MORE than 100,000 tickets are to go on sale for this year's Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

Well-known comedy stars such as Jimmy Carr, Harry Hill, Mark Thomas, and Paul Merton feature in the programme alongside Scottish comics including Dorothy Paul, Jerry Sadowitz and Fred MacAulay.

The festival, now in its 11th year, will feature 411 shows at 46 venues from March 14 to 31.

The programme, as well as noted stand-ups, also contains theatre, cinema, and site-specific new work.

The King's Theatre will stage a comedy gala for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice featuring Karen Dunbar, Fred MacAulay, Des Mclean, Des Clarke and Michelle McManus.

The festival is also teaming up with the Sunday Herald to present a discussion about the effect of Scottish independence on Scottish comedy. The Joking Apart session will see the Sunday Herald's Iain Macwhirter chair a panel including Susan Calman, Makar Liz Lochhead, and Bruce Morton.

Site-specific shows include Billy Kirkwood in a tattoo parlour, "underground comedy" at St Enoch subway station, and Julia Sutherland at Ibrox Library.

Tommy Sheppard, the director of the festival organiser's, the Scottish Comedy Agency, said:"This year, a large-scale campaign takes place to raise awareness of the festival in London and other areas, and Glasgow is set to welcome visitors in search of a laugh from all over the world."