Brisbane Comedy Festival
Get ready to laugh: Rhys Darby, Ross Noble and boozy Shakespeare are on the lineup at Brisbane's annual comedy festival in 2025.
Overview
What does it take to amuse a city? How many funny folks need to hit the stage, showcasing an array of different jokes, formats and comedic styles? By the numbers, 2025's Brisbane Comedy Festival is set to host over 135 acts, getting the Queensland capital giggling and chuckling at four venues across five weeks. When you're not laughing along with Rhys Darby, Ross Noble, Nazeem Hussain, Melanie Bracewell and Sh!t-faced Shakespeare doing A Midsummer Night's Dream, you'll be enjoying the comic efforts of Sara Pascoe, Tom Allen, Matt Okine, Janty Blair, Guy Montgomery and Shrek burlesque parody Shreklesque.
The event's 16th edition is on the calendar for Wednesday, April 23–Sunday, May 25, with attendees heading to Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, Fortitude Music Hall and The Princess Theatre. There, you'll catch Danny Bhoy, Mark Watson, Elf Lyons, Andrew Hansen, Adam Kay, Claire Hooper, Joel Creasey and Zoë Combs Marr, too, and also Jimeoin, Ray O'Leary, Luke Heggie, Becky Lucas, Bron Lewis, Chris Parker, Guy Williams, Laurence Mooney and Schalk Bezuidenhout.
Brisbane Comedy Festival is filled with impressive names — and also galas and all-star celebrations teeming with them, such as the annual Brisbane Comedy Festival Opening Gala, the Aboriginal Comedy Allstars and the Best of the Edinburgh Fest. For fans of late-night laughs and free after-work shows, BCF's popular After Hours and Knockoff sessions are also back. But stand-up isn't the only type of amusement on offer. A comedy troupe giving one of the Bard's great works a go while one member of the group is completely sloshed is just the start there, as is getting saucy with Shrek as well, joined by improvised whodunnits, a dog-friendly screening of Best in Show and a cabaret paying tribute to Kate Bush.
Fancy a comedy show that's also a wine-tasting session? The return of Wankernomics? Brisbane's LGBTQIA+ improvisers making Thank God You're Queer a must-see? A performance of every Penguin Classic novel ever written, all in an hour? They're just some of the other highlights on the bill.
Updated Thursday, April 10, 2025.
