The British Broadcasting Corporation has long since been a home for UK TV comedy as evidenced by the original version of The Office from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant debuting on BBC Two seemingly eons ago.

To continue in their comedy lineage and tradition and looking forward to their future, they’re throwing their very first BBC Comedy Festival in Newcastle next month from Wed. 11th May to Fri. 13th May. BBC’s Director of Comedy, Jon Petrie punctuated the announcement, “We are excited to be coming to Newcastle, the BBC’s first City of Comedy, to celebrate comedy in all its forms and to outline BBC Comedy’s vision for the genre in 2022 and beyond. We are committed to nurturing, developing and collaborating with comedy enthusiasts across the UK, to ensure comedy remains a staple part of our British culture.

With a focus on panel discussions and “in conversations”, this does seem to be geared for people in comedy, but rest assured there will actually be brilliant live comedy to be thoroughly enjoyed by those in attendance. Lined-up on the schedule include appearances from Charlie Brooker, Greg Davies, Jamie Demetriou, Megan Ganz, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Romesh Ranganathan, Stephen Merchant, Tim Renkow, Kat Sadler, Adjani Salmon, and Holly Walsh – plus the casts of BBC hits – Ghosts and The Outlaws.

If you’re in and around the UK a month from now, you’ll probably want to get in on this. We’ll keep you posted on passes/tickets.