WellingtonEvents
A packed audience cheering and applauding at The Opera House in Te Aro, Wellington.

NZ International Comedy Festival

Get ready to titter, to guffaw, to let loose with a belly laugh. The 31st NZ International Comedy Festival hits Wellington with three weeks of hilarity in May. A huge group of comedians gather from local shores and beyond to deliver a wild festival of humour. The city will be bursting with side-splitting live comedy delivered by dozens of comics. 

A mix of well-known faces and rising stars fill out the Kiwi comic contingent. Look out for Guy Montgomery, Hayley Sproull, Tom Sainsbury, Pax Assadi, and Melanie Bracewell. The people who’ve flown here include Ireland’s David O’Doherty, Scot Fern Brady, Olga Koch from UK, and fan favourite American Wilson Dixon. The Australians have sent their best with Rhys Nicholson, Nazeem Hussain, and Heath Franklin’s Chopper. There are many more very funny people within the extensive programme. 

The Best Foods Comedy Gala gets things off to a jovial start. It offers a taste of some of the fantastic local and international comedians presenting gags and giggles during the festival. It is rightfully considered one of the jewels in the festival crown. Other multi-comic events include ‘The Comedy Mixtape’ (a first for Wellington audiences), and ‘Comedy Fest in Kāpiti’. This provides another bite-size taster of who's who and what's what for Kāpiti audiences.