China International Comedy Festival Wants You!

By Andrew Chin, February 1, 2016

Kung Fu Komedy is organizing the inaugural China International Comedy Festival from March 18-April 2 and they're looking for a few good stand-ups and film makers to get in on the fun.

While international headliners like Steve Simeone (Mar 18-19) and Joe Klocek (Mar 27) will perform at Shanghai's Kung Fu Komedy Klub, the festival revolves around its English and Mandarin language stand-up competition and its short film contest.

The organizers are looking for about 50 contestants to take part, with the English language competition judged by Mainland comedy icon Dashan, Klocek and Amelia Chappelow. First place winner will receive quite the bounty: RMB10,000 prize, a guaranteed spot at LA’s legendary Comedy Store and acceptance at the 2016 Burbank Comedy Festival. Entries must be made by February 10 here.

The Mandarin competition winner will receive RMB5,000 and a paid headlining show at Kung Fu Komedy Club. All accepted visiting applicants will receive a RMB500 stiped for the festival.

Anyone is encouraged to enter - especially those who are interested in stand-up but haven't dived in yet, which is basically how Kung Fu Komedy started in the first place. For the English competition, comedians need 15 minutes of material, which can be reused throughout the rounds. For Mandarin comics, it’s 18 minutes of material that can’t be reused. It’s free to enter here.

RMB2,000 is up for grabs in the short film contest. Participants can submit 3-10 minute long original videos until March 27. All submissions should be bilingual, so Chinese subtitles must be included for English videos and vice versa. Donnie Does’ Alessio Avezzano will judge and more details can be found here. Standout videos will also be shown on That’s Shanghai’s website following the competition.

The festivals open on Friday, March 18 with headlining shows by the ever-enegetic Steve Simeone. Preliminary rounds take place from March 23-26 with an always entertaining edition of Joe Klocek’s Punch Lines game show scheduled on March 27 (see a Shanghai episode here). Festival finals all take place from April 1-3. More details here.

> China International Comedy Festival: Mar 18-Apr 2, website, see full schedule.

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