Recession remedy

Ben Hurley. Photo / Supplied

If laughter is the best medicine, Aucklanders are double dosing this autumn as they line up for the annual New Zealand International Comedy Festival.

Four of last weekend's opening night shows sold out, with punters waiting in the streets to buy tickets.

Sales are up on the same time last year, according to the festival's managing director Kylie Aitchison, and have already reached 70 per cent of last year's total - less than a week into the event.

"It's kind of a surprise," she said. " We were expecting to sell less. It seems people feel like they need a laugh. There's been a lot of doom and gloom."

Ticket prices were the same as last year and had not been dropped in light of the recession, however, Aitchison said promoters had been careful not to overprice some of the bigger acts.

Two of the festival's most expensive shows - Dylan Moran and Wayne Brady - both sold out and the opening night Comedy Gala did the same, in record time.

But local acts are proving the big draw of the festival, outselling many of the visiting acts, according to Aitchison.

Local boys Ben Hurley, Jarred Fell and Cori Gonzalez-Macuer have all enjoyed sell-out shows over the past week.