A HOST of big name comedians are set to take on the challenge of performing at an event which has been named among the country’s best family-oriented festivals.

Television panel show regular Reginald D Hunter is scheduled to become the first comedian to ever play to an adult-only show at the Deer Shed Festival, at Baldersby Park, near Thirsk.

The festival’s organisers said the 49-year-old American stand-up is due to headline the Big Top Stage after the PG headliners have finished and the kids have gone to bed.

Other leading comedians appearing at the festival, being staged from July 26 to 28, include Nina Conti, who has appeared on QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Live at the Apollo and is known for her 21st century mime act and champion of the one-liner, Milton Jones.

Others set to take on the challenge of performing to massed ranks of children at the festival include Barbara Nice, the alter-ego of award-winning comedian Janice Connolly, who found fame for her starring role in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights and Rachel Parris, who starred as a news correspondent on the BBC show The Mash Report.

The announcement of the comedy line-up for the tenth running of the event follows Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever being revealed as the festival’s Saturday night headline act, joining other headliners Anna Calvi and Ezra Furman.

Other music acts will include Steve Mason, Palace, Lucy Rose, Flyte, The Slow Readers Club, Insecure Men, Tracyanne and Danny, Fontaine DC and Flamingods.

The festival’s creative director Megan Evans said: “Over ten years of curating the festival, we have very gradually grown the arts offering at Deer Shed into a massive programme of workshops, comedy, shows, cabaret, spoken word, literary talks and now podcasts.

“This list of amazing comedians, particularly with the inclusion of one late-night, post-watershed slot for Reginald D Hunter, represents by far our biggest and best comedy line-up ever and underlines Deer Shed’s determination to be a festival that every single member of the family across all of the generations is guaranteed to be inspired by.”

The three-day event, which was shortlisted for Best Family Festival at the 2018 UK Festival Awards, has already sold more than 65 per cent of its 10,000 tickets allocated for this year.

For tickets, visit deershedfestival.com/tickets