
COL HOWARTH
'Col is the perfect host. Great, friendly and funny, he moved everything along brilliantly.'
Barbara Nice
About Col
Manchester-born, Cardiff-based Col Howarth burst onto the live stand-up circuit in August 2013 clocking up gigs all over Wales and England at a tremendous rate and making waves from day one!
He soon became a semi-finalist in Cardiff's Last Mic Standing, a runner-up in Hereford's Wye Valley Brewery Scratch Night and was a Welsh Unsigned Stand Up Awards Finalist, playing a packed out Cardiff Glee Club in the final. He established several monthly comedy nights in Cardiff and Hereford, and ran a pop up comedy festival in Cardiff over two weekends, called the Comedy Arcade.
In 2017 Col took his first show End to End to a hand full of comedy festivals including a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe. He has since performed at comedy and fringe festivals with this and two other shows titled Id Ego Superego and Gubbins in Leicester, Bath, Cardiff, Shaftesbury, Ludlow, Buxton and others and has performed spots at The Little Orchard Festival, Breaking Bread (Bristol), Swansea Fringe, Nottingham Comedy Festival among others.
In 2017 he was also the resident tour MC for Tales From Wales, performing at numerous festivals and theatres over the course of two years.
In 2018 Col performed a 20 minute spot in the Green Man Festival Settlement Field. His profile was also included alongside some of the very biggest names in stand-up in Steve Best's book Joker Face.
Under the guise of standupforcomedy.co.uk Col is also the promoter for The Confessional at Chapel 1877, a new monthly professional show in Cardiff which launched in 2022.
Finally, Col enjoys nothing more than picking the brains of stand-up comedians, and you will find interviews and articles on this site. Interviews are with the likes of Tony Law, Craig Campbell, John Moloney, Mike Gunn, Romesh Ranganathan, Nathan Caton, Dave Spikey, Iain Stirling and many more.
Col has also contributed to the Indie Comedy Mag where some of these interviews are available to read in print.
Stand Up Comedy Highlights:
Finalist: Welsh Unsigned Stand Up Awards
Semi Finalist: Last Mic Standing
Runner-Up: Wye Valley Scratch Night, Hereford
Green Man Festival: Settlement Field, 20 minute spot
Little Orchard Festival
Swansea Fringe, closing spot
Tour MC: Tales from Wales, including festivals and theatres
Breaking Bread Festival - spot
Aftermirth - opening
Cafe Mode, Covent Garden - closing spot
Hot Water Comedy, Liverpool - spot
Finalist: Funhouse Comedy Gong Shows x 2
Mirth Control: several spots
Shows:
End to End
Id Ego Superego
Gubbins
As a Promoter under the name standupforcomedy.co.uk:
From April 2022: The Confessional, Chapel 1877, Cardiff
Previous:
Crafty Laughs at the Cambrian Tap, Cardiff
Comedy Idols, Cardiff
The Comedy Booth, Hereford
The Comedy Arcade, Cardiff
Corporate / fundraisers:
NAS Cardiff - MC: with John Williams My Son's Not Rainman
Autism Puzzles - Host: Gala Dinner and Comedy Night
Media Appearances:
Radio Cardiff
BBC Radio Bristol - Dr Phil Hammond Show
Made in Cardiff interviews - Lowdown
Made in Cardiff live broadcast - The Crunch
Publishing:
Tony Law - 'My Pure Funny' in The Indie Comedy Mag
Lloyd Langford - 'Why the Big Face?' in The Indie Comedy Mag
Comedy Profile in Steve Best's book, Joker Face

Photo Credit: Dave Daggers




