If you like one liners, wordplay, gags - that kind of comedy - then I'm a comedian who aspires to write and perform those kind of jokes. My style is most often likened to that of Milton Jones or Tim Vine. That is not a conscious thing, and I have (almost always) stopped wearing the kind of shirts Milton Jones wears.
My first gig was at the very end of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004. Yes, nearly two decades ago - eek! Even back then I was rather old to be thinking of starting stand up comedy. And then I started fathering the first of 3 children (I was rather late to that party as well) and so didn't really get into the groove of regular comedy gigging until late 2009.
Since then, I have now clocked up more than 1,300 performances, mostly across Scotland and England, but occasionally abroad as well. That includes performing at hundred of different venues in 150 different towns and cities, the last time I looked. I'm used to a lot of late night long distance drives back from gigs. Thankfully, I have never fallen asleep at the wheel.
My decision to go for more pun-based comedy was backed up when I was selected to take part in the UK Pun Championships Final at the Leicester Comedy Festival in 2014. The first 'big' review I'd had was at the Championships, from chortle, which said I had 'strong material', and that rather confirmed my selection in the first place. Also in 2014, I performed my first solo show, 'Richard Pulsford is Going On' at the Glasgow Comedy Festival, a project which I then took to the Leith Festival, and tried out at 3 different venues during a busy week at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In 2015 I once again entered the UK Pun Championships and my puns took me through to the last 4 on the night. I took a solo show to the Leicester Comedy Festival and back to Glasgow, before performing my first full Edinburgh Festival Fringe run (22 performances). That was at The Beehive Inn (venue 178) and was part of the Scottish Comedy Festival at that venue. Called 'Unexpected Items in Badinage Areas', it brought together all of my best material and writing to date. I then took the show to the Greater Manchester Comedy Festival that November.
In 2016 I performed at the UK Pun Championships in Leicester for the third year, and this time was the runner up. I performed a solo show at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival, the Glasgow Comedy Festival, the Merchant City Festival in Glasgow, and again did a full run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
For 2017, I'd love to say I won the UK Pun Championships. After all, that seemed to be the trend from previous results, but although I was selected to take part again (and so the only comedian to have performed in every year of the competition's history), I got knocked out by the eventual winner in the first round. However, I did put a lot of effort into developing a tour schedule for a revised solo show called 'Phrases Ready', which I took to 10 different festivals: As well as a full run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe,there was Leicester, Glasgow, Foxlake (Dunbar), Merchant City (Glasgow), Buxton, Greater Manchester, Telford and Hop Fest (Faversham, Kent). And there was the small matter of my first trip abroad solely to perform comedy, at the Prague Fringe for 5 nights in May/June. That was brilliant!
And, if anything, 2018 was even harder work, as I performed both a refreshed comedy show and a brand new spoken word show at many different festivals and venues across the UK and abroad again. The spoken word show was an entirely new departure for me. It was inspired by some deep research into my family history and discovering the role my ancestors played in World War 1. The show aimed to commemorate them as the 100th anniversary of the 1918 armistice approached. The highlight was performing a full run in an established curated venue (Sweet) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
2019 brought fresh challenges as I developed from scratch the new show and podcast called It Just So Happened, which combines both comedy and history, in a panel show format. Festivals were keen to have this show performed as part of their programmes, so as well as returning to Leicester, Glasgow, Telford, Ludlow, Morecambe, Buxton, Guildford, Reading, Outwith (Dunfermline) and Edinburgh with this show and my usual fare, I was also able to go to the Brighton Fringe, Bedfringe (Bedford), the Great Yorkshire Fringe (York) and the Nottingham Comedy Festival for the first time. Highlight of the year was having one of my jokes selected for the Top Ten Jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as the Mirror's Funniest Jokes of the Year.
As for 2020, well I had a great Leicester Comedy Festival in February, then the best laid plans...
...I returned to performing in July 2021 and went on to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a brand new show 'Richard Pulsford: A Bit Rich' in August, which sold out at least half of the shows and received a decent review from chortle. I compiled a book of over 600 of my better jokes and got that published in November 2021. I also entered the Scottish Comedian of the Year (SCOTY) competition in the autumn and came runner-up at the final in Glasgow in December. The Scotsman gave me a lovely review for my performance in the competition.
In 2022 I finally won the UK Pun Championships at the Leicester Comedy Festival which led to me being interviewed on various radio shows and even on Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch. I also wrote a full page comedy piece in the Mirror newspaper. I got to perform some weekend spots at The Stand Comedy Club and headlined Comedy Cabaret in Glasgow a couple of times.
Any my 2022 tour included a 9-day run of It Just So Happened and a full three week run of my latest solo show 'A Bit More Rich', both at theSpace venue at Surgeons' Hall in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as appearances at festivals in Leicester, Glasgow, Brighton, Manchester, Hastings, Morecambe, Buxton, Durham, Aberdeen, Faversham and Nottingham.
2023 has taken me to festivals in Leicester, Glasgow, Brighton, Wandsworth, Ludlow, Buxton, Barrow, Morecambe, Newcastle upon Tyne, Dundee, Faversham and Nottingham, and a further 9-day run of It Just So Happened at the Hill St Theatre in Edinburgh and a full three week run back at The Beehive Inn in Edinburgh. I also performed my solo show at a theatre near Oswestry and found myself in demand to perform many more headline spots at gigs this year. It was an honour to be nominated for 'best stand-up' at Buxton Fringe, and it's been especially pleasing for It Just So Happened to start getting a bigger profile as it passes 50 episodes, with some great panellists - including Arthur Smith - and some lovely reviews. I've also found myself doing spots in improv shows as an interesting departure from my usual 'scripted' material shows.
And the rest of the time, I live in a small town in Fife called Burntisland. It sits about 6 miles across the Forth from Edinburgh, but is actually 20 miles away from it by road/rail. And a lot further away from most of the places I regularly gig in. It's a blessing and a curse living in a far away idyllic Scottish seaside town.
You can contact Richard directly via Twitter
or via email at mirthofforth@gmail.com
or via email at mirthofforth@gmail.com
BIOGRAPHY