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The kicked off yesterday, with Ardal O'Hanlon opening the proceedings alongside Welsh stand-up Wes Packer and Matt Price.

Lloyd Langford

As the comedy fest runs until 30 July, in various venues right across the capital, there's still plenty to see.

There's a mixture of big established names as well as emerging talent on the line-up and a whole hatful of Edinburgh Fringe preview shows to choose between.

The likes of Phil Nichol, Rob Deering, Wil Hodgson, Jimmy McGhie and Welsh lads Lloyd Langford and Elis James will be testing their material before their journeys to the Scottish capital later this summer. (If you missed it, Elis blogged for us about his exploits at the Fringe last year.)

Other highlights of the Cardiff Comedy Festival include workshops for up and coming comedians and the Welsh Unsigned Stand-up Award Final. The semi-finals of the competition that aims to sniff out Wales' newest comedian take place this evening and on Friday evening at Nos Da in Riverside.

Elis James

There's also comedy theatre on offer at , including The Harri-Parris by Llinos Mai and Humanzee by Inkyquill Productions, which is a sequel to last year’s successful comedy Death and the Monster.

The festival finale is also likely to impress. For a start it'll be hosted by Canadian stand-up Craig Campbell, who I thought was rather impressive when I saw him in Cardiff last year while he was supporting Frankie Boyle on his national tour. Craig was also wearing shorts at the tail end of October in Cardiff, which is something to be applauded.

The finale will also feature Richard Herring, Jason John Whitehead and Glenn Wool, as well as the winner of the Welsh Unsigned Stand-Up award.

Visit for the latest information and for details on who's on the line-up.