The C word. In Sydney.

Contrary to popular belief, Sydney has never been jealous of Melbourne's colossally successful comedy scene, in the form of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, attracting some half a million visitors annually, hosting over 200 artists and generating gozillions of dollars for the Victorian government.

Afterall, as far as Sydney was concerned, it could boast the first ever Comedy Festival in Australia ' the Tivoli Mistrel and Grand Specialty Company established by one Harry Rickards in 1892. In fact it was due to Harry's efforts that gave birth to the modern stand up comedian in Australia. The Tivoli Circuit was a series of acts which toured the country showcasing local performers during the 1890's. Finally, in 1911, Harry having decided that the weather was far better in Sydney, established the Tivioli Theatre which continued its run of vaudeville and revue shows in one venue up until 1966.

With the introduction of Television in 1956, the live comedy scene took a dive all over the country. However a bright comedy nut called John Pinder, decided in the early 1980s that laughing at the Box in front of the couch just wasn't as fun as seeing people humiliating themselves live.

In 1987 Pinder began a crusade to establish Australia's first ever Comedy Festival in Melbourne. The festival's patron was Sir Les Patterson and the guest-of-honour was British comic legend Peter Cook. Cook had already been unwittingly honoured by the Melbourne comedy scene when Pinder named his theatre restaurant, the Last Laugh after the title of Cook's first university revue at Cambridge. Other highlights of the first Melbourne International Comedy Festival included performances by the Doug Anthony Allstars, Wogs Out of Work, Gerry Connolly, Los Trios Ringbarkus and Rod Quantock's Bus Show.

By 1997, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival was a big fat raging success being attended by over 350,000 annually being ranked as one of THE big three in the Axis of Comedy Festivals alongside Edinburgh and Montreal. Sydney was royally peeved thinking that not all the funny people needed to live south of the border, and anyway it was just something in the water. So it was no surprise that in 1998, an energetic chap called Simon

Morgan decided it was time Sydney showed off some Comic Bling, given that showing off was one thing which came quite naturally to Sydney. Simon Morgan and Mary Tobin established the first ever Sydney Comedy Festival in 1998.

The original Sydney Comedy Festival ran for 2 years and was endorsed by government agencies, sponsors and unearthed some of the finest comic talent the country has ever seen. It ran for 3 weeks each October, and included, an national Comedy Script Writing competition, the biggest improvised comedy shoot out, Theatresports, Sydney's first Comedy Film Festival and over 140 shows in venues throughout Sydney and Newcastle the Event drew an audiences of over well over 100,000 people in its first 2 years and it generated media coverage to up to nearly $2million.

In 1999, the Sydney Comedy Festival was invited by the Artistic Director of the Olympic Arts Festival to participate in the Olympic Arts Festival as part of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Tragically however on his way home from the 2nd Sydney Comedy Festival, Simon Morgan was involved in a serious car accident, which left him unable to continue his inspiring work for the Sydney Comedy Festival.

Meanwhile, Mr Pinder having re-adjusted to Bondi Beach lifestyle and the joys of the Sydney transport system, had been lured to the illustrious Comedy Channel at Foxtel, continuing to broker fresh Australian comic genius to the comedy scene, such as comedy ensemble Chop Socky and a young Rove Mc Manus cast as one half of the comedy puppets Short and Curly.

By 2001, Pinder again decided that audiences needed the smell of beer, greasy burgers and cigarettes to truly experience laughing at themselves. Once again, he became Festival Director, this time of Sydney's Big Laugh Comedy Festival, which began in 2001, and in 2005 he brought The Goodies out to Australia for a successful sell-out tour.

Elsewhere Sydney in 2005 however others decided that Sydney was too serious for its own good, and the sprightly Cracker Comedy Festival began its life in a series of famous Sydney live venues, such as Enmore Theatre, The Factory, Metro, Sydney Opera House and the Comedy Store. Cracker has steadily grown to host some brilliant local acts and keep the comic starved venues alive.

Back in Melbourne, a young funny woman by the name of Susan Provan, took the reigns of the MCF in 2000 and ramped it up to the great heights it currently enjoys under the banner Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Today, Melbourne has expanded itself to include the MICF Roadshow which now travels the whole of Australia and Singapore bringing highlights to over 80,000 eager comedy lovers; open mic comedy competition, Raw Comedy, commencing in January each year; Class Clowns a national secondary school comedy competition held throughout the year around the country and more recently Deadly Funny, which aims to uncover the comedy stars amongst Victoria and South Australia's Indigenous Australians.

In April 2008, the ever colourful John Pinder thought that Sydney needed another kick up the proverbial and joined Nick Murray and Mark Ford two well-known figures in the Comedy world to launch a new comedy festival in Sydney, with the blessing of the original founder of the Sydney Comedy Festival 1998, Simon Morgan.

Worlds Funniest Island

Worlds Funniest Island is funded by Events NSW and is due to launch in late 2009.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival continues to laugh its socks off'while Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin wait quietly in the wings'