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While the omens for the festival industry as a whole may not be great, comedy seems to be doing very well out of what's left. We've hand-picked the ten best festivals with a comedy component that are still running across a whole range of categories. And to check out when which festivals are happening where, just check our handy festival clash calendar.

 

Month-long celebration of cabaret, mime, puppetry and comedy, held up in Enfield. You can find out more in our feature over here.

 

Had enough of James and the Saw Doctors? Who could blame you? This may be a small and eclectic comedy distraction from the music stages, but it's a solid one: Jarred Christmas, Tony Law (for whom Wychwood would probably win alone), and the wide-eyed joys of keen young things Matt Richardson and troubadour Carly Smallman.

 

Scipmylo might have fallen over and died, but one Olympics fest is still standing: London 2012 is stunningly misnamed and equally diverse, taking Tim Minchin to perform in the Eden Centre, a boatload of comedians from London to Edinburgh, and a range of nights celebrating minority comedy. 

 

The risk with a lot of festivals in smaller cities is that they will spread their shows too thin, but Newbury seems to have gone in the opposite direction, providing killer double bills: the panel show combo of Josh Widdicombe and Seann Walsh; Richard Herring and Catie Wilkins; Celia Pacquola and Vikki Stone; and the leftfield combo of Daniel Simonsen with Doctor Brown. These would all be fine acts by themselves but doubling up makes it great value.

 

Sensibly-constructed and well thought out line-up, bringing together a popular new act competition; solid mid-tier names like Joel Dommett, Elis James and Matthew Crosby at the Chapter Arts Centre; and big names like Lucy Porter, Patrick Monahan at the St David's Centre.

 

This will be Balham Comedy Festival's first year, but they're not kidding around. Held at the Bedford pub, the guys at Banana Cabaret have pulled in some huge names. Harry Hill has already added a second show due to high demand; Al Murray will feel right at home in the pub venue; and the deep roots of the club in London's comedy scene are on show with names like Ardal O'Hanlon, Milton Jones, Ed Byrne and Marcus Brigstocke on the bill. Throw in a few Edinburgh previews and we might well take up residence there the whole weekend. (See also: the weeklong stellar fest in Ealing a week later...) 

 

Think 'Latitude with a quieter Radio 4 vibe'. The excellent Comedy Club 4 Kids are at Larmer Tree, which should start the 'excellent family event' siren. But let's throw some more names in: Tim Minchin, Greg Davies, Milton Jones, The Horne Section, with a bit of cabaret from Marcel Lucont later on. It is no surprise that Larmer Tree often sells out, so be sure to book ahead...

 

One of the few huge festivals still running this summer, Latitude are on form: they're touting Jack Dee and the Infinite Monkey Cage (complete with Robin Ince, Brian Cox and Al Murray) as the main events. But as is often the case at Latitude, it's away from the comedy stage that the most interesting stuff is going on: next door in the cabaret tent you'll find a sketch melange of Cardinal Burns, Pappy's, Idiots of Ants, Sheeps, Wittank and Late Night Gimp Fight.

 

One of the most established boutique festivals around, Green Man is piling up music that will sound great in a green and leafy sort of place (the Walkman, Yann Tiersen) with a collection of comedians who will sooth your mind or make it think: that includes Adam Buxton delivering BUG, Rubber Bandits, Zoe Lyons, Holly Walsh, John-Luke Roberts, Delete the Banjax, and weirdly stuck on the end of the list, Josie Long. Robin Ince is also here, as if neither he nor Tim Minchin are at a comedy festival at any point of the summer, THE WORLD WILL END.

 

Standard stand-up in a field is fine, but isn't it much better with a thin academic overlay? (Yes, yes it is.) The usual PLEB fellows are here, with Nish Kumar, Ben Target and Matthew Highton leading events. Read up on their first venture, at the Leeds Laughter Lines, here.