Slapstick Festival is an annual celebration of silent, visual and classic film comedy held every year in Bristol, Southwest England. It is an annual event that is dedicated to showcasing silent visual and classic comedy.
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Slapstick Festival is an annual celebration of silent, visual and classic film comedy held every year in Bristol, Southwest England.
01 · What it is
Living Tradition
Documented cultural tradition on record; family classification awaits an editor.
02 · Where & name
United Kingdom
Placed on record in United Kingdom.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
HistorySlapstick Festival is an annual celebration of silent, visual and classic film comedy held every year in Bristol, Southwest England.
Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend AwardSlapstick Festival presents this award in collaboration with Aardman Animations.
Aardman Slapstick Visual Comedy AwardCreated to recognise the excellence of comedians and film makers in the field of visual comedy.
Slapstick Legacy AwardThis award is given to performers and filmmakers who have created Slapstick and Visual comedy onscreen work worthy of mention alongside the original performers in early silent comedy.
Common Questions Answered on Record
The tradition & historical record
3 min read · 2 sources
History
Slapstick Festival is an annual celebration of silent, visual and classic film comedy held every year in Bristol, Southwest England. It is an annual event that is dedicated to showcasing silent visual and classic comedy. It features rare, archived films from around the world. The festival aims to source original film prints and present them, accompanied by live improvised music. These events take place in key venues in Bristol, such as The Bristol Old Vic, The Bristol Beacon, and The Watershed.
Since 2009, the festival has awarded the Aardman Slapstick Awards, which were developed in 2008. Notable recipients include Eric Sykes, Ken Dodd, and French and Saunders. 1
Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend Award
Slapstick Festival presents this award in collaboration with Aardman Animations. Winners are selected by a panel of comedy heroes, previous recipients and festival patrons. This award is dedicated to honouring contemporary comedians who have left an lasting mark on the realm of onscreen and live comedy. The trophy itself, featuring the beloved Aardman character Morph is sculpted by Aardman's model shop to capture the essence of the awardee.
Past winners: 1
2013: June Whitfield
2014: Barry Humphries
2015: Barry Cryer
2016: Ken Dodd
2017: Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
2019: Julie Walters
2024: Robert Lindsay
2025: Ben Elton
2026: Armando Iannucci 1
Aardman Slapstick Visual Comedy Award
Created to recognise the excellence of comedians and film makers in the field of visual comedy. The award is a Morph sculpted to resemble the recipient.
Past winners: 1
2009: Eric Sykes
2010: Michael Palin
2011: The Goodies
2012: Pierre Étaix
2015: Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
2016: Michael Crawford
2024 Terry Gilliam [1] 1
Slapstick Legacy Award
This award is given to performers and filmmakers who have created Slapstick and Visual comedy onscreen work worthy of mention alongside the original performers in early silent comedy. 1
2025: Ryland Brickston Cole Tews: Hundreds of Beavers
2024: Sylvester McCoy: Vision On, Dr Who, The Ken Campbell Roadshow
2023: Harry Hill: Harry Hill's Lonely Island (2021-2)
2022: Tiswas presented to Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Bob Carolgees and John Gorman
2021: Remy Archer & Tom Gaskin: Snake Oil
2018: The Young Ones
2017: Roy Hudd
2016: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith & David Kerr: A Quiet Night In
2015: Matt Lucas: Pompidou TV series (2014) 1
Musical Accompaniment
The Slapstick Festival is committed to presenting silent films and classic comedies as they were originally experienced. Every silent film screening is accompanied by live music, with pianists improvising scores to match the mood of each film. Additionally, the Slapstick Silent Comedy Gala at Bristol Beacon features live orchestral scores.
Regular musicians include Günter A. Buchwald, John Sweeney, Stephen Horne, and others. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Slapstick Festival”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Slapstick Festival is annual event in Bristol, United Kingdom, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. 2