Coming to South Beach? There will be Fun and Laughter for all!

South Beach will be filled with laughter as the 2nd Annual South Beach Comedy Festival kicks off its four day laugh-fest on Wednesday and CBS4 is proud to be the official South Florida media sponsor.

Last year’s debut was such a hit, it came back with headliners such as Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Margaret Cho, Lisa Lampanelli, Artie Lange, Jim Breuer, Roseanne Barr and Andrew Dice Clay, to name just a few.

''Last year's event was a huge success,'' said Raúl Mateu, senior vice president of William Morris Agency in Miami and a key organizer. “We sold tickets in over 34 states.''

Comedy Central is also returning as the event's media partner after seeing that the festival worked as a brand enhancer, said Mitch Fried, senior vice president of promotion marketing for the cable network.

In addition to the headlining performances, The South Beach Comedy Festival held an open call at The Improv Comedy Club in Coconut Grove for aspiring comedians to win a chance to perform at the festival on the Free Comedy Stage on Lincoln Road.

The finalists of the open call could be seen on CBS4.COM where viewers had the opportunity to vote on a winner and those results are still being tabulated.

Last year’s winner, Flip Schultz, went on to receive an offer to appear on Comedy Central’s multi-platform series “Live At Gotham” after performing at the festival and received further national recognition as one of the finalists on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”.

In addition, South Beach Comedy Festival and Comedy Central have joined forces with 20th Century Fox for the festival’s first movie partnership: Fox’s February 23 release “Reno 911: Miami!” will receive a special advance screening on Thursday, January 18. The entire principal cast of the film will be on hand after the screening for an exclusive Q&A with the festival audience.

"This year’s festival will be bigger and better than last year. The same great concept, with some fun new additions,” said Jon Stoll, Fantasma Productions President. “We expect this to be a great event for local audiences as well as for people who want to fly in for a great weekend.”

The festival performances will take place throughout South Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theatre, The Lincoln Theater, and The Colony Theater, plus a free stage on Lincoln Road.

Tickets for the four-day laugh fest, which takes place January 17th – 20th, went on sale in November.

You can get tickets through all Ticketmaster outlets, The Jackie Gleason Theatre box office, southbeachcomedyfestival.com, comedycentral.com or (305) 358-5885.

Here is list of the acts and performance days

Wednesday January 17, 2007
Andrew Dice Clay
Greg Giraldo
Mike Birbiglia
Robert Schimmel

Thursday January 18, 2007
Mike Epps with Special Guests Kenny Howell & Dominque
Roseanne Barr
Hal Sparks

Friday January 19, 2007
Jon Stewart
Jim Breuer
Raul Gonzalez
Margaret Cho Presents "The Sensuous Woman"

Saturday January 20, 2007
Bill Maher
Artie Lange
Lisa Lampanelli