Introducing: Jonny Fluffypunk

Back to perform with us is Jonny Fluffypunk, 14:05-14:30 Saturday; 14:15-14:40 Sunday . If he’s new to you/ you’d like a reminder, read on:

In his own words:

“Stand-up poet and lo-fi theatremaker Jonny Fluffypunk has been dragging his art around the spoken word, comedy and alternative cabaret circuits for over 20 years. His fusion of bittersweet autobiography and surreal whimsy has made him a firm headline favourite at gigs, festivals and housing benefit offices throughout the UK.”

Fay’s words:

I love telling the story of how I first met JFP – not at a slam or an open mic or a random festival, or even at a Rrrants gig, this was at a networking event for spoken word performers and organisers (more the latter than the former, from memory). I’d just started walking towards the venue, looking around, unsure, in this pre-satnav time, if I’d landed in the right place. Across the carpark stroll two figures – both tall, one completely bald, broad as a builder, and the other rake-thin, sporting a handlebar moustache and a beret. “I’m definitely in the right place for poets!” I call out (or something similar). As they get nearer I hold my hand out. “No!” exclaims Handlebar Moustache, “Poets hug!” and proceeded to envelope me in an embrace while the other looked on in gentle amusement. And that was the first time I met (now former) Young People’s Laureate Wales, Martin Daws, and host of the Hip Yak Poetry Shack, Jonny Fluffypunk. He’s toured Hammer & Tongue a couple of times, so I’ve hosted him in Cambridge and seen him range rapidly around festival stages to boot. This is a man whose style can best be described as a kind of genial rage. His energy can’t be contained by a stage, so off he goes, burning through ergs and the soles of his boots, charging into the audience and involving them in his rants. He breaks the fourth wall repeatedly throughout his forays into every subject under the sun, pointing out good lines and clever rhymes, asking us what we think about this bit, should I keep it? Somewhere between stand-up comedy, poetry, punk-inflected anarchy, and something truly unique, he strides through observations of the world that put professional comics to shame and manage to startle, delight, and confound in nearly equal measure. Clever, passionate, memorable, and wise, it’s an experience to savour, and I’m looking forward to seeing him again, both off- and on-stage!

Sneak preview:

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