The Perth International Comedy Festival is an Australian not-for-profit festival.

History

The PICF organizing committee was created in mid-2011 and went on to launch an inaugural festival in May 2012. This festival was 19 days in length and was held in the Mount Lawley area of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

, across four different venues. 150 performances of an international, national and local calibre were presented to an audience of more than 26,000. 51 of the performances were sold out, and 82% of the total audience capacity was reached. Acts included

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rol ...

, Stephen K Amos, Steve Hughes,

The Pajama Men The Pajama Men are Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez, an American comedy duo of character comics from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They have won awards including the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2009, and Best Newcomer ...

Des Bishop Desmond Bishop (born 12 November 1975) is an American-Irish comedian. He was brought up in New York and moved to Ireland at the age of 14. He primarily resides there. Approach to comedy Bishop's comedy has covered social issues, such as poverty ...

Daniel Kitson Daniel John Kitson (born 2 July 1977) is an English comedian and writer. Early life Daniel John Kitson was born in Denby Dale on 2 July 1977, the son of a primary school headteacher mother and a lecturer father. He was a pupil at Scissett Midd ...

Neil Hamburger Neil Hamburger is a fictional standup comedian and singer created by Australian-American entertainer Gregg Turkington. Distinguished for his misanthropic jokes and anti-comedy style, Turkington has released a number of albums as Hamburger and ...

Peter Powers Peter Powers is a British television personality and hypnotist. He is well known in Australia for his appearances on the '' Footy Show''. Career Powers has made several TV shows; '' The Power of One'', which is filmed in Australia, and ''Street ...

Glenn Wool Glenn Wool is a Canadian stand-up comedian now living in England. He has released six albums, including 2020's ''Viva Forever'', produced by Dan Schlissel for Stand Up! Records. Early life His father, who was Estonian, escaped a concentration cam ...

, DeAnne Smith,

Tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

Sammy J Samuel Jonathan McMillan (born 2 July 1983) is an Australian musical comedian, satirist, writer and radio presenter who performs under the stage name Sammy J. He embraces a variety of media in his comedy, including the use of video and self-co ...

Randy Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

, Fiona O'Loughlin,

Charlie Pickering Charlie Pickering (born 29 August 1977) is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter, author and producer. Pickering currently hosts ''The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'', a weekly news satire television show on the ABC, as wel ...

Tom Gleeson Thomas Francis Gleeson (born 2 June 1974) is an Australian stand-up comedian, writer, television and radio presenter. Gleeson formerly co-hosted ''The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' alongside Judith Lucy and currently hosts ''Hard Quiz'', both ...

Greg Fleet Gregory Fleet is an Australian comedian and actor. History Early life Fleet was born in Michigan, in the United States. His father moved the family to Australia when Greg was four. He grew up in Geelong, and as a teenager boarded at Geelong Gra ...

Dave Callan David Gerard Callan (born 20 September 1975) is an Irish-born stand-up comedian, who has had a career in television and radio, and is based in Melbourne, Australia. Up until 2010 he worked as a Triple J disc jockey. Biography Callan was born ...

, Brendon Burns,

Felicity Ward Felicity Ward (born 26 September 1980) is an Australian comedian, best known for her TV appearances on '' Spicks and Specks'', ''Thank God You're Here'', ''Good News Week'' and as a writer/performer in the Channel 10 Network television program ...

Lawrence Mooney Lawrence Mooney (born 22 April 1965) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, and former television and radio presenter. Radio career Mooney has held various jobs including a cleaner, salesman, furniture polisher and collecting golf balls at a ...

, Asher Treleaven,

Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, and actress. She began her career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, her show '' Nanette'' on Netflix won ...

and

Joel Creasey Joel Creasey (born 11 August 1990) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. Creasey has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as performing at the New York International Fringe Festiv ...

. The Festival Director and curator was Jo Marsh. In 2013 the festival was once more held in May, similarly for 19 days. Comedians included Diggy Bones,

Daniel Sloss Daniel Sloss (born 11 September 1990) is a Scottish comedian, actor, and writer. Sloss was the youngest comedian to perform a solo season in London's West End, at the age of 19. He has toured internationally, released a stand-up comedy DVD t ...

, Paul Foot and

Gina Yashere Regina Obedapo "Gina" Iyashere is a British comedian who has made many appearances on British and American television. Early life Yashere was born and raised in Bethnal Green London to Nigerian parents. Before becoming a comedian, she worked ...

. The festival includes an Opening Gala with short performances from selected comedians. There is also musical entertainment."Tenacious D rock a heavy jam in Perth"
Kristy Symonds ''PerthNow'' 16 May 2013

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Site
Comedy festivals in Australia 2011 establishments in Australia Recurring events established in 2011