The 2026 Winnipeg Comedy Festival is April 20-26. (WCF / HANDOUT)
The Winnipeg Comedy Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this spring with a weeklong lineup of shows featuring established stars and emerging Canadian comedians.
The festival on Wednesday announced its 2026 gala hosts, including Brooke Lynn Hytes (Canada’s Drag Race), Dave Merheje (Juno-Award winning comedian), Shaun Majumder and Chris Wilson (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), and award-winning singer-songwriter Jann Arden.
“For our 25th year we really wanted to bring back a lot of our audience favourites — the comics that helped build the festival and put it on the map — as well as the country’s hottest new comics who are poised to be the stars of the future,” said artistic director Dean Jenkinson, in a release. “What better way to celebrate where we’ve been and where we’re headed?”
The festival runs April 20–26, 2026, and will include anniversary “Mega Shows” recorded for broadcast at the Burton Cummings Theatre. Tickets for the Mega Shows are $40 and are available through the festival’s website.
The festival also confirmed Dave Hemstad will return as host at the Gas Station Arts Centre, with full programming details for that venue to be announced.
