Bath Comedy Festival runs for four weeks every spring, from late March into April (21 March to 19 April in 2026), with more than 100 shows and over 300 performers across a dozen venues. It's worth going to if you want big-name comedy without an Edinburgh-sized crowd, since the programme mixes headline acts with Edinburgh preview shows and a dedicated new talent competition.
When is it
The festival runs for four consecutive weeks each spring, typically late March into mid-April. In 2026 it ran 21 March to 19 April. Check the festival's own site for exact dates each year, since the start date moves slightly with the calendar.
What's on
Expect a genuine mix rather than one format repeated for a month. Headline shows at Bath Forum, the festival's largest venue, have included established names like Harry Enfield, Paul Merton & Suki Webster, Dead Ringers and Troy Hawke in recent years. A second core venue, the Ring O'Bells in Widcombe, runs an intimate upstairs room through the festival, mixing relative newcomers with well-established circuit regulars. Alongside the big names, the festival hosts heats of its New Act Competition at the Belvoir Castle venue, building toward a Grand Final later in the run, a good spot to catch comedians before they're well known.
Edinburgh previews and year-round comedy
Bath Comedy Festival isn't just a one-off month. The same organisers run Bath Comedy Club nights, Edinburgh Fringe preview shows and touring one-off gigs throughout the rest of the year, so if you miss the festival itself, the comedy scene it's built around doesn't disappear for the other eleven months.
Is it worth going to
Yes, if you want a comedy night that isn't just stand-up at a pub open mic, and don't mind a mix of big names and rising talent on the same bill across the month. The intimate venues, especially the Ring O'Bells upstairs room, give a different feel from a big arena tour date, and ticket prices for most shows sit well below what you'd pay for the same comedians in London. For other annual events worth planning around, see our what's on in Bath guide.
Booking tickets
Tickets are booked show by show through the festival's own site rather than as a single festival pass, since each venue and act is programmed and priced separately. Headline shows at Bath Forum sell out fastest, so book as soon as the season's programme goes live if there's a specific act you want to see.
Getting there and staying over
Bath Forum and the Ring O'Bells are both within walking distance of the city centre, so staying centrally makes it easy to catch more than one show in an evening. See our where to stay in Bath guide for the best areas, and our restaurants in Bath guide if you're building a pre-show dinner into the evening.