The Great Outdoor Comedy Festival is set to bring laughter and fun to Prince’s Island Park

Calgary’s Great Outdoors Comedy Festival is back from Aug. 25 to 27 at Prince’s Island Park and this year’s festival features a diverse lineup of hilarious comedians including Nick Offerman Jonathan Van Ness, and Andrew Schulz. What started as an idea during the pandemic has now grown into a festival that stops in four cities across Canada. Organized by Trixstar Live, the festival has been a rousing success in bringing laughter to the outdoors each year since its inception. Tickets are almost sold out so nap up yours before it’s too late. Trixstar VP Chris Schoengut told us more about the festival and what Calgarians can expect.

Tell us about this year's festival highlights.

We're excited about this year's very diverse lineup. We feel like there is really something for everyone. Nick Offerman is back in Calgary after his stint with The Last Of Us that was filmed here; JVN, Monet X Change, Priyanka, and MollyFi will be kicking off Pride Week with an incredibly high-energy show on Saturday, and the infamous Andrew Schulz on Sunday is going to be one not to miss. We've made some great upgrades from learnings last year and listening to attendee feedback including a seperate VIP entrance (and early entrance) plus other site and operational improvements. We're working with a couple of new charity partners this year too with proceeds going to The Mustard Seed and Accessible Queer Spaces.

Tell us about how the festival gives back to the Calgary community.

Proceeds from Friday and Sunday are going to The Mustard Seed, helping out Calgary's vulnerable population. Saturday is in support of Accessible Queer Spaces, a fund ensuring all queer-friendly venues in Calgary are accessible to everyone. Plus there will be a 50/50 program over the weekend in support of Easter Seals - Camp Horizon, supporting some great summer camps for youth. We've also got Hiregood back on site in various roles, getting some good people back to work in very meaningful employment opportunities.

Why is it important to have a festival like this give back to the local community the way it does?

It's the reason our team at Trixstar gets out of bed every day; we want to give back to the communities we produce events in and leave them a better place than we came. Between giving back to some great charities, making sure the festival is accessible as possible to everyone, and being a sustainable organization - all of which is always a work in progress and there is a lot to learn - are always going to be foundations of our business.

What should people know before coming down?

This festival is all about having fun; bring a positive attitude and just be ready for a good time and we're very thankful for everyone who volunteers, everyone who buys tickets, all of our partners, contractors, and suppliers. It’s a team effort to pull off something of this magnitude and we are very appreciative to be doing what we do.