City of Laughs: Dartmouth's first comedy festival

Dartmouth is about to get its first proper comedy festival, and the format is built around the comics as much as the audience. The City of Laughs Comedy Festival makes its debut downtown from September 24 to 27, four nights of stand-up, sketch and improv with a lineup of 18 to 24 Atlantic Canadian comedians. It bills itself as 100% Canadian and dedicated to celebrating diverse voices, and the headliner, Mary Walsh, is doing more than just performing: she is presenting the first-ever Mary Walsh Comedy Award.

The way the festival runs is what sets it apart. The first three nights, September 24 to 26, are the prelims, with 18 comics performing across Dartmouth's local venues. The audience votes on who advances, and there is a built-in safety net for the performers: all 18 comics share 25% of the ticket sales from these events, which is forecasted to work out to roughly C$100 to C$150 per comic. It is a fair way to make sure everyone who does the work gets paid something, regardless of whether they move on.

Then comes the finale on September 27, when the top six finalists face off at the Sanctuary Arts Centre at 100 Ochterloney Street, with an industry panel deciding the winner. The Top Comic, chosen by both the audience and the judging panel, walks away with the Mary Walsh Comedy Award and a sponsored performance spot at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2027. Each of the top six finalists gets an additional C$200 cash prize, and the grand prize winner has their flights and accommodations to Edinburgh, Scotland, covered along with that sponsored spot. It is a genuine career-making prize for an Atlantic Canadian comic.

If you are a comic based in Atlantic Canada, the window to get in is closing. Applications are due by August 31, and there is one non-negotiable requirement: you have to submit a link to a five- to ten-minute unedited live performance video. Applications without a video sample will not be considered, so there is no way around showing what you actually do on stage. For applications or more information, the festival is taking everything through john@cityoflaughs.ca.

As for everyone else, the wait is only a few weeks. The complete festival schedule, the full comedian lineup and ticket details are all set to be announced in early September, so that is when you will know which nights to mark down and where the prelims are landing. For now, the dates are the only thing you need to lock in: four nights in downtown Dartmouth, starting September 24, with a lineup of Atlantic Canadian talent and a finale at the Sanctuary Arts Centre. It is a first for the city, and the stakes for the comics involved are real.