The award-winning Birmingham Comedy Festival returns this month, with a host of big names and new acts appearing at various venues across the city. Local comedian Lindsey Santoro, the face of this year’s event in more ways than one, talks to What’s On about bringing her first full-length show to the city...

 Birmingham Comedy Festival, the second longest-running event of its kind in the UK, takes place at multiple venues across the city this month. Founded by Dave Freak in 2001, it has become a mainstay of the West Midlands arts calendar, earning five What’s On Readers’ Awards for Best Festival along the way - an achievement made even more remarkable when you realise that it’s run by volunteers and receives no funding.
This year’s star attractions include Calendar Girls The Musical, Jason Byrne, Tom Davis, Seann Walsh, Paul Foot and Jenny Eclair, the annual Breaking Talent Award for new acts and a triple bill of Laurel & Hardy movies. There’s also the hugely popular ‘free half-dayers’, eight shows by various performers that take place on successive Sunday afternoons at The Victoria and Cherry Reds in Birmingham city centre. 
One of the acts appearing is local comedian Lindsey Santoro, currently basking in the glow of a hugely successful debut run at the Edinburgh Festival. The show she presented there, Pink Tinge, earned rave reviews, was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and scooped NextUp’s Biggest Award In Comedy.
Lindsey’s recent success has effectively made her one of the big draws of this year’s comedy festival, but she’s been the face of the event - appearing on its programme cover and website home page - since long before her Edinburgh stint and subsequent accolades. 
“Dave [Freak] asked me if they could use one of my pictures,” she says in a glorious Brummie accent. “I said fine. And then he sent it over, and it’s my face right on the front page and my name’s not even on the cover! People will be like ‘Who is this mad woman?’ He could at least have put me name on there!”
Of course, Mr Freak wasn’t expecting her to come back from Edinburgh a star, but then neither was Lindsey! The NextUp award took her totally by surprise.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to bits! As a daft commoner, I’m so elated that others find me funny rather than unhinged - it’s a fine line, and it’s good to know I’m just about on the right side of it!” 
Lindsey will be performing her award-winning Edinburgh show in its entirety during the free half-dayer at the Victoria on Sunday 15 October.  
“I’m really happy to be doing the show here because there’s a lot of people who want to see it who couldn’t be bothered to go to Edinburgh! My mom is one of them - she won’t leave the dog. She could get a dog sitter but she loves that dog more than she loves her kids, honest to God.”
Speaking of kids, Lindsey took her toddler to Edinburgh, and came up with a cunning ploy when planning her accommodation. 
“We got a flat with an extra room so that people could come up and stay and go to the festival, but they also had to offer childcare,” she laughs, joking that she thought she’d have to leave her daughter behind to fit the NextUp award - a two-metre inflatable trophy - in the car for the journey back to the Midlands.
Pink Tinge - “demented stories from my life essentially” - marks the first time Lindsey has written a full-length comedy show, albeit one that contains elements culled from her shorter club sets. The challenge was not only stringing it all together but having to give it a personal angle.
“A club set is almost for everybody - you’ve got to be a bit generic - but when you’re doing a [full] show, you can tailor it to whatever you want, because it’s yours. 
“It’s been a bit difficult for me to shift my mindset, to understand that people actually want to have a bit of background, rather than me just talking or telling jokes. So that’s been quite, not difficult... just trying to reprogramme my brain. I just wanna do a show that makes people laugh, that’s all.”
Lindsey has been doing exactly that for a few years now, having caught the bug after a friend encouraged her to accompany him to a comedy course run by Birmingham comedian James Cook.
“At the end of the course, they put a showcase on. Everybody does five minutes and you can invite your friends and family. Also, at the end of every session we had, you could get up and do your five minutes to the class. I never did this - I was the only person who never, ever did it, because I thought, what do these people know? And also, more importantly, I hadn’t written anything!”
Expectation levels suitably lowered, when Lindsey performed at the showcase she wowed her tutor and classmates alike.
“I think James was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t dreadful because he hadn’t seen anything. The other people in the class weren’t expecting it either, but it’s always nice in this game to surprise people.”
After that, she “plodded along and did open-mic nights” before being helped to get “proper gigs” by Maureen Younger, primarily at the comedy nights she ran at the Kitchen Garden Café in Kings Heath. Lindsey then went on to earn support slots with the likes of Russell Kane, Angela Barnes and Joe Lycett.
“James Cook and Maureen Younger are the reason I’m doing comedy. If it all goes wrong and they don’t like my show, blame them!” 
As much as she’s looking forward to performing at Birmingham Comedy Festival, the annual event is always marked on her calendar whether she’s appearing on the bill or not.  
“I won’t book holiday or gigs when I know the festival is gonna be. I did the first Breaking Talent award, and since then I’ve tried to be involved with it every year if I can. I just think it’s beautiful - and it’s right by my house.”
Is there anyone she’s especially looking forward to seeing this year?
“I’m really looking forward to seeing Hanna Weetman - and Josh Pugh’s got a work-in-progress at the Glee. I’ve got a list somewhere - where’s me list?
“Oh yeah… Tom Little, James Cook, Jay Handley and Mary Flanigan. Oh, and Tal Davies - you better put her in or she’ll go mental.”
So Lindsey knows most of the acts?
“Oh yeah, they’re all from the half-dayers - and the Birmingham comedy scene’s quite small anyway. Basically, when the half-dayers are on, I’ll just go and waft between the venues. It’s really good because you can’t book tickets, so you have to get there early. I’ve done shows, and been to shows, where they’ve had to stop letting people in, so it encourages people to get there early and support the comedy. It’s annoying if you don’t get in, but you feel very exclusive if you do.”
And the half-dayers are all free, of course, so there’s really no excuse…
“Yeah, that’s right, it’s free! But the thing is, they trick you, right. They get you in, and then, when you’re leaving, they go ‘Hang on, there’s a bucket here…’ And then if you don’t have any cash, there’s a card reader! But it really is worth it; honest.”

by Steve Adams