THE Courtyard will be ringing with the sound of laughter for three days at the end of this month as the third #CourtLaughing Comedy Festival takes over the venue.

On Friday, June 26, proceedings are kicked off with The Thinking Drinker’s Guide to the Legends of Liquor, an exploration by The Thinking Drinkers, Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham, of the liquid lives of history's most extraordinary elbow-benders.

Tom, former editor leading industry spirits and cocktail magazine Class, says he's looking forward to coming to Hereford, not a place he's been to, but one that, as a football fan, he's had a keen interest in!

Given that both he and Ben are award-winning drinks journalists, the inevitable question is how exactly did that career segue into an acclaimed comedy show? "It's been a bit of a shock to the system," admits Tom, "but it's been going for more than four years so we are kind of accustomed to it now." Both were originally regional journalists who moved into drinks journalism, where they met, although they went in different directions: Ben is the triple-crowned winner of “British Beer Writer of the Year”, while Tom is the author of the award-winning World's Best Cocktails.

"Then we found we were doing lots of tastings at festivals, which could sometimes be a bit dry, so we started dropping silly jokes into the shtick."

After that, one thing led to another as they decided to see if it would work on stage at the Fringe and were spotted by Sally Homer. "She told us to go away and write a show but soon realised that we weren't really qualified to do it and got very nervous, having already booked us in to the Pleasance." Sally engaged director Malachi Bogdanov to help. "In a week-long bootcamp he got us to the stage where we could give a more theatrical performance."

But it's not all about the performance - underlying the fun and the free drinks is a serious message - "we are trying to tell people to drink less but drink well.

"We don't want to clobber people with the message, hence the comedy and the costumes (Jesus Christ makes an appearance as does Andrew the Giant and Riverdance ...) "

And as one of the featured drinks is Belvedere vodka, James Bond's vodka of choice in the new film 007 also puts in an appearance.

"It's a lot to cram in," admits Tom, "but it's structured around our top eight drinkers."

Also on Friday night is a classic Comedy Club, with Carl Donelly, well-known from appearances on Mock the Week and Russell Howard’s Good News; Mark Smith, tackling thorny issues such as elevators, earworms and the crushing realisation that all your ambitions are going unfulfilled; and quirky Lancashire native Katie Mulgrew.

The festival continues throughout the weekend, with Jack Dee on hand on Saturday night with special guests aiming to help, whether it’s relationships, career advice, personal worries or something as simple as how to tell your emotionally stunted in-laws you no longer want them in your life. Saturday also sees family fun for children over six, their parents and anyone who likes comedy without rude words, as James Campbell’s Comedy 4 Kids arrives in The Studio. Rounding off the festival and fresh from his BBC Three series, Michael Whitehall Chats Back and in the Studio, Men in General mix à cappella classics with comedy, advice on relationships, what not to wear and the tender side of blokedom.

Wye Valley Brewery Festival Marquee will host free live music during the weekend and an Open Mic Night on Saturday from 8.30pm, for emerging comics who want to be The Courtyard’s King or Queen of Comedy.

Full programme: courtyard.org.uk/01432 340555