Yellow City International Comedy Night 2026 - Bart Cannaerts, Jan Linssen, Els Verhofsted

Twelve comedians, over four hours of comedy, and three breaks to catch your breath… During this annual comedy high mass, Tom Cools hosts an XL evening full of humor. Bart Cannaerts celebrates his twenty years on stage with an extensive headline set, Jan Linssen and Els Verhofstede take their first steps on our big stage. The international touch comes from Berit Companjen (NL), Leroy Brito (UK), and Darren Harriott. The evening starts with the final of the fourth edition of Schaal Lies Lefever, and during the breaks, Fokke van der Meulen provides live podcast recordings. Bart Cannaerts Bart needs no introduction. On October 1, 2006, he played his first comedy performance at The Joker in Antwerp. It was the first preliminary round of the Culture Comedy Award. A little later, he passed through with the semi-finalists of that award and later with the finalist tour in the Werft. We are therefore extremely happy that Bart is celebrating his twenty years on stage with an extra-long headline set at our festival! Darren Harriott (UK) Darren Harriott is the first Black British stand-up comedian to be nominated for the main prize of the Edinburgh Comedy Award. His energetic style has brought him to big stages, television, and international festivals in recent years. He was seen on Live at the Apollo. On stage, he combines sharp observations with personal stories. Leroy Brito (UK) De Britse comedian Leroy Brito has been on stages worldwide for over fifteen years. In 2025, he received a nomination for Best Headliner at the Chortle Awards. On television, he was seen in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer and as a judge on the BBC New Comedy Award. He wrote for JoJo & Gran Gran and The Weakest Link. In 2024, his stand-up special Live In Cardiff was released. Leroy also makes the podcast Who’s the GOAT?. Berit Companjen (NL) Berit (pronounced: Brit) Companjen is small in stature, has a lot of volume, and likes to bite back. She talks faster than she thinks, and that is not always convenient. She is sharp, loud, engaging, and guaranteed to turn the room upside down with a hurricane of thoughts and jokes. Berit likes to talk about relatable situations, not shying away from interaction with the audience. Berit tears down her surroundings with vicious pleasure, but mostly likes to make fun of herself. Jan Linssen Het It may be that you have never heard of Jan Linssen, but the chance that you have ever had to laugh at one of his jokes is quite high. Between his own performances, Jan also writes texts for radio and TV programs and worked for six years on the year-end conferences of Kamal Kharmach. After his first full-evening program Sloef, he is now working on the successor, from which he will unleash material on the audience during the festival! Els Verhofstede Els Verhofstede has waited. Long. Much too long. For years, she kept herself in check because that was the way it was supposed to be. But now, in her late forties, the moment has arrived. Time to finally say what she really thinks. Unfiltered, sharp, and shamelessly honest. And where better to do that than on a stand-up stage? No stories about perfect children, no fairy-tale marriage, no ‘you are as old as you feel’ bullshit. Just the raw reality. Or better: how she sees it. Unvarnished, razor-sharp, with a salvo of jokes, but above all... hilariously relatable. Els was in the semi-final of Humo’s Comedy Cup 2023 and in the final of The Lunatic Comedy Award 2022. MC Tom Cools Voor de Geelse For comedy lovers, Tom Cools is the face of our Open Mic and Comedy Café’s. With his juicy Kempian accent, he will also guide this evening in the right direction. Schaal Lies Lefever We start the evening with the fourth edition of the comedy competition De Schaal Lies Lefever. The prize was named after the comedienne Lies Lefever, who died in 2018 at the age of 37. Lies grew up in the Kempen and became known as the funny, visually impaired black woman who played dangerously light songs on her guitar. Five comedians – new talent – who managed to convince the most during the Open Mics of cultural center de Werft will take up the battle. You can read the names of the selected participants from mid-June at www.dewerft.be. Fokcast Live In the podcast Fokcast, Fokke van der Meulen talks to two guests every week. You know Fokke as the often sympathetic nerd and loud pub owner of The Joker in Antwerp. The recipe for his podcast consists of conversations with comedians, recorded in the basement of his comedy café, or conversations with famous faces about pop culture - via Skype of Zoom. This evening, Fokke crawls out of his basement and chats between the comedy blocks with the comedians performing this evening.