Award-winning comedy posters & graphic design for the creative arts
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PERIL CREATES BROCHURE COVER FOR LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL 2024
OCT 23: It's not often that Peril gets a chance to work on a big illustration project, but we were thrilled to be asked to create this hand-drawn cover artwork for Leicester Comedy Festival (Europe's longest-running comedy fest).
With a new team in charge after the departure of festival founder Geoff Rowe, the festival wanted something new and different for the first brochure cover of the new era, so Peril was tasked to draw hundreds of faces, buildings, landmarks and other items to create a piece that encapsulates the community spirit of Leicester and Leicestershire, recognising the many facets that make this part of the country special.
Peril also create a separate cover for the UK Kids Comedy Festival brochure, plus banners and a collection of web assets bearing the new hand-drawn style. As usual the festival takes place across Leicestershire throughout February, and is the birthplace of many award-winning shows, so why not come and see some shows in Feb - we'll see you there!! Tickets for the staggering 731 shows can be purchased at comedy-festival.co.uk
PERIL CREATES TOUR ARTWORK FOR BAFTA-WINNER ADAM KAY
AUG 23: Another big-name client came Peril's way this year, in the shape of comedian, bestselling author and now Bafta-winning screenwriter ADAM KAY.
Adam shot to fame after his book 'THIS IS GOING TO HURT' about the trials and tribulations of being a junior doctor, shot to the top of the bestsellers list, and was subsequently made in to a BBC series, which recently won 4 Bafta awards including Best Writer: Drama for Adam himself.
Gag Reflex were in charge of bringing his new live tour (based on his second book Undoctored) to the Edinrburgh fringe and beyond, and they contracted Peril to handle the frankly staggering variety of artwork needed for the Fringe run, West End run and subsequent national tour.
The live artwrok was based upon the book cover (not designed by Peril). and included all hundereds of web ads (static & animated), posters of all sizes and shapes, projection graphics, banners, lightboxes, and even recreating the original book cover for This Is Going To Hurt, for an Australian release fo the highly-successful memoir.
SKY's THE LIMIT FOR PERIL ANIMATIONS
MAY 2023: Peril has been commissioned by Sky Studios to create animated adverts for its Sky Comedy Rep project, to be displayed on a series of big screens in Birmingham city centre.
The project is a collaboration between Sky Studios and Birmingham Comedy Rep, in which a group of upcoming comedy writers have created. series of short comedy plays to be performed at The Rep, under the mentorship of comedy veterans including such as Sanjeev Bhaskar and Morwenna Banks.
The centrepiece of the designs is a special mural depicting Birmingham comedy legends Joe Lycett, Meera Syal, Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Skinner and Dame Julie Walters, which was illustrated by David Hodge, a midlands-born artist. Peril was tasked with adapting this mural into an animated advert for the project, which was displayed on several large screens in Birmingham for several weeks in the run-up to the performances at The Rep. The theme of the plays is Parklife, and Peril created a special animated park bench logo for the project.
Read an article about the launch of the project here.
PERIL WINS THE 2023 CONTRIBUTION AWARD AT LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL
MARCH 2023: Peril has won an award at Leicester Comedy Festival for the third time!
The festival, in all its infinite wisdom, decided that Peril's work on the 30th Anniversary Exhibition (see article below) was worthy of the award for 'Contribution to the Leicester Comedy Festival'. The award was presented by the new CEO of Big Difference Company Michael Harris-Wakelam, in a ceremony hosted by comedian (and Peril client) Scott Bennett.
Obviously chuffed is not the word! It was an honour to be asked to put together such an important exhibition chronicling the best moments from 30 years of Europe's largest & longest-running comedy festival.
Peril's Paul Banks said "It was a real challenge to plan, design, produce and install the exhibition on top of all the other comedy posters, brochures, signage and web graphics that I usuallly undertake in the run-up to the festival each year. But it's great to take a step out of your comfort zone once in a while, and I feel immensely proud that the festival have recognised my work with with this award."
Peril would also like to thank all those that helped in putting the exhibition together, including Geoff, Charlotte and the whole festival team, Martin England for his invaluable help with the installation, PrintPrint and BigArtandBanners for their excellent printing work, as well as Martin Picker, Jason Neale & Suzanne Rowland for lending a hand with the install & takedown process.
Peril Design celebrates ten years of design for live comedy, with a ridiculously good line-up of comedians at Firebug on Saturday 18th Feb 2023, as part of Leicester Comedy Festival.
Featuring several Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees, a Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, two UK Pun Champions, a multiple Joke of the Fringe winner and more!
All ticket sales will raise money for Dementia UK
CLASSIC PERIL DESIGN POSTERS ON DISPLAY AT LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL EXHIBITION
Peril has been working over the past few months with Leicester Comedy Festival, to put together a special exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of the festival. As well as many items from the festival's 30 year archive and some cracking photo portraits of comedians by Andy Hollingworth, there is also a whole wall of classic Peril posters which have been designed for Leicester Comedy Festival shows over the last ten years.
The exhibition runs from 8 - 26 Feb 2023, at the Old Library Cafe & Galleries, in Leicester Adult Education College, Belvoir St, Leicester LE1 6QL. Opening hours are 8:30am - 8:30pm Monday to Thursday (8:30 - 4:30 during half term); and 8:30 - 4:30 Fridays. Special late entry for Just The Tonic ticket holders on show nights.
Two of Peril's highest-profile clients have been achieving huge success lately, appearing on popular TV shows, getting nominated for awards and embarking on national tours, and thankfully they've both stuck with Peril to sort out their artwork!
Scott Bennett has made his debut on Live at the Apollo and is currently touring his greatest hits show 'Great Scott' around the country.
Whilst Josh Pugh has been nominated for Best Show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, appeared on Mock The Week and several other panel shows, and is now selling out venues up and down the country on his own national tour.
Congratulations to both of them, in Peril's opinion their success is both hard-earned and well deserved!
PERIL CREATES NATIONAL TOUR ARTWORK FOR SCOTT BENNETT AND JOSH PUGH
PERIL MAKES TOP 5 AT THE EDINBURGH COMEDY POSTER AWARDS
AUG 2019: One of our posters has featured in the top 5 at the Edinburgh Comedy Poster Awards!
Peril's artwork for Josh Pugh's show 'Maybe the Real Comedy Awards are the Friends we Made Along the Way', was named in the top 5 of the audience award category, which is voted for by members of the public via the British Comedy Guide website. This is a fantastic achievement considering there were over 1500 eligible shows and some very big-name acts vying for the prize.
The poster, featuring photography by Darron Palmer, gained a lot of fans during this year's fringe, with its hugely tongue-in-cheek presentation of Josh as a smug, self-satisfied 'life guru' dispensing pearls of wisdom, whilst his godlike face beams down on us from the sky above.
UNVEILED: PERIL'S MAMMOTH STACK OF EDINBURGH FRINGE 2019 DESIGNS!
JULY 2019: After months of hard work, we're finally able to unveil the huge selection of designs Peril has produced for this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
From TV stars and talent-show winners to New York stand-ups, dancers and surreal character acts, our stable of Fringe clients has never been bigger.
Click on the pic to view the full size image, and why not vote for your favourite in the Comedy Poster Awards? Voting is open until 17th August, and you never know - you might even help us win an award!
PERIL RELEASES 2019 LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL DESIGNS
FEB 2019: It's been another busy winter for Peril, and as hundreds of acts prepare to test out their new show ideas in front of the notoriously 'firm but fair' Leicester audience, Peril has been creating posters and branding materials for more shows & promoters than ever.
As well as producing a mutli-venue brochure for the festival themselves. the promoters on our client list this year include Heroes, Jokes On Us, CCCP, Dan NIcholas/Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester Fridge and Megazone Leicester.
Along with as many returning clients, this year we've said hello to Peril newbies Louise Atkinson, Paul Savage, Hivemind Theatrical Solutions, Chris Norton-Walker, Josh James and the cult hit gameshow Hell to Play.
PERIL'S GOT TALENT!
OCT 2018: Peril is super-proud to announce our highest profile client yet - none other than Britain's Got Talent winner Lost Voice Guy!
After winning the latest series of popular TV talent show, Lost Voice Guy's management company Gag Reflex needed someone reliable to put together a staggering array of artwork for his huge national tour, which is visiting over 50 venues during 2019, and Peril gladly answered the call.
So we've been very busy indeed, producing a multitude different sizes and formats of artwork for over 50 venues, huge billboards, web graphics for various websites, and even providing artwork to be shown onscreen as part of his appearance on America's Got Talent: The Champions!
PERIL RELEASES 2018 EDINBURGH FRINGE POSTER DESIGNS
JULY 2018: As hordes of performers head north again for the Edinburgh Fringe, Peril has yet again unveiled a bumper set of posters to accompany many of the shows on offer.
Peril regulars such as The Elvis Dead's Rob Kemp, Athena Kugblenu, Adele Cliff, Tom Little and Josh Pugh are joined by plenty of new clients including Robert White (of Britain's Got Talent fame), Fringe Heroes Bob Slayer and Phil Kay, hotly-tipped newcomer Eric Roy Rushton and African sensation Njambi McGrath.
We're overjoyed that the Comedy Poster Awards are returning this year, and you can see and vote for all of Peril's eligible designs here
PERIL WINS AGAIN AT LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL!
MARCH 2018: For the second time, one of Peril's designs has won the Best Poster award at Leicester Comedy Festival.
The poster for Adele Cliff's show SHEEP was crowned the top design of this year's festival, which featured over 840 shows. The award was collected by Paul Banks during the official festival awards ceremony at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre, and now sits alongside the 2015 award in Peril's trophy cabinet.
Congratulations also go to Peril clients Jokes On Us and Firebug, who scooped the Best Promoter and Best Small Venue categories.
"I'd like to thank the academy..." - Paul collects the Best Poster award.
PERIL NOMINATED ONCE AGAIN FOR COMEDY FESTIVAL AWARD
MARCH 2018: Peril has been nominated for Leicester Comedy Festival’s Best Poster award for the FOURTH year running.
Peril's design for Adele Cliff's new show 'SHEEP' is up against five other designs in the category, and becomes the seventh Peril poster to be nominated for the award since it began in 2015.
Peril won the award in its inaugural year, with their design for Ian Hall's 'Out of Touch, Out of Time', and has twice been a close runner-up with 'President Obonjo Stole my Identity' and 'The Elvis Dead'.
Click on the image to visit the Visual Gag site
VISUAL GAG FLYER PACKS
INVADE THE CITY!
FEB 2018: After a flurry of orders for print and distribution, Peril's new project Visual Gag is officially underway, with hundreds of festival posters up on display in Leicester and well over a thousand flyer packs available to pick up in dozens of venues.
The flyer packs, which contain useful festival info, a venue map, a selection of flyers and a competition to win tickets to some fantastic festival shows, are available in all city centre festival venues as well as a selection of bars, cafés, libraries, hotels and public buildings.
We've also been handing them out at big-capacity comedy shows, such as the official Festival Preview Show and Greg Davies gig at De Montfort Hall. Clients have been very impressed with the standard of the packs, with many saying it's about time someone did this for Leicester fest! Pick up one now to be in with a chance of winning those tickets!
PERIL UNVEILS NEW CROP OF LCF POSTERS
JAN 2018: It's that time of the year again, folks! Leicester comedy festival is just around the corner, and as usual we've been very busy creating a wide range of posters for the weird and wonderful selection of shows on offer at this year's festival.
Amongst this year's designs are new shows for returning clients including Jason Neale, Adele Cliff, Zahra Barri and Rob Kemp, plus a Guess Who-themed design for Attenborough Arts Centre.
We've also had some new clients come on board as usual, including the wonderful Paul Currie, livley lass Kirsty Munro, madcap improv duo Nicholas Holt and rising star Patrick Draper.
COMING SOON:
'VISUAL GAG' - A
NEW WAY TO ORDER DESIGN, PRINT & DISTRIBUTION FOR COMEDY EVENTS
SEPTEMBER 2017: Peril Design is proud to report that we've been very busy behind the scenes, working on building a bespoke order system for the comedy industry, called VISUAL GAG.
So whether you're a single act doing a festival show, a regular club night, or a multi-venue promoter, soon you'll be able to get all your marketing materials designed, printed and distributed using one integrated system. You'll also be able to order brochure adverts, social media, web design, photography, copywriting, press packs - the whole bloomin' lot!
We're hoping that this system will streamline the quoting/ordering process by allowing you to see exactly what's available at what price, as well as ensuring that we have all the relevant details we need from you, before starting work on your job. The system will also allow you to pay online as well as view and approve proofs, and track delivery.
'THE ELVIS DEAD' WINS THE 2017 FRINGE!
AUGUST 2017: The month-long Edinburgh Fringe is finally over, and it is clear that the big winner is Peril client Rob Kemp, whose quirky show The Elvis Dead has been a nightly sell-out, has received universally positive reviews, and has been nominated for and won more awards than any comedy show this year! Well done Rob, it was a pleasure working with you to create the artwork for this awesome show, and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the future!
Of course it's not all about Rob though - regular Peril client President Obonjo earned a 'Fringe Experience' nomination in the Wee Review awards, and Damian Kingsley was nominated for the Malcolm Hardee 'Cunning Stunt' award. So huge congrats to both of them, and of course well done to all of Peril's 2017 Fringe clients for all their efforts over the month - hope you're now enjoying a well-earned rest!
PERIL RELEASES 2017 CROP OF FRINGE POSTERS
JULY 2017: With the start of the Edinburgh Fringe just a few days away, we're proud to unleash our newest crop of fringe posters which are set to be adorning the walls of Edinburgh over the next month. As usual, some are adapted versions of posters created for previous festivals, and some are brand new. And as always, there is a wide variety of artwork styles.
This year's clients include English Comedian of the Year Josh Pugh, critically-acclaimed stand-ups Sarah Keyworth and Athena Kugblenu, Leicester Comedy Festival winner Rob Kemp, Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Tom Little and rising star of the one-liner world Adele Cliff, amongst others. And we've also done our first ever poster for a theatre show, the critically-acclaimed MINE by Doug Deans.
PERIL'S CLIENTS WIN BIG AT COMEDY FESTIVAL AWARDS
APRIL 2017: Peril clients Rob Kemp and Colin Bowles were the big winners at Monday night's Leicester Comedy Festival awards.
Rob's show 'The Elvis Dead' won Best Musical or Improv Show and also the main Best Show award - the first time any show has won two awards at the festival. This show was so well received on its first outing that it was brought back for a second date on the final day of the festival, which saw a packed room and two standing ovations. Rob has been snapped up for Edinburgh by Bob Slayer's Heroes outfit, so we look forward to seeing how it (and Peril's poster!) fares when it comes to the Edinburgh awards...
Meanwhile Colin Bowles aka CCCP (Triple CeePee), won Best Promoter for his excellent programme at Firebug, and also programmed the bill at The Little Theatre which won Best Venue. Peril designed the programmes for both Firebug and The Little Theatre, as well as producing a promotional video for CCCP.
And finally, Peril's regular client Leicester Fridge won their first award after being nominated 3 years in a row, with their risqué show Naked Comedy winning the Liberty Award. Congratulations to all the brave performers and to the incredibly hardworking Fridge Team!
Top: Rob Kemp gives one of two award speeches. Bottom: Colin Bowles poses with one of his awards, along with host Janice Connolly. Pics courtesy of Leicester Comedy Festival.
PERIL NOMINATED AGAIN FOR COMEDY FESTIVAL AWARD
MARCH 2017: Peril has been nominated for Leicester Comedy Festival’s Best Poster award for the thIrd year running.
Peril's design for Rob Kemp's new show 'The Elvis Dead' is up against five other designs in the category, and becomes the sixth Peril poster to be nominated for the award since it began in 2015.
Peril won the award in its inaugural year with their design for Ian Hall's 'Out of Touch, Out of Time', and was a close runner-up last year with 'President Obonjo Stole my Identity'.