Comedians from around the world are arriving in Kilkenny for the Cat Laughs Festival which began last night and continues until Monday.
The event, now in its 13th year, features over 70 performers at 15 venues. Organisers say that extra performances have been added to cope with demand from the 30,0000 visitors expected to attend.
Motorists travelling to the festival from Dublin this evening should allow extra time for their journeys as major roadworks outside Carlow and on the Kilkenny ring road may cause significant delays.
Des Bishop, Tommy Tiernan, Dara O'Briain, Jason Byrne and Ardal O'Hanlon are among the leading Irish comedians who will perform.
Overseas performers from Britain, the US and Australia include a number of comedians making their "festival debut" such as the Iranian/British female comedian Shappi Khorsandi and Scotland's Craig Hill, who has achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival.
Paul Merton, who appears on the BBC television show Have I Got News For Youwill present a show called Silent Clownsfeaturing clips from the 1920s comedy classic films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and other Hollywood stars.
A spokeswoman said "the festival is almost sold out but there are tickets still available across the weekend". These can be purchased from the box office on Parliament Street.
Most of the performances take place in the city's pubs, which will close at 1.30am.