Are you ready for a laugh? Then hit the Canberra Comedy Festival

Stars Ronny Chieng and Stephen K Amos have found their passports and headed down under. Other names to book their accommodation in Canberra include Rhys Nicholson, The Stevenson Experience, Claire Hooper, Aaron Chen, Geraldine Hickey, Tony Martin and Ivan Aristefguieta. Tickets are already selling fast, some shows have already sold out, and some comedians have already announced extra shows.

Venues this year include the Canberra Theatre Centre, The Street Theatre, Verity Lane Market and the Big Band Room at Llewellyn Hall.

It's a little harsh that Tony Martin's bio on the festival program suggests no one might remember him. As one of Australia's (OK, he is a New Zealander) elder comedy statesmen, Martin has been on the scene since the mid 1980s. Part of the iconic D-Generation team, he went on to have parts on The Late Show and Kath and Kim, while forging a radio career that set new standards for the format.

"People Google me now and I'm a German cyclist, I'm constantly getting congratulated for the Tour de France," he says.

He's donning the lycra and pedalling to Canberra for his show Tony Martin Stands Up.

"It's me waffling on for an hour ... talking about disasters from my own life recounted in gruesome detail, disputes with various neighbors and medical disasters that I've been involved in, strange observations.

"It's very much more of a personal kind of a show, as opposed to things that are in the news. We've had enough of that."

He came to Australia in the mid 1980s, went on the dole (like all good New Zealanders), and approached the ABC to work as a writer with The D-Generation. He'd done some radio and amateur theatre in New Zealand.

"I remember one sketch comedy show that went so bad people went into the foyer and picked up this huge Maori canoe and charged the stage with it, heaved it up on stage ... there was no coming back after that."

Speaking of boats ... has Geraldine Hickey told you about her new boat?

"I bought it during lockdown, I still don't know how it works," she says. Well it could be worse, the lockdown purchase could have been an expensive sourdough starter.

"Oh, I did that too. I made bread. Well actually it was normal bread, not sourdough, so there's that, but I ate so much bread and pasta, I put on nine kilograms, lost nine kilograms because the lockdown was so long. It was a fun time."

To top off her year she won the Melbourne Comedy Festival Award in 2021 and got engaged.

She acknowledges we all have a little COVID fatigue and says it's been interesting talking about the experience in different states.

"I've been in Adelaide for a couple of weeks and I've had to tailor the show for a different audience, when I was in Western Australia, I would open the set with 'I'm from Victoria and it's so good to be out of the house' and they would boo.

"I love Perth audiences but it was kind of baffling."

I promise her that Canberra audiences will be much more receptive, we've just endured a month of comedy via the anti-vax protestors.

"I'm really excited about coming to Canberra," she says.

"I'm debuting the show there, I did a trial last night and it's looking really good, I can't wait to show it to the world."

Speaking of lockdown ... Nick Cody will do anything to get out of the house. He survived lockdown with two children under three while trying to do morning radio. "I figured the kids were awake so I may as well go to work at 4.30am," he says.

He's bringing his Classique Cody show to Canberra.

"I've been trying to get to Canberra for two years now, so I'm bringing a 'best of' show, if you like, there's a whole bunch of new material too, if you can't find humour in surviving lockdown with two small kids where can you find it?"

With his easygoing style of comedy, Cody has been selling out shows across the globe, racking up rave reviews and fast becoming a fixture on television and radio including Have You Been Paying Attention, Hughesy We Have a Problem and Talking 'bout Your Generation. He also appeared in the 2018 Australian film The Merger. He's also one of only four Australian comedians to appear on Conan O'Brien's late night talk show, out of the United States.

He loves nothing more than playing at festivals and catching other shows.

"I like lived experience, people sharing that from their perspective," he says. "While we've all lived through similar experiences in Australia the past couple of years, watching how people take that and turn it into comedy, fascinates me. It will be great to catch up with people in Canberra."

And speaking of Canberra, Dilruk Jayasinha loves it here. "I think appearing in Utopia has made me one of Canberra's favourite comedians," he says. "It makes me very relatable, all that comedy about the lives you guys are living down there."

He won a best newcomer Logie in 2018 for the show about government bureaucracy and has graced our screens in recent years on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here and Celebrity MasterChef where the Sri Lankan-born comedian surprised everyone with his talent in the kitchen.

"I was a bloke who hated cooking on a cooking show but I loved being part of that experience. It really made me challenge myself."

He's done a bit of that of late. He's lost 35 kilograms in the past couple of years, after being single for 15 years he's now in a relationship, one which was managed over long-distance during lockdown.

"The major changes which have happened in my life have helped me shift my perspective. I went from being an accountant to making a living from stand-up. I think about what I can achieve now if I put my mind to it."

The Canberra show, Dil'icious, promises to serve up some observations from the past few years. But first he wants some recommendations about what restaurants and cafes he can visit while he's in town.

"I'm a brunch kind of guy so hit me up with some suggestions," he says.