The ''Cologne Comedy Festival'' is an international
comedy festival
A comedy festival is a celebration of comedy with many shows, venues, comedy performers (such as stand up comics, sketch troupes, variety performers, etc.) and is held over a specific block of time. Normally, each festival has a diverse range of c ...
held in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, Germany, every year since 1991. It was founded by Achim Rohde in 1990 in
Kleve
Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...
. The festival initially started by importing comedians from around the world. During the 1990s,
stand-up comedy became popular with young German audiences, who had experienced it whilst living outside Germany. This led to home-grown comedy acts, which in turn caused the growth of the festival until its present size, where stars of German and of international comedy perform in more than 20 sold-out venues, ranging from small clubs to large theatres. Many German comedy acts were discovered at this festival.
[2006 Cologne Comedy Festival Programme]
Awards
Since 1997, the Cologne Comedy Festival awards the annual German Comedy Prize. Its categories are:
* Best comedy show
* Best comedy series
* Best sketch show
* Best comedy improvement
* Best actor/actress
* Best newcomer
* Best comedian
* Best comedienne
* Best film comedy
* Honorary prize
Offshoots
Since 2007, the Comedy Festival runs in tandem with a Comedy Film Festival.
See also
*
Hollywood's Comedy Nights
''Hollywood's Comedy Nights'' is an English-language stand-up comedy show in Cologne, Germany.Lifestyle Magazine, Sixth Sense British Forces Newspaper, April 2004, pp. 5–9
References
Comedy festivals in Germany
Recurring events established in 1991
Festivals in Cologne
Tourist attractions in Cologne
1991 establishments in Germany
Annual events in Germany
{{Germany-festival-stub