About the Festival

The CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival was the brainchild of Al Rae and CBC Radio’s Tom Anniko, who worked in partnership with Osborne Village Cultural Centre to bring the first comedy festival to life. Seven years later, the festival remains the OVCC’s flagship event and has come to include year-round outreach programs, rural tours, workshops and television broadcasts that attract over 2 million viewers annually thanks to the hard work of the CBC team. The Winnipeg Comedy Festival is proud to be the highest rated comedy festival series on CBC Television.

2002

Program/Logo:

Gala Themes: Prime Ministers Show, Prairie Comedy Celebration, CBC Comedy Gala, What’s So Funny About Winnipeg?, What’s Up with Bedtime? and French Gala - Histoire du Manitoba 101

Venues: Pantages Playhouse Theatre, Gas Station Theatre, Centre culturel franco-manitobain and Prairie Theatre Exchange

Highlights: Inaugural year. Ticket venues host more than 5,000 patrons and many more flocked to free performances throughout the city.  Free performance continue today, in the festival’s seventh year. Outreach to schools with a Comedy Festival children’s story. The WCF wins a Gemini for Best Performance by a Comedian (Brian Hartt)

Comic Headliners:

  • Dave Broadfoot
  • Cathy Jones
  • David Steinberg

2003

Program/Logo:

Gala Themes: Sleeping with the Elephant, Prairie Crop, Becoming My Mother, Musical, Mayhem, Éclat d’humour

Venues: Pantages Playhouse Theatre, The Gas Station Theatre, Le Rendez-Vous, Winnipeg Art Gallery, CCFM

Highlights: The festival expands to include two rural tours – French & English – visiting four English and four French communities.  Outreach to schools continues. In addition, the sold out 2003 French Gala (Drôlement Vôtres) returns to a second sold-out theatre.

Comic Headliners:

  • A. Whitney Brown
  • Brent Butt
  • Dean Jenkinson
  • Gavin Crawford
  • George Westerholm
  • Irwin Barker
  • Jessica Holmes
  • John Wing
  • Mark McKinney
  • Ron James

2004

Program/Logo:

Gala Themes:
Turtle Island - North America’s Best Aboriginal Comics,
Myths, Lies and Maple Leafs – Dispelling Canada’s Cultural Myths
Modern Romance – Changing the Face of Relationships
Seriously Funny – One Day at a Time
Our Roots are Showing – Canada’s Funniest Multicultural Comics
CBC Gala – The Best of CBC Comedy
Le Gala de l’humour

Venues: Pantages Playhouse Theatre, The Gas Station Theatre, CCFM, King’s Head, McPhillips St. Station, Cinematheque

Comic Headliners:

  • Bill Richardson
  • Carla Collins
  • Colin Mochrie
  • Dave Broadfoot
  • Derek Edwards
  • Glen Foster
  • Graham Greene
  • Lorne Elliott
  • Patrick McKenna
  • Ralph Benmergui
  • Russell Peters
  • Shaun Majumder
  • Simon Rakoff

2005

Program/Logo:

Gala Themes: Man Alive!, Mid Life Crazy, No Place Like Home, CBC Gala, Drôlement Vôtres 3

Venues: Pantages Playhouse Theatre, The Gas Station Theatre, McPhillips St. Station, The King’s Head, Cinematheque, Times Change, CCFM

Comic Headliners:

  • A. Whitney Brown
  • Cathy Jones
  • Glen Foster
  • Irwin Barker
  • Jeremy Hotz
  • Jessica Holmes
  • Joey Elias
  • John Wing
  • Mark McKinney
  • Roger Abbott
  • Russell Peters
  • Sean Cullen

2006

Program/Logo:

Gala Themes: My Hometown International, Life’s Hurdles, Relative Insanity, The Sky Is Falling, Founding Nations of Comedy, Drôlement Vôtres 4
Venues: Pantages Playhouse Theatre, Gas Station Theatre, The King’s Head, McPhillips Street Station, Rumor’s Comedy Club, Brandon & CCFM

Highlights: CBC Radio comedy series "The Debaters" premiered with host Shaun Majumder. The hit CBC Radio show features Canada’s hottest comedians going toe to toe, debating topics in the news and on the minds of Canadians. The audience picks the winners based on who delivered the best logic and laughs, the best rhetoric and rant. Facts and force of argument can earn points, but in the end, jokes will likely win the match. Comedy trumps all. The Debaters airs Saturdays at 6:30pm (7:00 NT), Mondays at 8:30pm (9:00 NT) on CBC Radio One. The WFC was nominated for a Gemini in the category of Best Host of a Comedy or Variety Show (Bubbles). The number of Galas staged each year grew from two to four and then six in the festival’s 5th year. The ever popular and always sold out Galas also debuted on the Comedy Network.

Comic Headliners:

  • Bubbles
  • Derek Edwards
  • George Stroumboulopoulos
  • Glen Foster
  • Irwin Baker
  • John Wing
  • Roddy Piper
  • Shaun Majumder
  • Sugar Sammy

2007

Program/Logo:

Gala Themes: Wonder Women – The World’s Funniest Females, The Relation Ship, Metropolitan Life, Mmm Mmm Food, Hardly Working, Musical Mayhem, Drôlement Vôtres 5

Venues: Pantages Playhouse Theatre, The Gas Station Theatre, MTC Warehouse, McPhillips St. Station Casino, CCFM

Highlights: The Debaters returns for three sold-out shows. This year, in 2008, we will have 2 matinees with the show’s new host - Steve Patterson.

Comic Headliners:

  • Andrea Martin
  • Joe Flaherty
  • Sean Cullen
  • Patrick McKenna
  • Elvira Kurt
  • Lorne Cardinal
  • Joey Elias
  • Shaun Majumder

Catch the 2007 Galas on CBC every Tuesday, from February 26 to April 1st, 2008 at 7:30pm. (www.cbc.ca/winnipegcomedy)