About Birmingham Comedy Festival
We're an independent award-winning annual city-wide arts festival.
The UK's second longest running comedy festival, we've been drawing attention to Birmingham's vibrant (and often unsung) comedy scene since 2001.
With a line-up that combines local talent with big-name acts, previous guests have included Peter Kay, Michael McIntyre, cult TV sketch series The Fast Show, Inside No9, Sarah Millican, James Acaster, Jack Whitehall, John Bishop, Miranda Hart, Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, Sean Lock, Al Murray The Pub Landlord, Sandi Toksvig, Stephen Merchant, Romesh Ranganathan, Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe, Harry Hill, Greg Davies, Ross Noble, Lee Evans, Impractical Jokers and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Plus Ad' Fab' star Joanna Lumley, and 'spoken word' legends Pam Ayres and Dr. John Cooper Clarke, the late Ken Dodd and Barry Cryer.
We've also welcomed the very best Brum and West Mids' talent, including Joe Lycett, Lenny Henry, Jasper Carrott, Stewart Lee, Guz Khan, Gary Delaney, Darren Harriott, Mrs Barbara Nice, Shazia Mirza, Josh Pugh, Gary Powndland, Natalie Hayes, Jo Enright, The Nightingales, Ted Chippington, Foka Wolf, Tat Vision and Lindsey Santoro.
There's also been celebrations dedicated to Tony Hancock, Red Dwarf, Ealing Studios, Laurel and Hardy, Monty Python and The Goon Show.
The festival is the recipient of five What's On Readers' Awards for Best Festival.
The Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award
Launched in 2014 in collaboration with The Glee Club, the prestigious Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award celebrates and elevates emerging comedic talent from across the West Midlands.
The show takes place at The Glee Club on the opening night of the festival.
Breaking Talent Award Winners
Previous winners of the award:
- 2014: Andrew McBurney
- 2015: Josh Pugh
- 2016: Harvey Hawkins
- 2017: Kai Samra
- 2018: Laura Monmoth
- 2019: Celya AB
- 2020-2021: Award postponed due to Covid
- 2022: Hannah Weetman
- 2023: Hasan Al-Habib
- 2024: Tom Towelling
- 2025: Ryan S Lewis
- 2026: TBA
Festival Projects
Alongside the festival, we also undertake special shows, projects, and collaborations. Amongst them are the first stage adaptation of The Goon Show (2014), the debut performance of a previously lost Tony Hancock sitcom (as The Lost Hancocks: Vacant Lot - which sold out the British Library, London), and various Laurel and Hardy screenings. We've also worked with numerous other arts organisations, including Moseley Folk and Arts Festival, Birmingham Hippodrome, Ikon Gallery, Black Country Living Museum and Creative Black Country.
Find out more ...
See a selection of previous festival brochures on the Internet Archive
Find out how it all began: How did Birmingham Comedy Festival start? (written for the 20th anniversary).
Read more about Birmingham Comedy Festival over on Wikipedia: Birmingham Comedy Festival
“A true gem and genuinely deserves to be shouted about.”
“You can’t beat a good comedy festival, and ‘good’ might just be an understatement here.”
Birmingham Comedy Festival
Friday 2 to Sunday 11 October 2026
VIEW / DOWNLOAD the festival brochure (PDF).
Official Media Partner 2026: What's On Media Group