Live Comedy
The Royal Theatre is the ultimate destination for live comedy. Our state-of-the-art facilities and dynamic atmosphere create an unforgettable experience for both performers and audiences. With a commitment to fostering community and collaboration, we’ve hosted some of the biggest names in comedy as well as rising stars. See below who’s performing next!
- Ben Bankas, September 18th
Ben Bankas has added a date in September! He’ll be at the Royal Theatre on September 18th as well!
Ben has performed with the likes of Andrew Schulz, Joe List, Louis J. Gomez, Tyler Fischer, and has a surprisingly diverse cult-like following of comedy fans that love to laugh.
Ben is the hottest commodity coming out of Canada right now with over 162,000 followers and growing rapidly on Instagram. Ben mocks politics, current events, pop culture, and himself.
Ben is the host of his own podcast “The Bankas Show” on YouTube with over 10,000 monthly listeners and growing.
He has been featured on InfoWars, Blaze TV, and Fox News in the USA and in notable Canadian publications like the Toronto Sun, CBC, BlogTo, Toronto Life, CP24, Rebel News, The Western Standard, and more.
Check out Ben Bankas’ comedy specials “GAYTATORSHIP” and “Please, Wear a Mask” on YouTube. All material Ben will be performing will be new and cannot be found online.
Tickets are selling out fast!
- Ben Bankas, September 20th
Ben Bankas is returning to the Royal theatre on September 20th!
Ben has performed with the likes of Andrew Schulz, Joe List, Louis J. Gomez, Tyler Fischer, and has a surprisingly diverse cult-like following of comedy fans that love to laugh.
Ben is the hottest commodity coming out of Canada right now with over 162,000 followers and growing rapidly on Instagram. Ben mocks politics, current events, pop culture, and himself.
Ben is the host of his own podcast “The Bankas Show” on YouTube with over 10,000 monthly listeners and growing.
He has been featured on InfoWars, Blaze TV, and Fox News in the USA and in notable Canadian publications like the Toronto Sun, CBC, BlogTo, Toronto Life, CP24, Rebel News, The Western Standard, and more.
Check out Ben Bankas’ comedy specials “GAYTATORSHIP” and “Please, Wear a Mask” on YouTube. All material Ben will be performing will be new and cannot be found online.
Tickets are selling out fast!
- Therapy Gecko, October 11th
The Therapy Gecko is coming to the Royal Theatre on October 11th at 8pm!
After embarking on a sold out world tour last year, multi-platform internet sensation Lyle Forever brings his beloved Therapy Gecko live show on the road again in 2024. Fans will get the chance to converse with Lyle live on stage as they share their hopes, dreams, and anything else in the recesses of their mind with the internet’s favorite gecko and unlicensed therapist. It will be an interactive, unpredictable evening as the audience journeys with a gecko into the unknown.
Lyle Forever has taken the world by storm with his hit podcast, Therapy Gecko. Lyle’s unique perspective, curious ear, and green face paint has struck a chord with millions of fans around the world as he combines comedy and human interest stories by talking through strangers’ sometimes wholesome, sometimes bizarre, problems and situations. Lyle has taken his show all over Europe, Australia, Japan, and the US and performed at some of the biggest music festivals in the country, including Bonnaroo and Electric Forest. His podcast has featured major names like Lil Yachty, Denzel Curry, Eric Andre, Danny Brown, Bobby Lee, and others. Now, Lyle is excited to announce “The Lizard Agenda Tour” for 2024.
Grab your ticket before it sells out!
- Jon Dore & Dave Merheje Comedy Tour, October 12th
‘The Comedy Here, There & Everywhere’ Tour is coming to the Royal Theatre October 12th with two Juno winning comedic titans, Jon Dore (CBC’s ‘Humour Resources’, The Jon Dore Television Show, & Conan) and Dave Merheje (‘I Love You Habibi’ Crave special, ‘Sometimes I Think About Dying’ [2024] & Hulu’s ‘Ramy’)!
Brought to you by Comedy Here Often? & SiriusXM Comedy Club, showcasing hilarious Canadian acts coast to coast!
- Anna Akana, October 20th
The hilarious Anna Akana is coming to the Royal theatre on October 20th and a Late show has been added due to popular demand!
After a stalking incident forced Anna into retirement for 6 years, she’s back – and armed with a restraining order and a plethora of new stories to tell. Anna Akana is a comedian, actress and writer. As an actress, she can be seen in Marvel’s Ant-Man, Comedy Central’s Corporate, Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy and the Emmy-nominated Youtube RED series she executive produced and starred in, Youth & Consequences. Her Youtube channel has a following of over 2.8 million subscribers, where she tackles a variety of mental health focused comedy content. As a writer, hopefully she’ll someday emerge from development hell (with networks FX, Netflix, and HBOMax) for you to witness her work. Diablo Cody once said, “Anna’s a brilliant and poignant writer,” so either way, she can now die at peace.
- Joe Avati, October 25th
Comedian Joe Avati is bringing the laughter to the Royal Theatre October 25th, 2024 at 7pm!
In Joe Avati’s hilarious new show he asks you to leave your political correctness at the door. Internationally renowned for his inimitable style Avati, who is Australian born with an Italian heritage, is a master of treading the very fine line saying what everyone is thinking but no one dares to say whilst not resorting to the use of profanities or vulgar shock tactic routines.
In his latest offering WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE he compares the ‘then versus now’ generational differences of today’s children against his own, the complexities of modern day parenting compared to the strict upbringing of yesteryear and threaded throughout all of this he tackles the minefield of comedians and cancel culture, the woke brigade and why people are over political correctness.
His observations are not only deadly accurate but extremely relatable to all ages.
- Jiaoying Summers , November 7th
The hilarious Jiaoying Summers is coming to the Royal Theatre on November 7th at 6:30pm. You won’t want to miss it!
Jiaoying Summers is the most courageously fresh voice in comedy. She embodies the Asian American perspective through her work with uncensored, unapologetic comedic stylings. Among her unique gifts are powerful and dark truth bombing; she turns extreme childhood trauma into comedy gold. In just four years, lighting has struck the comedy world, she is among the fastest rising stars. She is an Asian Hall of Fame inductee, comedian, podcaster and social media comedy queen with over one billion views and counting. Jiaoying made history as the 1st Chinese comedian to ever headline the Apollo Theater in New York City.
The LA Times considers her “one of the leading women running the LA comedy Scene”. The BBC named her “the woman rewriting the comedy circuit in Hollywood”. Vogue Magazine described her as “a major voice on the national comedy scene.” NHK World Japan described Jiaoying Summers’s comedy as “effective at combating Anti Asian Hate”. Her 30-minute comedy special “Hot Girl Summers” is streaming on Peacock TV and Prime Video. Jiaoying is also an award-winning actress, CEO of Summers Group, a philanthropist empowering women and children and helping causes that touch Asian American communities. She is the owner of The Hollywood Comedy in Los Angeles and focuses on producing shows that promote representation in comedy.
Grab your tickets before they sell out!
- Joe Dombrowski, November 14th-16th
Joe Dombrowski, presented by Comedy Records, is having a full weekend residency at the Royal Theatre from November 14th to 16th.
Native Metro Detroiter, Joe Dombrowski took the world by storm in 2017 with a viral April Fools’ Day spelling test prank that landed him multiple appearances on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Don’t get it twisted though! It takes at least 20 years to be an overnight sensation! Joe has been doing stand-up comedy since he was eight years old in his third-grade talent show. He’s never stopped! Since Joe’s rise to fame, he has been traveling the globe with his stand-up comedy which often highlights his outrageous family dynamics and of course his time as a former elementary school teacher.
Joe has been featured as a headlining act at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal and the New York comedy festival and will also be headlining two shows in the 2024 Netflix Is a Joke Fest at The Hollywood Improv. Joe is also incredibly humbled to be hosting a monthly show at the world-famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles, CA beginning fall 2024. When he’s not getting creative on stages and screens, Joe spends his time in Seattle, Washington producing his podcast “Social Studies” where he recaps outlandish stories from fans all over the country.
- Liza Treyger , November 22nd
Liza Treyger is coming to the Royal Theatre on November 22nd!
Liza Treyger is a stand-up comic who most recently was seen recurring in the Netflix series SURVIVAL OF THE THICKEST. Additionally in film and television, she has appeared in
Jordan Peele’s NOPE, the Judd Apatow movie, THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND, and HBO’s PAUSE WITH SAM JAY. Liza has Netflix and Comedy Central half hour specials and has appeared on LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS, CHELSEA LATELY, @MIDNIGHT, LIGHTS OUT WITH DAVID SPADE, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING, HORACE AND PETE, and many more fun things. She and Kara Klenk co-host, THAT’S MESSED UP, a podcast about LAW & ORDER: SVU. What makes Liza most proud is she regularly performs at The Comedy Cellar and The Comedy Store.Tickets go on sale April 24th at 10am!
- Off Book: The Musical, December 10th
An exciting theatrical production is coming to the Royal Theatre on December 10th! OFF BOOK: The Improvised Musical.
Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino create a completely improvised musical in an attempt to combat the notion that musicals should be “carefully crafted” or “thought out at all.”
Zach Reino and Jessica McKenna are a versatile musical comedy duo. They wrote and composed music for the WGA award-winning Peacock Series Baking It starring Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler and Andy Samberg. The duo has also written songs and musical sketches for the hit animation show Rick and Morty, Party Over Here (a Fox sketch show produced by The Lonely Island), the Peacock series Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin, Buzzfeed, FunnyOrDie and Nickelodeon. Zach and Jess are currently developing TV and Film projects with Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions, David Wain (The State, Role Models, Wanderlust) and Elizabeth Banks’ Brownstone Productions. They also created and starred in Serious Music, a digital series for ABC.
Their improvised musical podcast Off Book has been praised by various online publications including Indie Wire, USA Today, Parade, AV Club and Splitsider and been featured at Comedy Central’s Clusterfest Festival, Moontower, the world renowned Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, and the Netflix Is A Joke Festival in LA. Zach and Jess were listed as one of Vulture’s “Comedians You Should and Will Know” and in early 2019 they released their first full-length musical comedy album The Calendar Album with Comedy Dynamics.
- Troy Hawke, April 11th
Look who’s back at the Royal Theatre April 11th, 2025!
Troy Hawke is the moustachioed motivator of the high street.
An erudite, homeschooled 1930s throwback, Troy is the founding (and currently sole) member of the Greeter’s Guild.
Hobbies include scrabble, conspiracy theories and calling Man City’s Erling Haaland a “Tremendous Nordic Meat Shield”.
Troy Hawke has twice been nominated for the Amused Moose Best Edinburgh Show award and was listed as GQ’s Top Ten Comedy Shows at the festival.
‘Undeniably funny’ – Chortle
‘Mad comic genius’ – The Scotsman
‘Near perfect character comedy’ – The New Current
- Urzila Carlson, May 23rd, 2025
Changed date alert!
Urzila Carlson will now be coming to the Royal Theatre on May 23rd, 2025.Urzila Carlson, has become one of the biggest names in comedy in Australia and New Zealand!
Her trademark deadpan humour and cheeky wit has seen her win fans the world over for her television appearances and live shows. A touring powerhouse, Urzila has toured the globe and sells out live shows year after year.
In the first half of 2023, Urzila embarked on a highly successful tour of her show It’s Personal throughout the UK, captivating sold-out audiences. Following this, she triumphantly returned to Australia with her new show, Just No! earning the prestigious People’s Choice Award for the second consecutive year at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Looking ahead to 2024, Urzila will embark on an Australian Tour with her new show Just Jokes in 2024 and appear at Netflix is a Joke Festival in LA in May.
Details about ticket sales will be announced!”