Your guide to 2025’s Brisbane Comedy Festival

When: 23 April - 25 May 2025

With more than 300 events taking place across the River City, the highly anticipated annual Brisbane Comedy Festival is back for 2025 with a slew of wisecracks and belly laughs.

Taking over Brisbane in April and May with shows spanning four iconic Brisbane venues – The Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, The Fortitude Music Hall, and The Princess Theatre – this year’s program is jam-packed with dazzling homegrown and international performers.

What’s on at Brisbane Comedy Festival

This year’s festival will see over 100 artists take to the stage; everything from award-winning novelists-turned-comedians, Netflix headliners, international comedic icons and homegrown up-and-comers gracing the stage, bringing with them the very best one-liners money can buy.

Not sure what to see? There’s something to suit every comedic tastebud at this year’s Brisbane Comedy Festival. If you’re after a big night of comedy, be sure grab tickets to the sure-to-sellout Opening Gala, which kicks things off with an all-star line-up of international and Aussie comics.

Plenty of big name stand-ups will take to the stage at this year’s Brisbane Comedy Festival with solo shows. Claire Hooper recounts public humiliation, comedy legend Jimeoin shares his life hacks, Ross Noble gets curious, while Danny Bhoy brings Brisbane the sequel to his 2015 show ‘Dear Epson…’. City boy Lawrence Moody has gone bush – line dancing included – with his new show Dead Set Country, while Dave Hughes returns to cause an uproar or two.

For an alternative to your traditional stand-up bit, revel in the weird and wonderful show that is Sh!t-faced Shakespeare. The internationally acclaimed, Fringe Festival favourite is bringing its unique take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring inebriated cast members where no two nights are ever the same (or remembered).

Grab a seat for award-winning Zoë Coombs Marr as she takes you into The Splash Zone, or unpack boardroom banter and watercooler gossip with Fringe Festival favourite Wankernomics, which brings a little satire and political comedy to Brisbane Comedy Festival.

After a critically acclaimed Netflix special, Nazeem Hussain is gracing Brisbane with his comedic presence once more - catch his brand-new show, You Paid For This, to see him in top form.

Love when things get musical? Spicks and Specks, The Gala and Utopia alum Cameron James brings his biggest rockstar-without-a-band show yet. Country music comedy legend Wilson Dixon is making his way from Colorado for his first Australian show in years, and back by popular demand after wowing audiences in 2024, Sarah-Louise Young's An Evening Without Kate Bush is an eclectic and hilarious cabaret that showcases some of the pop culture icon’s greatest hits and lesser-known gems.

Check out the full festival itinerary, here.

Attending Brisbane Comedy Festival 2025? Here’s what you need-to know

Planning your route to this year’s festival? Get comprehensive travel information to the Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, The Fortitude Music Hall, and The Princess Theatre here.

The Brisbane Comedy Festival prides itself on accessibility support; dozens of performances across the festival will have Auslan-interpreted shows, as well as crucial access information for all venues. Which means more enjoyment for all.

To purchase tickets to any of the performances at this year’s festival, check out the Brisbane Comedy Festival box office online or over the phone. Fancy picking up your tickets in person? Head to the official festival box office at the Brisbane Powerhouse in New Farm.

Tickets can be presented via email or collected up to one hour before your performance starts at the box office at your selection venue.

Be punctual. The festival advises arriving at least 60 minutes before the show start time – many shows at Brisbane Comedy Festival have a lock out policy, so if you’re late, you’ll miss out. Give yourself time to pick up your tickets, get something to eat or drink, mingle, and find your seats before the performance starts.

Make a night of it. You’re in Brisbane, after all

Given the venues for this year’s Brisbane Comedy Festival, there are countless things to do in Brisbane, so you’re bound to want to make a night of it pre or post-show. Brisbane Powerhouse boasts three fantastic dining venues, Bar Alto, Mary Mae’s and Vertigo, each with sweeping views and alfresco options to take advantage of those balmy Brisbane evenings by the river. 

The Tivoli and Fortitude Music Hall are considered the beating heart of Fortitude Valley’s music scene—their location’s unbeatable for a night out in Brisbane, while The Princess Theatre’s recent revamp has given the heritage building a new lease of life, including four bars, a café and events spaces, with the dining and entertainment hub of South Bank just a few minutes’ walk away.

Looking for more things to do in Brisbane? Add these 30 ideas to your list.