We are looking for the five minutes you are most proud of available by YouTube or Vimeo link (they can be unlisted). You can provide a longer tape but the review committee is only guaranteed to watch the first five minutes. Start the tape right when you start speaking on stage, avoid edits that jump in time, and submit a high quality recording to have the best chance of being selected for the festival.

Submissions are open from January 1st to May 15th, 2026. Responses from the panel will arrive by June 1st, 2026 via the email provided to let you know if you have made it into the festival.

We’re open to all kinds of comedic content! Whether it’s a sketch, parody, animation, or experimental comedy, we want to see it. While we encourage you to follow the general guidelines (shorts should be up to ~5 minutes long and focus on humor), there’s plenty of room for creative freedom.

Yes, you can! Each short will need its own submission form and fee, but we’d love to see all your ideas.

You need at least fifteen minutes of material you are proud of by Labor Day Weekend. You are expected to do fresh material at every spot you get. We guarantee at least three spots to every comedian who travels to be with us.

All selected digital shorts will be showcased during the festival, and attendees will vote for their favorite. The short with the most audience votes will win a cash prize of $250. The creator(s) don’t have to be present at the festival to collect the prize.

We guarantee each comedian at least three spots in the festival. These sets can range from 5 minutes to 20 minutes each.

To ensure the best experience for our audiences, we require distinct sets for each of the three nights of this event. Joke repetition is not cool due to significant audience overlap.

While we understand the desire for creative freedom, we expect a level of awareness and sensitivity in your material to avoid excessive offensiveness. If your material is based around excessive offensiveness you will not be invited back.

We don’t directly pay submission comedians. We cover lodging in Bend over the festival weekend for accepted comedians, provide ground transportation, offer one meal per day, and have lots of free goodies from local sponsors.

Early bird passes go on sale March 1st, 2026. Regular all access passes go on sale May 1st, 2026. Secure yours now!

Look at flights into RDM (Redmond Airport). It is about 20 minutes away from downtown Bend. We will help coordinate a way for you to get to Bend after landing if needed.

Comics are expected to be in Bend from Friday early afternoon until Sunday night of Labor Day Weekend. This is a requirement to receive lodging assistance and stage time.

Comics are welcome to fly in early and stay late to do fun Bend stuff.

Yes! We give free submissions to a limited number of comedians who are in need of financial assistance. Email us at info@bendcomedyfestival.com to receive a free submission code.