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‘Comedy Festival 2014,’ a unique night of comedy entertainment focusing on standup comedy talent in Sri Lanka, is set to make waves amongst Sri Lankans looking for a different form of entertainment.
The event, organised by the event company Tranquil Events, will be held on 27 June at Park Street Mews. Hosted by renowned local author Ashok Ferrey, four local comedians – Jayanga, Shoaib, Sacha and Sabreen – will perform at the Comedy Festival 2014.
Speaking about the reason for their focus on promoting comedy, Fahmy Rahman, the Co-Founder of Tranquil Events, stated: “It is evident that there is hardly any attention being paid to the comedy scene in Sri Lanka with little or no events to cater towards a steadily-growing audience who appreciate this kind of entertainment. Having gone through the horrors of war for almost three 
decades, the people of Sri Lanka deserve to have some laughter in their lives and there’s no better way to do it than with a night of comedy. With that in mind we thought we should build the comedy culture by putting together an event that would help local audiences to enjoy standup comedy.”
He added that the event would provide the opportunity for creative local youth to gain experience, showcase their talent and build a loyal fan base. “As we look to organise the next Comedy Festival, there’s always one person we will not forget and that’s Ashok Ferrey. From inception, it was Ashok Ferrey who inspired and helped us to do this event in this scale. Simply put, if it was not for him this would have been impossible,” Rahman claimed.
The event partners include Mercantile Investments and Finance, PR Wire, Youtv, Colombo things to do and Mel Ads who are partners who believe in the idea very strongly according to the organisers.
Commenting on the importance of the event, Rahman stated, “The Comedy Festival and our other comedy events are very important to Sri Lanka. The reason is because our talents are home grown. We have to head hunt and convince our local friends to perform. Therefore most of our comedians speak the local language which means that our comedians have a better reach to the locals when compared to the international comedians who perform here every now and then. Ultimately, you will find a new culture born within our community, which can bring people together in one platform. I think this is very important in the long run to bridge gaps between communities.”
Having helped to organise many community based projects like the Autism Awareness Run and the National Road Safety Conference to art festivals like Colombo Art Biennale, Tranquil Events was formed by three individuals – Fahmy Rahman, Arun Selvaratnam and Umar Cassim – in September 2012. The young event management company held its first ever comedy night in December 2012 at the British School Auditorium. Subsequently, the company held sold out events at RNR @ Racecourse and Santore in 2013 and at The Manchester in January this year.
For more information about the event for further details please contact the founders Fahmy on 0776531499 or Arun on 0773130002. Also follow the Facebook page for more updates regarding the events on https://www.facebook.com/tranquil.inc.
