Sydney Comedy Festival

Overview

The Sydney Comedy Festival began in 2005, and since then it has grown big enough, not necessarily to give Melbourne a run for it's money, but to provide Sydney with the much needed laughs it so rightly deserves. Now firmly established, the festival is attracting some of the best international acts as well as inspiring local talent to have a go at getting up on stage and make fools of themselves for the sake of hilarity.

The festival aims to celebrate local talent and to foster a healthy home-grown comedy base, with programs such as Fresh and One Minute Comedy Wonders helping to develop emerging performers. And with shows all over the place, from bigger venues like The Enmore Theatre and The Factory Theatre, to smaller ones like Newtown bar Corridor, there's a heap of different stuff to pick and choose from this year.

2011's full program includes British acts Stephen K. Amos and Danny Bhoy, who are thankfully regulars to Australia and completely worth seeing. Other hilarious international acts include Gina Yashere, Nina Conti and Jason Byrne, who may or may not put you in a cardboard box and yell at you. There's also a host of local talent, including Lawrence Leung and Triple J's Cloud Girls. Also on the bill are one-off events like That One Story and I Heart Impromance, which look set to plump out what has become a very welcome addition to Sydney's festival calendar.