Overview
December might be the merriest time of the year, but come late April and all throughout May in Brisbane, the funniest part of the annual calendar arrives. That's when the Brisbane Comedy Festival hits these days, after moving around dates over its lifetime — and if you're already eager to giggle your way from Friday, April 28 till Sunday, May 29, 2023, the event has just dropped its first round of lineup announcements.
Brisbane, get ready to laugh — because a whole heap of chuckle-inducing comedians are coming to Brisbane Powerhouse, The Fortitude Music Hall and The Tivoli. All up, more than 100 amusing artists will take to the stage, with BCF revealing 40 shows so far, spanning both international and local names.
On the visitors list: Danny Bhoy, Micky Bartlett, Ed Byrne, Ed Gamble, Sara Pascoe, Chris Parker and Ivan Aristeguieta, with both BCF favourites and first-timers taking the trip to try to make Brisbane guffaw and chortles.
Among the Aussie contingent, comedy fans can look forward to Mel Buttle, The Umbilical Brothers, Wil Anderson, Peter Helliar, Rove McManus, Anne Edmonds and Lloyd Langford, as well as Dilruk Jayasinha and Geraldine Hickey. And these days, we basically count Irish comedian Jimeoin as a local, don't we?
The first-round bill also includes Reuben Kaye, Lizzy Hoo, Michael Hing, Jason Manford, Tommy Little, Tom Ballard and the cabaret-style Dirty Flame Flash Candles Club. And, there's the Aboriginal Comedy Allstars, the Multicultural Comedy Gala and Queerstories, plus the return of Two-Man Tarantino, the Sunday Roast and Shit-Faced Shakespeare.
When the complete roster of talent hits in mid-February, it'll also see BCF feature more than 350 individual shows across five huge weeks, primarily at Brisbane Powerhouse. While Fortitude Music Hall will host the opening gala, and The Tiv will act as a satellite festival hub, New Farm's riverside arts precinct will boast six stages in its main Powerhouse Theatre, Underground Theatre, The Studio, Rooftop Terrace, Park Mezzanine and Graffiti Room.
The venue's new Pleasuredome will be included, too, operating as an outdoor comedy club for a number of special events.
As well as standup sets, BCF 2023 will include everything from musical comedy and comic theatre shows through to comedy cabaret and variety nights — so, its usual round up of everything possible that could make you laugh while in and around a theatre.
"It's a smorgasbord in the truest sense of the word, with global comedy legends sharing space with fresh faces on the fast track to national notoriety," said Brisbane Comedy Festival Director Phoebe Meredith, announcing the first 2023 lineup.
"The comedians' shows are just as diverse. From public figures behaving badly to the rising cost of living and modern-day mental health crisis, there's no shortage of topics ripe for scrutiny, and nothing and no one is spared!"
The 2023 Brisbane Comedy Festival will take place between Friday, April 28–Sunday, May 29. For further details and tickets — with the first shows on sale from Friday, December 2 — head to the festival's website.