Somerset House has hosted fashion shows, ice rinks, open-air gigs and cinema in its Fountain Court, but never stand-up comedy, until now. This July, the courtyard plays host to five days of non-stop punchlines as Laughterama touches down for the first time, bringing seven shows and a stacked line-up of British comedy talents you’ll recognise from the telly.
Wednesday's opener sees Taskmaster champion Sam Campbell and chaos merchant Ross Noble share a bill with the BAFTA-nominated Bridget Christie. Meanwhile, Thursday belongs to Josh Widdicombe, fresh off dissecting other people's parenting on his podcast, alongside the brilliantly deadpan Rosie Jones. Dara Ó Briain and ventriloquist Nina Conti headline Friday, before a weekend of double-show days featuring basically everyone you’ve ever seen on a panel show in the last five years, including Sara Pascoe, Phil Wang, Fern Brady, Ania Magliano, Catherine Bohart, Tom Allen, Nick Mohammed, Ed Gamble and Tim Key.
Factor in a stop at the food and drink stalls dotted around the courtyard, because nothing pairs better with chuckles in the sunshine than an overpriced Aperol spritz.
In case you haven't been to one of his shows, Tim Key – poet, comedian, denim jumpsuit-wearer and Alan Partridge sidekick – reads aloud his brilliantly silly poems written on the backs of playing cards. Key very kindly let us borrow a bunch of his poetical cards to make this gallery. So flick through the slideshow below to read poems about sparrows, hanky panky, Barack Obama and more. Quick warning: most of the playing cards happen to be pornographic (don't worry, we've covered up the naughty bits).