Tokyo Comedy Bar

Gear up for 11 days of LOL as the Tokyo International Comedy Festival returns this September with a whopping 60 shows across eight venues. The programme includes stand-up by an international, star-studded cast of comedians, international roast battles, a stand-up contest, bilingual improv and much more. With shows available in both English and Japanese, this comedy extravaganza is for everyone in Tokyo. The festival takes place across venues including Tokyo Comedy Bar, Mame Romantic, DecaBar Super, The Millennials Shibuya and Baird Beer’s taprooms in Nakameguro and Bashamichi. You can look forward to a diverse line-up of comedians from Japan and around the globe, including household names like Sammy Obeid, known for his 1,001-day comedy streak, appearances on Conan, and Netflix’s 100 Humans, and Emily Catalano, who was named on the New York Times’ ‘Best Comedy of 2024’ list. Bringing the local heat will be talents such as Yurie Collins, Shota Saimu, BJ Fox and Jay Yamaki. A definite highlight on the programme is RoastFest 2025 – Asia’s biggest roast battle – which features Comedy Central champions Mike Lawrence and Frank Castillo coming out of retirement, plus a special recording of ‘Your Hood’s a Joke’ with battles like Tokyo vs NYC and Japan vs India.  Individual tickets are available for all shows, but if you’re looking to catch more than one, make sure to get the Festival Pass for ¥5,000. This includes entry to one show of your choice, plus the right to buy tickets to...

You might have seen a roast battle at Tokyo Comedy Bar before, or maybe you remember tuning in to Roast Battle on Comedy Central back in the day. But we can guarantee you’ve never seen anything like this before: With RoastFest 2025, an all-star cast of elite battlers will be descending on Tokyo for a weekend of no-holds-barred, absolutely brutal verbal violence. The event’s cosmopolitan roster features four world champions and two national champions, with six battlers flying in from overseas – some of them to perform in front of HBO’s cameras in the two main events. On the first night, Friday September 12, Roast Battle Hall of Famer Paige Wesley will be taking on Tokyo’s reigning champ Yuki Nivez, while Saturday evening sees a mad clash involving four world champions: Ryan Nesen, Mike Lawrence, Frank Castillo and Tokyo’s own Jay Yamaki. And that’s not all. There will be stand-up showcases featuring RoastFest’s international guests from 7.30pm on both Saturday and Sunday, plus a stand-up writing workshop by veteran comedian and Conan regular Mike Lawrence on Sunday afternoon. Closing out the weekend will be ‘Your Hood’s A Joke!’, an energy-packed series of battles between regional rivals and historical enemies – think Tokyo vs NYC, Canada vs USA and Japan vs India – hosted by Danish Anwar. See the full schedule on the website, and be sure to get your tickets well in advance.