Ljubljana - The Panč stand-up comedy festival starts tonight at Ljubljana Castle, as some of the biggest names in Slovenian stand-up will take to the stage on Friday and Saturday. The festival will host some international comedians as well, and conclude on 24 August.

The opening evening on Friday and the second festival evening on Saturday will feature performances by some of the most acknowledged Slovenian stand-up comedians, including Klemen Bučan, Lucija Čirović and Boštjan Gorenc - Pižama.

One of the festival's organisers, Andrej Težak - Tešky, will also take up the role of the moderator on Saturday evening. Sunday will be black humour night, while Monday and Tuesday will feature Ex-Yugo Night and International Night, respectively.

The Panč festival has been held at Ljubljana Castle in August since 2008. According to the festival organisers, it is the largest stand-up comedy festival in this part of Europe, with 29 comedians from 10 countries taking part this year.

"The programme promises to be fresh, despite the abundance of recognisable names, as some of the comedians have performed very little or not at all in the last two years, so they have had more than enough time to write and polish their jokes," the organisers told the newspaper Dnevnik on Friday.

They also pointed out that not unlike last year, the number of spectators will be very limited, as they want to make it possible for visitors to see the performances without wearing masks.