Tickets are now on sale for more than 350 hilarious events with more than 130 comedians descending on Brisbane to raise the roof at iconic venues Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, The Princess Theatre and The Fortitude Music Hall.

Following its most successful year in 2023, Brisbane Comedy Festival returns with an even bigger and more diverse program than ever before.

Global headliners include British comedy master Stephen K Amos, Irish actor and comedian Ed Byrne, New Zealander Guy Montgomery, South African comic Schalk Bezuidenhout and festival favourite from the UK, Sh!t-faced Shakespeare. Scotland’s Fern Brady and Brit Adam Kay make their Brisbane and Festival debuts, alongside Tom Sainsbury, Adrian Bliss, Connor Burns.

Australia’s favourite comedic export Josh Thomas returns to Brisbane Comedy Festival for the first time since 2013, and Australia’s Crown Prince of comedy Joel Creasy steps back onto the festival circuit after four years gracing the airwaves of the country’s most popular drive radio show.

Bringing the laughs across alternative formats to stand-up are national entertainment icons Annabell Crabb, Judith Lucy and Kaz Cook, and Zan Rowe and Myf Warhurst, with storytelling and podcasts.

The diverse program continues with everything from theatre to film and music, including Murder Village, An Improvised Whodunnit which returns after a sell-out season in 2023, and from the razor-sharp pen of playwright provocateur David Finnigan comes apocalyptic rom-com theatre show 44 Sex Acts in One Week.

Brisbane Comedy Festival includes film for the first time, presenting some great Australian comedies at the Dendy Powerhouse Outdoor Cinema, and Queensland musician Eddie Ray presents Silence of the Jams with his Band of Legends bringing an epic and hilarious soundtrack to self-made independent film for one night only.

Rising stars and comedy favourites round out the laughs with Award-winning newcomer He Huang taking audiences on a hilarious global journey, Daniel Muggleton shares his bracing social commentary, and Felicity Ward returns to Brisbane as part of her first national tour in five years.

Claire Hooper hosts the much-loved Frocking Hilarious with Australia’s queens of comedy, Alexandra Hudson flips societal misconceptions about disability in Making Lemonade, and Logie Award-winning, former hairdresser Effie presents her masterclass in the art of Upyourselfness!

With razor-sharp wit and undeniable charm Are You Pulling My Leg? showcases some of Australia’s funniest and award-winning performers with a disability or chronic illness, and the

Aboriginal Comedy Allstars present some of our best First Nations comedians to deliver their top- tier comedy and storytelling.

Brisbane Comedy Festival 2024 Festival Director Phoebe Meredith said this year’s program is a true celebration of what comedy has to offer as artists from all walks of life converge on Brisbane.

“Comedians are our commentators. They are observers of our world and pull out what they think is interesting, stretching our perception on a huge range of topics. There is something for everyone in this Festival,” Meredith said.

“Across one month, the festival features a stellar line-up of 30 international acts alongside local comedians. Mixing festival favourites with fresh faces, we guarantee audiences will leave with a spring in their step. With the average Festival ticket sitting at $35, it makes for a great and affordable night out.”

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said 2024 Brisbane Comedy Festival offers a dazzling array of shows that will attract crowds throughout the five-week event.

“The Brisbane Comedy Festival team works incredibly hard to ensure a program full of variety so there is something on offer for everyone,” Cr Schrinner said.

“We invite both visitors and locals to immerse themselves in the vibrant cultural landscape of our city, while embracing local and international acts across Brisbane’s most celebrated venues.”

Brisbane Powerhouse is the home of Brisbane Comedy Festival with six stages ranging from the intimate to the epic including the 690-seat Powerhouse Theatre, Underground Theatre, Fairfax Studio, Rooftop Terrace, Park Mezzanine and Graffiti Room, and the newly added Switch Room. By the river is their alfresco venue, Pleasuredome, which transforms into a luxe outdoor comedy venue.

The Fortitude Music Hall returns to host The Opening Gala, and The Tivoli returns as a Festival venue, with sister venue The Princess Theatre the newest addition to the mix.

Brisbane Comedy Festival runs Friday 26 April to Sunday 26 May at Brisbane Powerhouse, The Fortitude Music Hall, The Tivoli and The Princess Theatre.

Brisbane Comedy Festival is produced by Brisbane Powerhouse through the support of Brisbane City Council, and supported by B105, We Are Flip, goa, Ovolo Hotels, PixelFrame, Scenestr and Triple M.

Make the most of a month of comedy and big belly laughs by snapping up tickets and subscribing for program updates at brisbanecomedyfestival.com.

Brisbane Comedy Festival 2024
Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, The Fortitude Music Hall and The Princess Theatre
Friday 26 April to Sunday 26 May 2024
www.brisbanecomedyfestival.com

More than 20 Festival favourites and fresh new faces are among the first big acts announced in a diverse program of more than 300 events across three iconic Brisbane venues: Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli and The Princess Theatre.

In this first program release is Brisbane Comedy Festival’s Opening Gala, Australia’s favourite comedic export back at Brisbane Comedy Festival for the first time since 2013, Josh Thomas, national favourites Nazeem Hussain, Joel Creasey, Rhys Nicholson, Reuben Kaye, Luke Heggie, Ivan Aristeguieta, and international artists Melanie Bracewell, Guy Montgomery, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Sh!t-faced Shakespeare and many more.

Tickets are on sale for these first big acts from 10am Friday 17 November.

Make the most of a month of comedy and big belly laughs by snapping up tickets and subscribing for program updates at www.brisbanecomedyfestival.com.

Brisbane Comedy Festival 2024
Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli and The Princess Theatre
26 April – 26 May 2024
www.brisbanecomedyfestival.com

Tickets are on sale now for more than 350 gigs by over 110 comedians, including an influx of major international acts alongside returning fan favourites, with more shows announced today.

Visiting headliners include international comedy master Danny Bhoy, Northern Ireland comedy colossus Micky Bartlett, Malaysian mischief-maker Jason Leong, Irish actor and comedian Ed Byrne, Glasgow’s funniest millennial Larry Dean, dishevelled prince of the keyboard David O’Doherty, award-winning English stand-up Alfie Brown, British TV personality and podcaster Ed Gamble, BBC regular Sara Pascoe, Kiwi social media maven and comic Chris Parker and the ‘Maracas from Caracas’ – Venezuelan-born Ivan Aristeguieta.

National comedy icons and fan favourites include, three-man guitar-based singing jokester group, Tripod, lockdown saviour and content creator Nat’s What I Reckon, supreme master of stream of consciousness comedy Ross Noble, physical comedy phenomenon The Umbilical Brothers, stand-up legend Akmal, TV personalities Rhys Nicholson, Wil Anderson, Peter Helliar, Tommy Little and Rove McManus, Have You Been Paying Attention? regulars Anne Edmonds and Lloyd Langford, radio funny man Dave Hughes, former accountant Dilruk Jayasinha, and 2021 Melbourne International Comedy Festival winner Geraldine Hickey alongside Aussie import Jimeoin.

Complementing the stand-up smorgasbord is a number of theatre and music comedy experiences, including homegrown cult hit Two Man Tarantino, The Kaye Hole by genre-bending cabaret sensation Reuben Kaye, King of the Organ Barry Morgan, satirist Sammy J, the return of Shit-faced Shakespeare, improvised whodunnit Murder Village, and an evening with RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under favourite Karen From Finance.

Brisbane Comedy Festival Director Phoebe Meredith said that, despite pandemic disruptions the festival’s audience has grown 25 per cent since 2019 and welcomed more than 20,000 first-time attendees.

“It’s true that laughter is the best medicine and live comedy has proven to be the preferred antidote to recent woes,” Meredith said.

“No matter what tickles your funny bone, the Brisbane Comedy Festival team works incredibly hard to ensure that there is something on offer for everyone,” Cr Schrinner

Brisbane Comedy Festival
28 April – 28 May 2023
Brisbane Powerhouse, The Fortitude Music Hall and The Tivoli.
www.brisbanecomedyfestival.com/

Over 10 days from 21 April to 1 May, 2022 more than 114 extraordinary performers will thrill, entertain and mesmerise audiences with 76 diverse performances across 6 venues in Brisbane including Brisbane Powerhouse, Metro Arts, The Tivoli, La Boite Theatre, The Ron Hurley Theatre, and Kingston Butter Factory.

The brainchild of Cluster Arts, the nations’ celebrated production house for performing arts’ Circus & Physical Theatre companies, CIRCFest22 Meanjin will showcase First Nations artists, independent companies, and Australian international superstars of the circus world.

Circus has come a long way from the sawdust big top with a ringmaster whip-cracking tired lions through hoops. Australian contemporary circus is a modern performance artform of breathtaking human athleticism, raw emotional power, pure entertainment, and sharp social commentary. CIRCFest22 Meanjin offers everything from blazing burlesque to stiletto funambulists, powerful physical theatre to radical drag, crazy clowns to breathtaking acrobats.

Directors Deb Wilks and Kate Malone who have programmed 14 Queensland premieres celebrating Brisbane’s colourful underground history as a circus city said, “CIRCFest22 Meanjin brings together a bold and ambitious program that celebrates circus in all its richly diverse forms – there is something for everyone. Our focus has been on delivering a festival where the artists are at the heart of every decision and that makes for some spectacular outcomes.”

As well as a public facing program, CIRCFest 22 Meanjin will have key industry activations, hosting a number of forums & sector development opportunities including a First Nations led sector development for circus & physical theatre. This will be done in conjunction with The Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM). It is hoped in the future, as borders reopen for touring, international buyers and presenters will attend, along with Brisbane audiences being able to experience international circus companies’ performances.

Ruth Wikler Deputy Director of Programming, TOHU from Montreal said, “The proposed virtual exchange between Montreal’s International Contemporary Circus Market (MICC) & Brisbane’s Cluster Arts will draw on the momentum built over the past two years. CIRCFest22 Meanjin’s international digital platform, followed by the MICC’s in-person market, provide an ideal opportunity for this & underpin a reciprocal touring arrangement between Canada & Australia -two global circus countries.”

Australia is recognised internationally as a leader in the artform and Brisbane is its hothouse, home to companies like Circa, Casus Circus, Briefs Factory, Hoopla Clique, ARC Circus and Chelsea McGuffin & Co who are in high demand on every international festival circuit.

CIRCFest22 Meanjin will see Brisbane come alive with death defying feats, breathtaking spectacles and something to entertain and engage everyone from the subversive and sexy for adults only to the fun and thrilling for the family.

CIRCFest22 Meanjin
21 April – 1 May 2022
Brisbane Powerhouse, Ron Hurley Theatre, The Tivoli, La Boite Theatre, Kingston Butter Factory, Metro Arts
www.circfest.live

Now, less than a year since they dropped their hooky debut single, Hey Wanhaka in October 2020, these five Yolŋu (Aboriginal) and balanda (non-Indigenous) lads from north-east Arnhem Land and Queensland have become one of Australia’s hottest new acts.

From the wilds of northeast Arnhem Land, King Stingray are just getting started, so you won’t want to miss them when they play The Tivoli for the very first time as part of Open Season.

King Stingray
Saturday 30 October
The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley
www.thetivoli.com.au

The Brisbane Comedy Festival returns with a star-studded line-up hitting the river city for three huge weeks of laughs and live gigs from 16 July to 8 August 2021.

Warm-up your winter with a packed program of sizzling highlights featuring homegrown heroes repeat offenders and fan favourites playing three big Brisbane venues: Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, and The Fortitude Music Hall.

In time-honoured fashion, the Brisbane Comedy Festival Opening Gala kicks off the 24-day event on 16 July with a spectacular line-up of comedians at The Fortitude Music Hall, hosted by Tommy Little.

Playing Brisbane Powerhouse is straight-talking YouTube star and lockdown legend Nat’s What I Reckon, performing his new show On Purpose from 17-18 July.

Australia’s beloved comedic import, Ross Noble, launches his post-COVID 2021 Comeback Special and brings his spontaneous stand-up and flights of fantasy to Brisbane Powerhouse from 27 July to 8 August.

Also emerging from lockdown with fresh material is Effie (Mary Coustas) whose trademark honest wit punctuates her new show, Better Out Than In from 17-18 July.

Brisbane Powerhouse trains the spotlight on a diverse schedule of acts including Christian Hull in his solo stand-up debut, seasoned entertainer Paul McDermott,
Mel Buttle, Kevin Kropinyeri, Jimeon, Cal Wilson, Aboriginal Allstars, Nikki Osbourne, and Tom Ballard.

Brisbane comedy couple Stav and Kat Davidson present an encore season of He Said, She Said on 7-8 August with all-new fresh and funny life-in-lockdown material.

The Tivoli sets the table for the Brisbane Comedy Festival Sunday Roast on July 25 then serves up a feast of guest acts including Fiona O’Loughlin, Peter Helliar, Anne Edmonds & Lloyd Langford, Rosie Waterland, Dave Thornton, and Geraldine Hickey.

Karen from Finance (RuPaul’s Drag Race) is heading Out of Office and bringing her high-camp one-woman show to Brisbane from 29-31 July.

International sensations The Naked Magicians leave Las Vegas and return to play the Festival that kickstarted their careers in their Home-Coming Tour at The Tivoli from 5-7 August.

The average ticket price for the 2021 Brisbane Comedy Festival is just $35 and all performances are already on sale.

Check out the full program and buy tickets at brisbanecomedyfestival.com.

The festival runs from 16 July to 8 August 2021.

Joining the fun in 2021 is The Princess Theatre, a sister venue to The Tivoli and Brisbane’s newest home for live music and the arts in Woolloongabba’s emerging lifestyle and entertainment precinct.

True to the brand of the iconic Tivoli, live music again remains at the heart of the Open Season program with a stunning program of artists and musicians handpicked to perform at across both The Tivoli and The Princess Theatre.

As part of Open Season, The Princess Theatre will welcome a stellar line-up of artists including King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (in a consecutive 5-show residency), Julia Jacklin, Regurgitator (in an exclusive Brisbane anniversary performance of the band’s debut album Tu-Plang), Sunnyboys, Jarryd James, HTRK, The Murlocs, Tropical F*ck Storm, TEEKS (NZ), COLLAR and Amyl & the Sniffers.

The Tivoli rolls out the red carpet for world-class musicians and performers including Marlon Williamsand Young Franco, and an exciting Nine Lives Festival line-up including headliners Stella Donnelly, Mildlife and Big Scary.

Born as a direct action designed to counter the industry-wide devastation brought by COVID-19, the inaugural Open Season in 2020 brought life back into Brisbane’s live performance scene.

Despite battling restrictions, Open Season 2020 saw an almost sell-out crowd with 91% of tickets sold – which is no small feat – and we expect the love to return in 2021 even bigger and better than the year before.

Tickets available from 9am Thursday 1 July (pre-sale) with general public able to purchase from Friday 2 July at openseason.live.

Open Season
June – December 2021
The Tivoli and The Princess Theatre
www.thetivoli.com.au

Leave prohibition and your inhibitions at the door, as you enter through the Bakery shopfront and into The Tivoli ballroom to find powerhouse performances, bump and grind burlesque and colourful characters mixing with the crowd.

Saucy showgirls and debonaire vaudevillians sing and dance for tables of thirsty patrons as tumultuous love triangles play out, desperate lovers seek a midnight kiss, and resolutions are made and broken in the same wild night.

For one night only, this immersive event is sure to transport you to the era of excess for a party that leaves you thirsty for more.

From the creators of Cluedo! The Interactive Game comes an original New Year’s Eve party that will welcome the 2020’s with a bang!

Speakeasy: On New Years Eve
Thursday 31 December, 7.30pm
The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley
www.thetivoli.com.au

Bite Club re-introduces Brisbane’s award-winning cult-cabaret mischief makers, circus stars and heart-stopping hooligans Briefs Factory International, as they go head-to-head with much celebrated and sainted song bird Sahara Beck. In an event sautéed in hedonistic haze, guests will be treated to a shotgun wedding and table settings of music, circus, drag, burlesque, theatre and comedy.

Under the ornate ceiling and on the punk infused flooring of Brisbane’s iconic Tivoli Theatre, BITE CLUB brings the cuisine, the creative and the crowd together in a cabaret tonic that transcends every allergy and over caters for any intolerance.

This December; cleanse your palette and wet your whistle on the world premiere of BITE CLUB.

Briefs: Bite Club
Wednesday 9 – Monday 21 December, 7pm
The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley
www.thetivoli.com.au

The first single ‘Dark Parts’ off her new 2020 album has been raucously received with rave reviews from the likes of The Guardian, Junkee, and Rolling Stone.

This intimate experience, in the old-world setting of The Tivoli, will be a hell of a party.

Dress code: you’re invited to observe the theme – fancy in black and white.

Megan Washington
12 & 13 September, 2020
The Tivoli, Brisbane
www.brisbanefestival.com.au