By Sam Baker

The world’s only vegan comedy event is set to take a Kent town by storm later this month.

Viva Las Vegans will take place at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury on Thursday 31st of January with TV comic Carl Donnelly as the headline act.

This news comes only weeks after Greggs broke the internet with the launch of their vegan sausage roll.

Matt Hoss, the event organiser, wants his event to be a safe space for vegan ideas to be shared without being criticised.

“Working as a comedian who is vegan, I often heard many comedians making hack jokes about vegans and veganism; making them the butt of many jokes. It wears thin after a while.

“Viva Las Vegas is an opportunity for people to reject that notion and have some vegan-positive jokes for a change. It sounds daft, but having a place where your principles aren’t mocked, but admired is something that vegans resonate with.”

Matt claims his show is also helping local businesses.

“We also use this to promote local vegan businesses too. In Kent, we have a very close working relationship to Potato Tomato and they have a stall at many of our events.

“In short, we are helping promote and boost the profile of local businesses. Even if you are not remotely interested in veganism, from a purely fiscal point-of-view, I think that this night also helping local businesses. It’s putting money into businesses. From any perspective, this can only be a good thing.”

Matt explained that while his comedy show is vegan-based, it has not been set up to act as propaganda.

“I do not want to preach at people, and this is not what the show does, nor is it what it stands for (it couldn’t be further from that).

“What we do is to show vegans as being normal human beings. The comedians do not have to do vegan material. The comedy is meant to be unilateral. No rants, no guilt-trips: just jokes.”

Viva Las Vegans is being launched as part of the Taste of Gulbenkian Festival, which Jess Thomas, the marketing director for the theatre, says is a fantastic fusion of food and arts that will ignite your senses and inspire your curiosity.

She added that: “Veganuary has taken off the last few years, with people making a lifestyle change but also undertaking it as a month’s challenge. The vegan comedy night, Viva Las Vegans is vegan-positive but everyone is more than welcome to join us for a night of incredible comedy, it is not just for vegans!

“Plus given that the media are reporting that a Gregg’s vegan sausage roll is selling for nine times the price on eBay – it’s cheaper to buy a ticket for a whole night of vegan comic entertainment at Gulbenkian than a Gregg’s sausage roll on eBay!”

Veganism is more than just a craze though, with 7% of the UK’s population now identifying as vegan.

Jo Kidd, from Kent Vegan Events, said the lifestyle has been on the rise for a while now.

“There has been a dramatic surge in veganism over the past decade or so – with a 700% rise in veganism between 2016-18. This surge is showing no signs of slowing down as more and more people become conscious of animal cruelty.

“Veganism has now become mainstream; hence all the big companies and supermarkets are in a race to bring out new vegan products!”

Viva Las Vegans takes place at 7pm on January 31st at the Gulbenkian Theatre. Standard tickets cost £8, concessions are £6 and student tickets cost £5.