comedy from 4 great award-winning comedians, festival glass, festival guide, and first drink free.
More About the Comedians…
Headliner – Esther Manito
Esther Manito is an Arab Essex girl who will challenge every single preconception of what that means.
Esther began performing stand-up around 2016 following a six-week writing course at London’s Camden Comedy School. She was the first female comedian to perform at Dubai Opera House, a Best Headliner Chortle Award Winner 2026, a regional finalist in 2017’s Funny Women Awards, and was a finalist in the 2019 Arab British Centre’s Award for Culture.
You will have seen her on Live at the Apollo (BBC 1), Esther Manito: Crusade (ITV X). Hypothetical (U&Dave) and Stand-up Sketch Show (ITV 2) & COMEDY CENTRAL LIVE.
The award-winning comic has supported Alan Davies, Shappi Korsandi, Sindhu Vee, Jason Mansford, Jo Brand and Al Murray!
Samantha Day
Samantha Day spent three decades as an accountant, including as a partner at KPMG, heading up their London tax team. Six years ago, the single mum swapped spreadsheets for stand-up and, in doing so, found her true calling — helping people laugh, think, and discover joy and insight into their own stories. She’s really hit her stride, as a truly original act who’s progressing fast on the circuit.
Samantha has become a sought-after motivational speaker, known for her unique blend of humour and honesty. Drawing on her own transformation from corporate life to comedy, she inspires audiences to embrace change, face fear with a sense of humour, and find confidence in imperfection.
Alex Farrow
Alex has been performing and writing comedy for over 10 years. He hosts Stand-up Philosophy London and the award-winning Jericho Comedy in Oxford, as recommended by the Telegraph, the i Paper, Chortle and Sunday Times. Jericho comedy is regularly voted one of the top comedy nights in the country and you can see him perform at comedy clubs across the UK.
He likes mixing stand-up with a touch of philosophy and science-themed material. His writing has appeared on Mock the Week, Have I Got News for You as well as in the Times as part of the best jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe as well as featuring on BBC Radio 4 extras The Circuit and BBC Sounds.
Your Host for The Evening – Sam Michael
Our local MC living in Swindon, Sam Michael is a stand up comedian and award winning podcaster who has been described as “Very good, very funny”” Dom Joly, “effortlessly able to win over a crowd” (We Are Cult Magazine) and “outright hilarious” (BBC Radio Wiltshire).
He was a finalist in last year’s Stand Up For Cider competition.
He has written and performed comedy to audiences across the UK including the Edinburgh Festival 2025, has YouTube channel with over 1,700 subscribers, and hosts the podcast ‘Comedians Talking About Football‘
Sam is on tour this year his ‘The World’s Oldest Man’ show.
View and download our full festival brochure HERE SOON!
