The annual British Summer comedy festival needed a conceptual development to entice the stand-up lovers of the world to spend a weekend in tears of laughter. Except there’s been too many tears in these last few years, we’ve braved Covid19, Brexit, Trump and the rising cost of living and right now we could all use a joke. I drew on the connection between the relief of comedy against the backdrop of tough times. My solution was guided by dark irony and how that is juxtaposed with the frivolous fun of humour.