The festival was founded in 2007 by the stand-up comedian Jami Gong, who is the founder of The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong.
[a] There are separate English and Chinese language competitions with the latter having only a few participants so is substantially tinier.
[3] A panel of judges determines the winner based on three categories: how innovative the material is, how the listeners respond, and the quality of their stage presence.
[8] On 31 August 2014, journalist Linda Kennedy's profile of the festival was broadcast on the BBC's The Arts Hour television programme.
[7] In 2016, the 22-year-old Malaysian comedian Hannan Azlan became the first woman and the youngest person to win.