Do cats laugh? Do ginger toms get the giggles, or tabbies get rib-tickled? Probably not, but then they're physically unable to purchase live comedy tickets, which is particularly ironic in Kilkenny on the first weekend of June.

Yes, the legendary Cat Laughs is back, mocking the local moggies with a stellar line-up of stand-up, improv and unique-to-this-festival events. Kilkenny, in South-East Ireland, becomes the undisputed epicentre of world comedy over the Bank Holiday weekend, and there's a suitably varied international feel to Cat Laughs 2016.

The festival's first Russian is on board - the hotly-tipped Igor Meerson - while Georgia, USA's Reginald D Hunter will be performing his provocative new show, Aluminium Negro. Hunter is sharing a pretty epic bill with the magnificent Canadian rock 'n' roll ranter Glenn Wool, while another couple of highly-acclaimed North Americans, Rich Hall and Dom Irrera, make welcome Kilkenny returns; the latter hosts his homely interview hour, Uncle Dom's Fireside Chat.

Some notable Aussies are in town too. Bec Hill - currently hosting a superhero-based chat show on Sky - will be bringing her super-fun Pun Run, and Adam Hills stops by before jetting off to host The Last Leg, live from the Paralympics in Rio. Nice gigs, those.

Brits? They've got Brits. One of the UK's most freakily prolific gagsmiths, Adam Hess, makes his debut Cat Laughs appearance. Shazia Mirza performs her extraordinary show The Kardashians Made Me Do It! (read more about that here) while also making the short flight from blighty are TV and West End star Jason Manford (pictured) and the increasingly in-demand Joe Lycett, Tiff Stevenson, Nish Kumar and James Acaster.

Irish comics? Well obviously, and there's a bit of air-miles action here too, as Maeve Higgins jets back from New York for her first home-soil gigs for a while, having also hosted comedy workshops in Iraq. Tiny-keyboard wizard David O'Doherty will be presenting Dangerology seminars (as well as more traditional DOD gigs) based on his popular books with Chris Judge, while also driving/flying over are the resurgent Sean Hughes, ever-resourceful Andrew Maxwell, effervescent Jason Byrne, the endearingly brilliant Eleanor Tiernan, plus local favourites Kevin Gildea (Father Ted), Deirdre O'Kane (Moone Boy), YouTube stars Foil, Arms & Hog, and loads more. Honestly, loads.

Other stuff? Oodles of it. There's Cat Laughs Goes to the Races, in which a bunch of comics will attempt to cover live horse racing at Gowran Park Racecourse; a couple of International All-Stars Improv bouts featuring Comedy Store veterans such as Ian Coppinger, Andy Smart and Steve Frost; and an Ireland vs Rest of the World football match that should make Euro 2016 look like Soccer Tots.

Quite a line-up, then. And pity the poor cats. Although it's probably a good job they can't buy comedy tickets really: no comic likes to see a moody fecker in the front row, particularly one licking his own undercarriage.

The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival 2016 runs from the 2nd to 6th June. All tickets are on sale now from www.thecatlaughs.com

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