Hammer & Tongue Cambridge featuring Robert Garnham and Ken Cumberlidge

Tickets from http://bit.ly/htcjapr19
Time for the next open round of the Cambridge Hammer & Tongue 2018-19 season… Spoken word artistry and competitive fervour. What more could you want?

This is your chance to become part of the spoken word slam brilliance that has graced this here fair city since 2009, in the warm and wonderful surroundings of fabulous venue Cambridge Junction. Sign up as one of the eight to compete for a place in the Regional Final next September, become a judge, or just dive in and soak up the atmosphere and talent on display.

Robert Garnham is a comedy spoken word artist based in Devon. Over the last few years he has performed all over the UK, headlining at such nights as Bang Said the Gun in both London and Manchester, Milk and Raise the Bar in Bristol, and Poetry Island in Torquay. He has worked with both Apples and Snakes and Hammer and Tongue as both host and headliner at events from London to Brighton, Bristol to Exeter. His last two comedy spoken word shows have toured the UK appearing at festivals and fringes. Last year he was mentioned in The Guardian and The Telegraph, as well as BBC Radio Two, and interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live, as having one of the funniest jokes at the Edinburgh Fringe. He has lately been seen in TV adverts for a certain Building society.

He has recently headlined at the legendary Duplex cabaret in New York, and has been longlisted for the last three years as Spoken Word Artist of the Year in the Saboteur Awards. His last two books have both been published by Burning Eye Books, and he has won slams everywhere from Exeter to Edinburgh. He is the current host and promoter at Big Poetry, the biggest night of spoken word in the south west, and has supported John Hegley, Paul Sinha and Arthur Smith at comedy nights.

To find out more, visit https://robertdgarnham.wordpress.com

Ken Cumberlidge. 6ft 2″ / 88kg. An older example of the breed, but keen to learn new tricks. Loyal and rewarding of kind handling. Good around the house. Shows well. Slight tendency to become overexcited when meeting new people, but can be left unsupervised in mixed company with minimal risk.

Judged joint Best In Show at Hammer & Tongue Cambridge, Nov 2017. Further evidence can be found variously online (Algebra of Owls / Allegro / Ink Sweat & Tears / Message In A Bottle / The Open Mouse / Picaroon / Pulsar / Rat’s Ass Review / Spilling Cocoa over Martin Amis / Strange Poetry / Snakeskin / etc.) and on his Soundcloud page. https://www.soundcloud.com/ken_cumberlidge_poetry

Hosted by Fay Roberts, a Cambridge-based poet, musician, and unrepentant geek.

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Fancy Slamming?

The rules for H&T slams are as follows:

Slammers are chosen at random from the sign-up list to perform – spoken word only, no music, no props. Each competitor has 3 minutes from the time they start talking on the mic. After 10 seconds’ grace period, they start losing points (1 point for every 10 seconds!). At the end, they’re given points out of 10 by 5 judges chosen from the audience, while the top and bottom scores are removed to ensure fairness. The slammer gets a score out of 30, and the competition moves on.

The winner of that evening’s competition goes through to the Regional Final (the Cambridge one tends to be held in September), and the winner (and runner-up) of the Regional Final goes through to the National Final. The winner of the National Final gets crowned H&T National Slam Champion.

http://bit.ly/htcapr19fb