Strong Support for the First Week of the GoMedia Comedy Carnival
The 2019 GoMedia Comedy Carnival is at its halfway point as the festival wraps its first week with impressive ticket
sales.
Festival director Snap who funds and promotes the Comedy Carnival with help from a handful of sponsors says
“It’s been really good; the responses have been great, and the numbers have been consistently up from last year. People
are getting out going to different shows and we are attracting a whole new audience who haven’t gone to comedy before.”
The Comedy Carnival launch night showcase received rave reviews from CityScape Magazine and was the first of many shows
that had a sold out run in the first week.
Corey Humm’s solo hour “Emotional Junior Staffer” sold out Space Academy as did Jo Ghastly and Ben Kent’s show “The
Generation Gap”, and Jess Jean's "Mackenzie Mackenzie: Icon".
The Fresh Comedy Competition ushered in nine new comedians who all performed in a sold-out Dux Central. Asher
Etherington won the competition with Peter Randrup coming second and Geraldine comedian Melanie Page taking third place.
Snap said that audience turn out has been fantastic for bringing people back into the city.
“There is so much new audience that are learning about comedy and finding out it is happening in Christchurch. But also,
a lot of tourists who are in Christchurch have seen there is a festival on and have been attending some shows while
they’re here, or extending their stays to catch more of the festival”
The first week also saw shows from Ashton Brown, Georgina Sivier, Advait Kirtikar, Snap Presented by Rusewebsites as
well as a multitude of festival run shows.
The Comedy Carnival holds the illustrious, and unsubstantiated title of being the longest running arts festival of its
size to never be funded by the local council.
“The festival is basically hitting every single target that the council seems to have around growing the arts, and
bringing people back into the city, so it’s an absolute shock that in our fourth year they still don’t support it,” Snap
said.
The Go Media Comedy Carnival will still be running for another week.
The second week will see shows from Billy T nominee Li’i Alaimoana, Fergus Aitken, Tony Chestnut amongst a series of
line up shows including; “No Dicks”, an all-female line up show which will feature a revolving line up of female and
non-binary comedians. “Old AF” featuring Drop Dee, Andy Millar and Jo Ghastly as well as “Young Guns” featuring Jack
Harnett, Ben Kent and Craig Westenberg.
The Comedy Carnival closing ceremony is scheduled for Saturday 21st September at Dux Central.