Melbourne International Comedy Festival, one of the world’s great comedy festivals and one of our largest & most loved cultural events. 26 Mar - 20 Apr 25 #MICF This is the Official Page for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival – comedyfestival.com.au The 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival achieved excellent results despite autumn s surging COVID19 Omicron wave. There were 502 events presenting 5,496 individual performances. Total ticket sales were 524,817, which when combined with attendance at free events saw a total audience of 597,690 comedy lovers. Total box office was $18.6 million which represents the livelihood of the 1,800+ participating artists. The 2022 Festival took place in 113 venues (147 performance spaces) with Festival Managed Venues creating 33 performance spaces across 12 buildings in Melbourne s CBD. Deloitte Access Economics determined that the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival contributed $21.8 million in value added to the Victorian economy and 184 full time equivalent jobs. The Festival contributed $27.1 million in value added and 225 FTE jobs to the economy of the Greater Melbourne Area, benefiting from significant visitation from regional Victoria. Nighttime pedestrian numbers in the Melbourne CBD across the Festival hit their highest level since the pandemic began, with some nights exceeding preCOVID 2019 levels, demonstrating the power of the Festival to enliven the city. 2022 was the first Festival to deal with the new living with COVID reality of holding live events and festivals in this everchanging environment. During the Festival period COVID was at its highest levels (since the pandemic began) in Melbourne and across the country. No one was unaffected, with many artists, staff and audiences all impacted by COVID across the Festival period. 326 sessions were cancelled, with over 40 additional performances added as replacements. The free family outdoor program The (Very) Big Laugh Out was presented across weekends and school holidays at Federation Square and Melbourne Museum. The 2022 program included special event Wantok using Indigenous songs and dance to illuminate the past and present of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival s point of difference is its commitment to developing Australia s comedy industry and the organisation was pleased to be able to deliver Class Clowns, Deadly Funny and RAW Comedy competitions nationally with grand final events presented during the Festival. The 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow toured successfully to 75 locations across Victoria, ACT, NSW, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. In total 82 performances were presented, engaging more than 50 artists, tour and stage managers. The 2022 Festival, tours and development programs would not be possible without the generous support of our partners, led by Principal Government Partner Creative Victoria; Destination Partner Visit Victoria; Government Partner City of Melbourne; Major Media Partners The Age, Nine, Nova 100, ABC TV and ABC Radio Melbourne; Major Partners TAC, Mitsubishi Motors and Momentum Energy.