[2] BBC Birmingham reported that 86,000 people attended the festival in 2009[3] - the same year Michael McIntyre headlined with a run of shows at the city's National Indoor Arena.
[4] Over the years the festival has attracted some of the biggest names in comedy, including Lenny Henry, Michael McIntyre, Lee Evans, Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, and Sarah Millican.
[5] Acts from the city and surrounding area are a key focus for the festival,[6] with repeat appearances from such local comics as Joe Lycett, Janice Connolly aka Mrs Barbara Nice, Jo Enright, James Cook, Josh Pugh, Gareth Berliner, Andy White, and others.
Participants included musician Dan Whitehouse, who created a new soundtrack to Charlie Chaplin's The Vagabond (1916 film), The Nightingales, Laura Lexx, and acclaimed Birmingham street artist Foka Wolf.
Winners are as follows: 2014: Andrew McBurney[13] 2015: Josh Pugh[14] 2016: Harvey Hawkins[15] 2017: Kai Samra[16] 2018: Laura Monmoth[17] 2019: Celya AB[18] 2020 and 2021: No award due to COVID-19.
In 2014, the festival company performed a script-in-hand stage adaptation of The Goon Show featuring two scripts by Spike Milligan - The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton) and The Canal.