Pizzas and Laughs are on the Menu at the Montecristo and Bacco Room

The rooms underneath Toto Pizza on Nelson St, the Montecristo and Bacco Room have played host to many gigs, networking sessions, and weddings over the years; but those sweaty brows, limp handshakes and tears of joy are set to be transformed into bouts of laughter as the space becomes Auckland’s newest independent comedy venue.

From April 23, the Montecristo will host three weeks of comedy as part of the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. It will offer a range of solo shows from current and past Fred and Billy T Award winners and nominees, international guests and a full programme of late night and afternoon shows.

The opening night will see performances from esteemed comedians: Wilson Dixon, Jon Bennett, Guy Williams, Guy Montgomery, Rose Matafeo, Dynamotion comedy-dance troupe, Brendon Green, Sanjay Patel, Tom Furniss, Tim Batt, Jamie Bowen, Nick Gibb and Rhys Mathewson.

The afternoon programme will be headed by Guy Montgomery and Tim Batt will perform two shows based on their podcast the Worst Idea of All Time, where they watched and reviewed Adam Sandler film Grown Ups 2 every week for a year. On Sunday 3 May, the show will be backed up with a one off performance of Edinburgh Fringe favourite A Young Man Dressed as a Gorilla Dressed as an Old Man Sits Rocking in a Rocking Chair for 56 minutes and Then Leaves…

See the full programme of events here.