Blagues à Part

The first major humor festival in Touraine

Launched in October 2022, Blagues à Part (stylized Blagues [à part]) is the first major humor festival in the Tours metropolis. Organized by the city of Joué-lès-Tours in partnership with AZ Prod, this annual event has quickly established itself as a highlight of the cultural season in Indre-et-Loire. Each edition brings together top comedians, emerging young talents, and improvisation troupes for several evenings of laughter and discovery.

Espace Malraux, a major cultural venue

The festival takes place at the Espace Malraux, a major cultural facility in Joué-lès-Tours located in the Parc des Bretonnières. This versatile performance hall, with a capacity of several hundred seats, hosts a varied program of live performances throughout the year. For Blagues à Part, it transforms into a true temple of laughter, with a main stage for headliners and a cabaret space for more intimate formats.

Headliners and discoveries

Since its creation, the festival has hosted renowned comedians. The first edition (2022) set the tone with an ambitious program and a humor springboard open to young talents. The 2nd edition (2023) featured Stéphane Guillon, Aymeric Lompret, and Guillaume Meurice. The 3rd edition (2024) continued this momentum with David Castello-Lopes, Véronique Gallo, Arnaud Démanche, Panayotis Pascot, and an improvisation match between Touraine and Quebec. The 2025 edition notably programmed Pierre-Emmanuel Barré.

Improvisation at the heart of the festival

Each edition of Blagues à Part gives a prominent place to improvisation. The Ligue d'Improvisation de Touraine hosts evenings by offering improvisation cabarets and matches featuring local and guest improvisers. In 2024, a Touraine-Quebec improvisation match added an international dimension to the festival, strengthening French-speaking ties around humor.

A growing festival

In just four editions, Blagues à Part has forged a strong identity in the Touraine cultural landscape. The festival continues to grow by offering increasingly ambitious programs, combining one-man shows, stand-up, sketches, improvisation, and musical humor, to the great delight of an ever-growing and loyal audience.