THE line-up is complete for the inaugural Woodsduck Comedy and Art Festival in York, a celebration of peace and laughter curated by The Burning Duck Comedy Club on July 4 and 5.

Two days of alternative comedy will begin at 12.30pm in the club's regular home of the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, curated by promoter Al Greaves.

“Ever since establishing the Burning Duck comedy night, we’ve wanted to have a go at running our own festival, which will incorporate the best elements of all the best comedy festivals we've experienced such as the Edinburgh Fringe," says Al. "The weekend festival concept has also been inspired by a weekend I spent at Bob Slayer and Adam Larter's Weirdos Weekend during the Leicester Comedy Festival.

"We decided that for our first festival in York, two days in the same venue seemed realistic, so we really hope our following will appreciate what we have to offer, while hopefully we'll attracting more fans of offbeat comedy too."

Each day, the festival will run shows from early afternoon until closing time. "We'll be presenting a diverse range of 15 shows featuring some of the most exciting, challenging, experimental and refreshing performers hand picked from across the country, including many on their way to the Edinburgh Fringe," says Al. "We've chosen a broad range of experience for our festival, including such established headline acts like Patrick Monahan and Seymour Mace."

Mace headlined Burning Duck's first show last October. "So we're delighted to invite him back and his Edinburgh Fringe show this year sounds particularly interesting," says Al. "Sometimes dismissed as something of a 'niche' comic, Seymour has embraced this sometimes dismissive term by calling his show 'Niche As ****!', which to some extent reflects our own comedy taste and booking ethos.”

Al is delighted to be presenting shows by BBC New Comedy Award finalists Peter Brush on the Saturday and Jonny Pelham the next day. “Peter are Jonny are great examples of new rising comedy stars, with personal and distinctive comedy voices who are also regularly playing weekend comedy clubs,” he says.

"One of the reasons we decided to set up our regular Burning Duck Comedy Club was to showcase some of the different varieties of comedy beyond straight stand-up, which aren't always so well catered for, such as sketch, cabaret, character, poetry and spoken word. We also have more 'experimental' shows that might combine these elements alongside visual aids, like projectors, as typified by Dan Nicholas's Saturday afternoon show.

Nicholas's Reverb (The Love Story of Terrance the Crocodile and Julia the Mannequin) has been called a "surreal anti-love story about a blow-up crocodile and a mannequin's head, told in reverse". “We're big fans of Dan and are pleased to introduce him to our regular following, and he does a great impersonation of an owl," says Al.

Poetry and spoken word will be represented by Rob Auton, a York ex-pat now based in London, whose July 4 evening show is staged in conjunction with York’s Say Out Slam night. “Rob's The Water Show is a follow-up to his shows The Face Show and The Sky Show and is suitable for anybody who has seen, heard, touched or tasted water,” says Al.

The Saturday night line-up will feature sketch comedy from Liverpool's Legion Of Doom, with magician David Alnwick, and character comedy from York's own Brethren Of Levity, alias "legendary knight of the realm, three-time Academy Award-winning actor, ten-time Academy Award nominee and world Roman-Greco wrestling champion 1967 and 1969", Sir Dickie Benson, as performed by Peet Sutton.

More character comedy is on the Sunday afternoon bill in the form of Karl Schultz's “Matthew Kelly” act, along with improv from Discount Comedy Checkout.

"We'll also be introducing performers whose acts sometimes defy categorisation, such as Sunday night's closing act, Will Franken, a comedy virtuoso who's moved to the UK from the US, where he's been wowing audiences with his kaleidoscopic tsunami of mind-blowing character comedy," says Al.

He thrives on identifying and booking the comedy stars of the future too. “I used to run a comedy night in London where I booked acts like Nick Helm, Sara Pascoe, Josh Widdecombe and Luisa Omeilan,” he says. "At Woodsduck, newer acts who'll be presenting their debut hour-long shows will include David Callaghan, Gina Jenkinson and Joby Mageean, so expect big things from them.

"On July 5, we'll have a Local Heroes Showcase with shorter sets from local acts Steph Heald, Charlene Murray and Rivka Utley, which will be compered by Phil Smith.”

Summing up the Burning Duck philosophy for Woodsduck, Al says: "We pride ourselves on letting our performers have absolute creative freedom, with the result that some of our earlier shows during the festival will not be considered 'family friendly'."

Tickets can be reserved for £5 online at burningduckcomedy.com/ to guarantee entry to a show. "Any seating left will be free entry, with a bucket contribution at the end for the acts, but we'll ensure customers who have bought tickets in advance get seats," says Al.

Woodsduck running order for July 4

12.30pm, David Callaghan: No Momentum; 1.40pm, Gina Jenkinson: Desperately Seeking Attention; 3pm, Peter Brush: Older Than The Oldest Dog That Ever Lived; 4.20pm, Dan Nicholas: Reverb (The Love Story of Terrance the Crocodile and Julia the Mannequin); 5.40pm, Patrick Monahan: The Disco Years; 7pm, Rob Auton: The Water Show; 8.20pm, Legion Of Doom's sketch comedy; 9.40pm, The Brethren Of Levity, presenting This Saturday Night.

Running order for July 5

12.30pm, Local Heroes Showcase; 1.40pm, The Discount Comedy Checkout's improv show; 3pm, Seymour Mace: Niche As ****!; 4.20pm, Joby Mageean: Billy No Immune System; 5.40pm, Karl Schultz's character act, Matthew Kelly in Hypnagogia; 7pm, Jonny Pelham: Before And After; 8.20pm, Will Franken: Who Keeps Making All These People?