20th NZ comedy festival begins today

There'll be both old faces and new talent at this year's 20th Comedy Festival.

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival begins in Auckland today.

Managing director Kylie Aitchison says Jon Bridges has been with the festival since the beginning and is now producing a live recording of 7 Days.

She says he's the beginning to end bookmark comedian this year.

But Ms Aitchison says there's also the Class Comedians programme for secondary students and young performers who've been doing comedy for a couple of years.

The festival began at the Watershed Theatre in 1993.

Ms Aitchison says it has grown into one of New Zealand's most loved events, attended by an audience of more than 100,000 people each year.

She says this year's programme includes comedians from the very first festivals, as well as some fresh emerging talent.

The festival runs for three weeks with 200 performers, in 118 shows at 23 venues across Auckland.

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