The Festival was started back in 1993 at the Watershed Theatre in Auckland, with 'three weeks of open slather comedy'. You might recognise some of these names from the first couple of years; The Topp Twins; Corbett Brothers (Jeremy Nigel); Facial DBX (made up of Jon Bridges, Paul Horan, David Downs, Paul Yates, Dave Horn, Alan Brough); Kevin Smith Peter Rowsthorn (Kath Kim), Brendhan Lovegrove, Te Radar, Sugar Spice, Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour. Some of the first international comedians performing in the early years included Alan Davies, Simon Pegg, Bill Bailey, Lano and Woodley, Rich Hall and Ardal OHanlan. More Info below.