The story
Melbourne International Comedy Festival in Melbourne
Melbourne's biggest cultural event each autumn turns the Town Hall and dozens of pub back rooms, theatres and tents across the city into a wall-to-wall comedy marathon. Running roughly three and a half weeks, it mixes global headliners with hundreds of independent acts performing stand-up, sketch, cabaret and improv. Ranked among the world's three largest comedy festivals alongside Edinburgh and Montreal, it draws more than 770,000 ticket sales.
Promoter John Pinder co-founded what became the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 1986, and staged the first full program in 1987 with a launch fronted by Barry Humphries in character as Sir Les Patterson alongside British satirist Peter Cook.