SATURDAY sees the launch of a new stand-up night for Hereford as The Comedy Booth opens for business at the newly restored Booth Hall in East Street.

Compere for the evening and organiser of the event is stand-up Col Howarth, host of the website standupforcomedy.co.uk, who was invited by the new owners of Booth Hall to inject the laughs into the new live venue.

"I decided I'd like to move my comedy on in terms of running comedy nights, so when they contacted me via Twitter, I responded instantly. And, having visited, it looks like a fantastic venue - the room the comedy's going to be in will ensure a fantastic intimate gig. We're all very excited to be working together."

Following the launch night, The Comedy Booth will open its doors every second and fourth Friday of the month, with five or six acts each night. The plan is to have a really good established opening act, someone who's already making waves and winning competitions and the headline act will be a professional.

"On Saturday, the opening act will be Becky Brunning from Bristol, who's already won awards and been on tv, tipped to become a big name this year. Headlining the launch event will be Dan Mitchell, who's supported Ross Noble and Eddie Izzard - a writer and actor, but first and foremost a stand-up. And in between the two there'll be a number of support acts doing 10-15 minute spots.

Col's stand-up career grew out of working as a teacher, something he trained to do in a bid to overcome a fear of speaking in public. "I just thought, what's the extreme version of standing up in a classroom?'

I did my first stand-up gig two and a half years ago - I contacted the organisers of a comedy club in Cardiff called Drones and they gave me a date two months away, but it went really well and I enjoyed it. One of the other acts said afterwards: "That was great. When are you doing it again?" I was completely hooked and since then I've done more than 200 gigs.

From March to July the Comedy Booth will also host a number of Edinburgh previews, among them Jordan Brooks whose first Edinburgh shows last year attracted four and five star reviews, and this year's is likely to be highly anticipated.

Also on the line-up is Aiden Goatley who will be taking not one, but two, hour-long shows to Edinburgh, The Joy of Retail and Mr Blue Sky; Archie Maddox, and Tony Cowards, described as the best joke writer on the circuit, a man who never lets a good pun pass him by.