Among skiers and snowboarders sheltering from a late-season snowstorm, Phill Jupitus and Marcus Brigstocke sit on golden cushions, wearing top hats and tucking into a breakfast of truffle omelette, steak and, for Jupitus, champagne. They are enjoying the Millionaire's Breakfast at Café Evo in Méribel, France. Suddenly their meal is interrupted when a short, bearded man with his anorak hood done up tight, bursts in and shouts in disaster movie tones: "There's a twister comin'!"
The cafe cracks up at the gag from comedian Andre Vincent. It serves as a taster for the Altitude Comedy Festival, which Radio 4 stalwart Brigstocke, Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell and Méribel bar owner Richard Lett have launched in the Trois Vallées.
It started when Brigstocke, a keen snowboarder, cold-called Lett and proposed a deal - get me a lift pass and somewhere to stay and I'll do a gig in your bar. Over the years, more comedians came in on the deal, and last year they invited some big names - including Lee Mack, Rich Hall, Jenny Eclair and Ed Byrne - and launched a festival. Gigs take place at night in various venues around the village: from bars that hold barely 30 to a theatre and a marquee.
"We aim for a real festival feel," says Brigstocke. "A ski resort is a friendly kind of place, so audiences bump into famous faces walking around town, drinking in the bars, jumping into the swimming pool."
He's not exaggerating about the communal feel. The festival takes place at the end of the season, in late March/early April, so there's a school's-out excitement among the resort workers and a giddiness among the holidaymakers chuffed at getting in some last-minute skiing - and it spreads to the gigs. Added to that, Brigstocke has a rule that any comedian invited must try skiing or snowboarding.
So, if you go to the nursery slopes at Rond Point, you'll find them littered with tumbling clowns - which means the evening routines are peppered with gags about their lack of prowess. "I hate the way the kids slalom around you," says Nick Doody. "Have you ever been so bad at a sport you technically become equipment?"; while Matt Kirshen notices the children's brightly coloured helmets: "Red, green, yellow - you can take them out like a trick shot in snooker."
The honourable exception to the "must ski" rule is Jupitus. Introducing his Improv All-Stars (including Andy Smart and Richard Vranch of the Comedy Store Players) to a sell-out crowd, he says, "If I set off on skis from the top of this mountain, I wouldn't stop sliding till Belgium.It's an extreme sport in itself getting into one of those télécabines."
However, the following day, when the storm gives way to blue skies, I spot him on a restaurant terrace at the top of the Burgin Saulire lift. Squeezing into that télécabine was obviously worth it: "The sheer scale of it makes you go, Whoah! These black and white spikes that are 40 miles away but are so clear; and the air cutting into you - the sheer physicality of it ... It's a bit overwhelming."
He's equally enthusiastic about performing here: "I was absolutely stunned by the reaction. Perhaps it's because this air is a great hangover cure, so audience and performers are much fresher for the gigs, compared with other festivals."
As a teetotaller, Brigstocke doesn't worry about hangovers and is usually queuing for the first lift. This morning, with fresh snow up there, he's not alone. He takes us to his favourite local spot, on Mont Vallon: "It's known as Super Mario Land, because you bounce from one snow-covered boulder to the next." Sure enough, we have a blast, doing laps of the cable car.
Sharing a ski lift back down the mountain with Maxwell, I discover that there's an open mic session later at Jack's Bar. It's open to seasonnaires and holidaymakers who want to try stand-up for the first time. Just as if someone were leading me to a really difficult off-piste route, I'm simultaneously drawn to having a go and terrified.
That night, having scribbled down some gags, I join the other first-timers as Maxwell introduces us on stage. After a few awkward turns (don't try topical gags on an audience that's been in the Alps for four months), some cheap innuendo does the trick and I get to the end relieved and exhilarated that I've survived.
This is one of the events Brigstocke says is key to the festival's appeal: "It's important we do things specific to the location, otherwise why do it in the Alps? We want more punters and chalet girls doing open spots; we want to set a record for the world's biggest snowball fight; we might have gigs in cable cars ..."
• Phill Jupitus, Rich Hall, Marcus Brigstocke, Andrew Maxwell, Craig Campbell, Andre Vincent and Richard Vranch are confirmed for this year's Altitude Festival (28 March-3 April, altitudefestival.com). Inghams (020-8780 4447, inghams.co.uk/altitude) is offering seven nights in a self-catering apartment from £446pp, including flights and transfers, plus £44 for a three-gig ticket
