Birmingham Comedy Festival returns from Friday 3 to Sunday 12 October 2025 with more than 90 performances featuring big-names, emerging acts and the very best comedians from the West Midlands.

Among the many highlights are appearances from Babatunde Aléshé (Oct 4, The Alexandra, Bham), Kane Brown (Oct 5, Town Hall, Bham), Australian ‘silly billys’ Aunty Donna (Oct 2-3, Alexandra, Bham), Elliot Steel (Oct 10, The Glee Club, Bham), Emmanuel Sonubi (Oct 9, The Glee Club, Bham), Geoff Norcott (Oct 4, Town Hall, Bham), Henning Wehn (Oct 11, Town Hall, Bham), and Irish comedians Chris Kent (Oct 8, The Glee Club, Bham) and Jason Byrne (Oct 10, Town Hall).

Actors/writers Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith also bring their inventive anthology TV series Inside No.9 to the stage (Oct 7-11, Dec 2-6, The Alexandra, Bham), while the festival’s annual Laurel and Hardy film screenings return with an animal themed triple-bill (Oct 9, West Midlands Police Museum, Bham; plus Oct 4, Coventry and Oct 12, Stourbridge).

The always popular Birmingham Comedy Festival Free Half-Dayers (Part 1, Oct 5; Part 2, Oct 12) are also back. Heading to the (almost) neighbouring Cherry Reds and The Victoria for consecutive Sunday afternoons, acts appearing include Eric Rushton (Channel 4 Sean Lock Award), Finlay Christie (over 12 million likes on TikTok) and Jamie D’Souza (The Stand Up Sketch Show) who test out new material. Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award Winner 2023 Hasan Al-Habib also appears with the finished version of his debut show, Death To The West (Midlands). Having performed a work-in-progress version at a previous edition of the festival, this will be the first time Hasan’s completed show is aired in the city.

Other visitors to the Free Half-Dayers include the award-winning Rob Kemp with his inventive Beetlejuice/ Beatles mash-up, Beatlesjuice; Andy Robinson and James Cook, recording a new episode of their pop music podcast Shooby Dooby Doo Wop; Tal Davies, who presents a read-through of her work-in-progress sitcom; and improv troupe Behind The Headlines with their improvised Peaky Blinders parody.

Others visiting the 10-day event include Lily Phillips, Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year 2024 Eva Bindeman, Sikisa, Kyrah Gray, Marcel Lucont (with his award-winning family show), Welsh/ Spanish comic Ignacio Lopez, Jonny Awsum, Nate Kitch, Jaz Mattu, Joe Sutherland, Rachel Baker, Hannah Weetman, Richard Dadd, Low Effort Sketches, and the University of Birmingham’s Footnotes.

The whole shebang officially kicks off with the prestigious Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award 2025 (Oct 3, The Glee Club, Bham) featuring five of the very best new and emerging acts from the region: BAB, Abbie Edwards, Abbie Hale, Harry Jenkins and Ryan S Lewis. The night also features a special set from previous winner, Josh Pugh

For full details see: bhamcomfest.co.uk