On Thursday 1st June and Friday 2nd June, Jose Fortuna will be hosting an international comedy short film festival at the University of South Wales. The festival is known as Pigeon Laughs and has been a project Jose and his brand have been building up to for a long time
Jose agreed to do a photoshoot as well as an interview in order get his festival some more publicity, and we met up a few times in the hope that it would help promote Pigeon Laughs International Comedy Short Film Festival.
Sign up for a ticket to Pigeon Laughs: https://filmfreeway.com/PigeonLaughsInternationalShortFilmComedyFestival
Dylan: “Hi Jose, how did you first get into doing comedy?”
Jose: “When I graduated from my BA at USW, I started to become much more interested in performing stand up comedy, having always been a big fan of it and also being exposed to much more of it because of my degree. I watched stand up comedy, clowns and the circus a lot, to the point where it’s always been a part of me to be honest. I’ve always wanted to make people laugh , its almost like its my default personality.”
D: “Sounds interesting, its nice to have a former USW student coming back to host an event at the university.”
D:” So how has doing comedy impacted your life, and are there any fun memories that you have made?”
J: “Yes, definitely. Comedy has, weirdly, helped me get through a lot of different times in my life, the good and the bad. In a strange sort of way, its been like my secret hidden friend, that I have come to love and hate in the hard time in my life. I think a fond memory I’ve always liked would be from when I performed my first ever comedy theatre show in front of a live audience back in 2019, and hearing them laugh will always be special to me. Especially because of what the show meant to me at the time.”
D: “Amazing Jose, yeah I’m glad it worked out for you, and that’s what got you started on the path to creating Pigeon Laughs! Speaking of, obviously your logo is the Pigeon. Tell me, how come you decided to go with the pigeon, is the some sort of special meaning there?”
J: “I didn’t put that much thought into it at first, I only really got to that conclusion after thinking about it more, and it just came to me instinctively. I find the pigeon as an animal to be really fun. The idea came after coming up with the brand, that each of us humas have a little pigeon inside us, you know? I feel as people we tend to despise pigeons as these weird little pests that will just poo on your car or nibble around your feet for crumbs of food on the floor. But I think that comedy is a little bit like that. I believe that people see comedians as a modern take on the jester, performing an artform that is not taken seriously. But comedy to me is one of the hardest and noblest artforms there is in the modern day.”
D: “Thank you Jose, a that’s a very good analogy. “
D: “You’re hosting a comedy festival at the beginning of June at USW, could you tell me more about that”
J: “So Pigeon Laughs International Comedy Short Film Festival is, as the name suggest a festival more focused around short films, which are open to being submitted by anybody. The shorts can be up to 15 minutes in length. Then me and a panel of industry based judges, can curate a large host of funny short films that best reflect the ethos of this festival.”
J: “When coming up with the idea for this festival, I wanted to put an emphasis on Welsh talent in particular. As a result of this, in the festival there will be a dedicated ‘made in Wales’ category. As a producer just starting out in this industry, I really hope audiences love it. So if you enjoy comedy, especially short films, you will enjoy watching or even participating in this festival.”
D: “Thanks Jose that sounds great, I’m sure many people are looking forward to it!”
D: “Are there any words of advice that you would want to give to people who are struggling to getting into comedy.”
J: “That is a great question, and I feel like if you ask me that again in a few years time, then I’ll have a much better answer for it. At the end of the day, practicing the art of comedy relies so much on having experience under your belt. I’ve been doing it for a little while an I guess I could share some of the things that have worked for me, which could potentially work for somebody else. I guess my big word of advice would be to just try different things. Take an acting class. Try saying things you find funny on stage. Try out some stand up comedy, read as many books about comedy as there are such as autobiographies from comedians. Go to a clowning workshop. Just find what aspect of comedy makes you shine and makes you unique.”
D: “Amazing Jose, thank you so much for your time and I hope that Pigeon Laughs goes well for everybody involved!”
Pigeon Laughs Festival will be hosted on the Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd of June and will be hosted by Jose and a panel of other judges in the USW theatre room.
Jose’s Instagram can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/pigeontalkcomedy/
Jose’s website can be found here: https://pigeontalkcomedy.com/
Tickets for Pigeon Laughs can be found here: https://filmfreeway.com/PigeonLaughsInternationalShortFilmComedyFestival