The New York Comedy Festival (NYCF) has announced the official return of the highly anticipated, week-long celebration of laughs, set for Nov. 8-14.
After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will return with more than 150 shows featuring more than 200 comedians, podcast stars and late-night hosts from around the world.
“We’re thrilled to be able to reunite fans with their favorite comedians again as New York City continues on the road to recovery,” said Caroline Hirsch, founder and owner of the New York Comedy Festival and Carolines on Broadway. “In this 17th year of the New York Comedy Festival, we celebrate the varied and diverse talent – both up-and-coming and established stars — who continue to elevate the comedic landscape and deliver the laughs and joy that we all need now, more than ever.“
A key focus of this year’s festival will be to shine a much needed spotlight on the small venues that have been hit the hardest this past year.
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“Our venue partners across the city have suffered tremendously over the last year, and so this year, we are committed to helping to bring them the business and patronage that they need, welcoming fans from across the country for a long-awaited week of laughter and unrivaled entertainment,” Hirsch said.
Since its inception in 2004, the NYCF has featured the comedy industry’s biggest stars on New York City’s most prestigious and iconic stages, including the Apollo Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Beacon Theatre, Carnegie Hall, Carolines on Broadway, Madison Square Garden and Town Hall.
In addition to stand-up, the festival has featured improv and sketch comedy, conversations, panel discussions, podcasts, art installations and film screenings. In 2007, the festival launched Stand Up for Heroes with the Bob Woodruff Foundation to honor our nation’s impacted veterans and their families.
This year’s talent lineup will be announced on Aug. 16. Tickets will be available for purchase on the New York Comedy Festival website.