Comedy Festival Guide
The comedy room at the Coopers Inn during a show: the neon 'Comedy at the Coopers Inn' sign
Questions, answered · By place

What comedy festivals are in Tennessee?

The short answer

Two comedy festivals in Tennessee have dates ahead on the Guide. The next to open is the Third Coast Improv Festival, 18–21 March 2027, in Nashville, TN. The furthest ahead is the Nashville Comedy Festival (7–18 April 2027). One puts on stand-up, one improv.

Coming up in Tennessee, soonest first

  • The Nashville skyline at night across the Cumberland River
    Third Coast Improv Festival · 18–21 March 2027 · Nashville, TN · Improv Tickets ↗
    Nashville's own improv festival, produced by Third Coast Comedy Club.
  • A performer in silhouette at a mic stand beside two empty stools on a smoky stage
    Nashville Comedy Festival · 7–18 April 2027 · Nashville, TN · Stand-up Tickets ↗
    The Nashville Comedy Festival, produced by Outback Presents, spreads twelve days of comedy across Nashville in April, from the Ryman Auditorium, the Opry House and Bridgestone Arena to Marathon Music Works, The Pinnacle, Zanies Comedy Club and The Lab at Zanies.

Beyond Tennessee

The Guide's finder holds every comedy festival with dates ahead, 130 round the world, soonest first: comedy festivals in every country.

Third Coast's new home

Third Coast Comedy Club, the festival's producer, has found a long-term home on Dickerson Pike in East Nashville, in the old Good Wood shop beside Retrograde Coffee, and means to open it by the end of 2026. The plans give the building several stages, classrooms of its own and a larger bar, open from 4pm until close every day, and the fit-out is put at more than $450,000. Luke Watson and Scott Field own the club together. The March 2027 festival marks its tenth year, and troupes can send submissions from 1 December 2026.

Nashville's April nights

At Bridgestone Arena, Ali Siddiq, Mojo Brookzz and Josh Johnson share a bill with Ms. Pat and Marcus D. Wiley at 7pm on Saturday 17 April 2027. The Ryman Auditorium has six festival nights, from Alex Edelman with Ben Folds at 7:30pm on Thursday 8 April to Michael Blaustein on Saturday 17 April, with Ron White on 9 April and Matteo Lane with Bob the Drag Queen on 11 April between. Tom Segura plays the Opry House on 8 April, Whitney Cummings Marathon Music Works on 9 April and Jeff Dunham The Pinnacle on 10 April, while Zanies Comedy Club fills the weeknights with Hugh Howser on 13 April and Ben Palmer on 14 April.

The Ryman's long story

The Ryman Auditorium, at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, was built for religious gatherings after the riverboat captain Thomas Ryman's conversion, paid for with the community's donations, and opened as the Union Gospel Tabernacle with its first concert in May 1892. It took his name after he died in 1904. The Grand Ole Opry played there from 1943 to 1974; the hall then sat largely unused for almost 20 years before Gaylord Entertainment Company restored it, reopening it in June 1994 as a concert hall and museum, and since 2001 it has been a National Historic Landmark. It has no public parking lot: the Fifth + Broadway garage across the street sells spaces on entry, and the door is on Fourth Avenue.

Zanies, two rooms

Zanies Nashville, at the corner of 8th Ave South and Douglas off exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, has two showrooms: the main one for headliners and The Lab at Zanies next door, a 100-seat theater opened in spring 2024. Unless a show says otherwise, guests must be 18 to get in and 21 to drink, with photo ID. No tickets are sent: the buyer's name and ID claim the seats. The two-item minimum can be any food or drink, with or without alcohol, nobody is seated more than 15 minutes into a show, and phones and smartwatches go into Yondr cases, unlocked when the show ends. Listed prices include fees and taxes.

Plan the trip

Every guide, soonest first

Sources

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Facts as of 31 October 2026. Festivals change their plans: confirm on the festival's own site before you book. Every question