We live in funny times – English-speaking comedy in Vienna

The song that British comic duo Morecambe & Wise were best known for was a song called “Bring me sunshine” – and the opening lines went “Bring me sunshine / in your smile / bring me laughter / all a while” and recently there has been a surge in comedy shows in English in Vienna. Amidst the exciting/turbulent times we live in, laughter is definitely proving to be the best medicine.For a long time a lot of English-language comedy in Vienna was on stage – often with performances of plays by the likes of Noel Coward or Alan Ayckbourne at various international theatre companies. However, in recent years the English language comedy scene in Vienna has started to flourish. Social media has helped to spread the news about shows, and Partykeller of various bars and cafés are starting increasingly to welcome comedy shows.

Patrick Lamb‘s English Comedy Night has established itself – each month host Patrick, who regales us with his tales of Life in Vienna is joined by other comedians – frequently from the UK – for an evening of comedy at Aera – and the nights have rapidly become sell-out affairs. The shows are now also taking place in Graz as well – and are once a month throughout the year except for a summer break. In addition to the English Comedy Night, Patrick also has a one-man show, with “Gossip” being his latest show.

Okello Dunkley swapped New York for Vienna and apart from appearing at the October 2016 English Comedy Nights also does regular comedy nights in Tunnel called “How to Laugh in English” – the next show will feature an Anglo-Turkish comedian, Naz Osmanoglu, on 1 November.

Down Under will have a stand-up-comedy-cum-halloween-party on 28 OctoberJeff Kellner hosting the night with a number of comedians – with might be a good way to discover some new faces in the Vienna comedy scene as well as established players.

FM4 Morning Show presenter Stuart Freeman also does stage shows – most recently his An Englishman in Vienna show was at the Rabenhof Theatre.

VSUCC (Vienna Stand-Up Comedy Club) has been going for three years now – and they differ somewhat from others in that there is also an Open Mic nature to it – so theoretically anyone going can get up and tell a few jokes or try out a short routine they might have.

Standup Vienna who have brought the likes of Eddie Izzard and Dylan Moran to the Gartenbaukino in recent years are also organising shows for Joe Lycett and Daniel Sloss, in November.

Niko Formanek, who has done a number of comedy nights in Vienna is due to have more shows in the New Year – the format of some of the shows he did in 7*Stern was not dissimilar to that of the show that Patrick Lamb runs – touring comedians and Vienna-based ones join Niko on stage.

Daniel Ryan-Spaulding passes through Vienna on his continuing comedy odyssey to do shows, although when he’ll next be here is not confirmed at the moment – he’s done shows in 44 countries and counting!


Have we missed out more comedy shows? Let us know.

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