If you’re enjoying a Melbourne city tour between March and April, don’t forget to check out the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This is the world’s third largest festival of its kind, and the largest cultural festival in the whole of Australia.
Dating back to 1987, it takes place every year between March and April at Melbourne’s Town Hall – though there are plenty of other hotspots that host performances throughout the event.
This year, the event takes place between the 29th March and the 23rd April, when the city once again opens its arms and welcomes laughter and comedy throughout the city, giving you the perfect chance to forget all about the gloom and doom of the world at the moment.
The event is well-known for its all-encompassing range of events for all the family, including locals and visitors alike. Hundreds of comedians from all over the world flock to Melbourne to share their latest materials throughout each evening and into the small hours of the morning.
The International Comedy Festival is just entering into its fourth decade, and it seems to get better every year, welcoming in the world’s hottest talent and the most inspiring comics to the numerous stages dotted around the city.
As well as promising side-splitting shows every single night, the Festival also runs a few development programs that coincide with the main events. Raw Comedy is Australia’s largest open mic competition, giving up-and-coming comics the chance to share their material with the masses, while Class Clowns is a national comedy competition geared towards high school students. Finally, Deadly Funny is an indigenous comedy competition that showcases the unique material of Indigenous Australians. When the Festival is over, it hits the road to share its latest findings and shows with the rest of the country, stopping in small towns and big cities along the way.
The Festival is known for its collection of special one-off events that run alongside the main shows, the best of which is the Comedy Festival Gala. Highlighting short acts from a number of award-winning comedians who are performing lengthier shows at the festival, it forms the flagship event and gives visitors bitesize snippets of what’s to come in month of comedy. So, if you’re ready for a laugh and want to dive deep into Australia’s biggest cultural event, make sure you grab a ticket or two for the International Comedy Festival.
