Banbury bar hits comedy show Guinness World Record

Atic owner Ryan Mold with comedians Dan Mayo, Matt Bragg, Brian Gittins and Terry Green NNL-180304-180454001

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A Banbury bar is in line for a Guinness World Record after hitting the target of 96 hours of non-stop stand-up comedy yesterday evening (Monday, April 2).

Comedians entertained the crowd at Atic Banbury from 6pm on Thursday to 6pm yesterday with at least ten people in the audience at all times – the requirement for the record.

More than £2,200 raised through the event will be donated to Katharine House Hospice.

Comedian Brian Gittins (left) and Atic owner Ryan Mold at the end of the mammoth challenge NNL-180304-180542001

Manager at the Butcher’s Row venue, Harry Parman, thanked everyone who helped with the mammoth effort which they hope will be confirmed by Guinness World Records soon.

“Everyone from the staff, to the customers and comedians, has played a massive part in completing it as without one part of those people, we wouldn’t have done it so it’s down to all of us,” he said.

“It was quite a surreal feeling after 96 hours, it’s a long amount of time, and it just finished all of a sudden, all of the weight and stress was lifted.

“Everyone who came in was supportive of the cause and were happy to stay when we needed their help.”

Atic Bicester manager Robyn Ledger (right) supported the Banbury venue's cause NNL-180304-180514001

Atic decided to take on the challenge of beating the previous record of 80 hours for the longest-running comedy show, set by a venue in Nashville, USA.

More than 100 comedians took to the stage with each having to do a minimum of 15 minutes, with one telling jokes from 3-5.30am.

Harry said there were times were it was ‘like a hostage situation’ when they got down to ten people in the crowd while there were up to 100 people during the busiest periods which made for a great atmosphere.

“We were using a lot of social media to reel people when we needed it,” he said.

There were happy faces all around throughout the 96 hours NNL-180304-180530001

“The hardest times were between 5-7am as people wanted to go home after a long night and we struggled to get fresh heads in.

“At one point we had 10 people and a dog which doesn’t quite count so we couldn’t let people leave so we were offering them a drink to get them to stay.

“And if they needed to toilet then we had to get other people in but they thought it was good fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it.”

Harry is confident they have met all of the criteria and now face a nervous wait before Guinness (hopefully) confirm their achievement.

For photos and videos from the 96 hours of comedy, visit Atic’s Facebook page.