In the UK’s most south-westerly county, there isn’t a single city-based commercial comedy scene, but a bubbling collection of shows in even the most remote villages. Local acts including Melanie Drew and Tom Rodgers are “fantastic”, Wilkes says: “With the quality we’ve got coming up, the future is going to be good. All rights reserved.

Dyer is in Manchester, but previously ran a comedy night in Truro and still performs when she’s back. Unless you’re in Cornwall. Audiences won’t be forgetting Avengers: Endgame any time soon, but Back to the Future will always be the movie that made audiences across the world believe in time travel and root for a protagonist who just wanted to set the timeline straight and ensure that he would be born. A cliff edge, an old bakery or the space next to the tea-hatch in a village hall aren’t standard spots for a comedy show. “In Cornwall, tragedy and comedy are really close. Back to the Future Part II plays off this: the tagline for Jaws 19 is "This Time It's REALLY REALLY Personal." A cliff edge, an old bakery or the space next to the tea-hatch in a village hall aren’t standard spots for a comedy show. Tamsyn Kelly is hosting a comedy night at Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney on 18 October. Edward Rowe, from Roche in mid-Cornwall, “accidentally” became a comedian when, 11 years ago, the videos he posted online as the Kernow King started gaining fans.

Now he runs shows in a handful of towns – in Falmouth, there’s Comedy Jam at Toast for newer acts and Live at the Pavilion that brings in pro performers such as Jen Brister. Rowe, like Wilkes and Johnny Cowling, is among the few Cornish comics living in the county full-time. In Cornwall we’re always 20 years behind, but comedy is starting to take off!”, Meanwhile, comedy has always seeped into other artforms. Dawn French is chancellor of Falmouth University, which runs a master’s in comedy writing, and there’s a growing number of open mics – the first step into standup for aspiring local performers. If you had to pick a comedy centre in Cornwall, it might be Falmouth. As dyed in the wool Back to the Future Part II fans will tell you, there’s an infamous deleted scene where Old Biff returns to 2015, only to fade away into obscurity. Wilkes put on his first comedy night nine years ago. Jethro, the local comic and former mine-worker who once made a pasty on the Generation Game, announced his retirement in February after 50 years of storytelling standup.

“I did character comedy before standup so that was a real dream. He found there was demand from people wanting to try standup and from venues looking to host nights. Do you like Jethro?’” says comedian Harriet Dyer, who grew up in Truro.

© 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. According to the marquee, the movie is directed by Max Spielberg, Steven's oldest son. Yet, rather than the traditional route of open mics and mixed bills, Rowe carved out his own circuit.

The three Back to the Future movies are easily the best-known time travel stories ever told. One name stands out: “A lot of people in Cornwall will go: ‘Oh, you do comedy?

Last year Rowe starred in Bafta-nominated film Bait, but he can still be found performing comedy in Cornish theatres such as the cliffside Minack (“probably one of the best venues in the world”) and loves taking to the stage in village halls. St Austell Arts Theatre, and the Acorn Penzance on 18 October.

A 2015 CNN Back to the Future Day anniversary article tells us that, ironically, the most innovative part of the film was the VistaGlide motion-control system which allowed Fox to share scenes with himself. Sam Lake, Colin Leggo, Matt Price and Ruby Martin are based in London, but most return to gig at home.

“There are theatre-makers and writers in Cornwall who are incredibly funny,” Rowe says. Last modified on Tue 13 Oct 2020 16.03 BST. With Jethro retired, focus can switch to the growing array of local talent. The “Back to the Future” films predicted the September 11 attacks as well as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr., at least according to fans. It’s so special.”, Her 2019 standup show Petroc explored her childhood on a Cornish council estate: “The show is about having two relationships with this place – one that keeps tugging at me to go back, and the other feeling of being trapped and isolated.”, Kelly dreams of hosting a monthly comedy night in Penzance: “Thinking about the art and comedy scene in Cornwall and what might happen makes me excited.”. It makes me so happy.”, Rowe embraces everything Cornish while highlighting “the ridiculousness of being proud of where you’re from, because you play no part in that … It’s a celebratory but wry look at our dialect, customs, people, songs, history and heritage.”, Dyer adds material about, for example, her old teachers: “Cornish audiences love anything about them … Anything that celebrates Cornwall.”, Tamsyn Kelly, who grew up around Penzance, agrees: “A lot of the humour comes from the fact that Cornish tropes are so well known. The best thing about them is how wonderful the women are that run them – there’ll always be a lady serving a drink through a hatch. Kernow King offered fresh takes on the quirks of his home county, and when Rowe began live performances a year later, helped by Cornish comic Anna Keirle, his following ballooned. The character I play in Bait, Martin, his life is so tragic, but there’s also so much humour.”, Rowe recently took a break from comedy, but last month marked the return of Kernow King: “I’ve come back to it after more than a year and I want to talk about being Cornish, the state of the world and Cornwall’s place in the world more than ever.”, Edward Rowe is at St Austell Arts Theatre, and the Acorn Penzance on 18 October. “Village halls all look a little bit like chapels and the smell is a mixture of history, damp, wood and panto. Dyer recalls one gig in Truro when a comic from elsewhere foolishly mocked a pasty: “Someone had made homemade pasties – he slagged them off. Everyone knows exactly where you’re talking about, down to the square inch.”, Cornish pride is famously strong, and that has shaped the humour too, says Rowe: “We think we live in the best place in the world and because of that we’re the best people in the world, so we’ve got confidence to laugh at ourselves.”, But audiences will defend Cornwall from outsiders.