The UK and Ireland's leading men in comedy commissioning have touched down in Northern Ireland in their latest bid to capture comedy gold.

Northern Ireland - best known these days for it's unique sense of humour - has certainly produced some comedy geniuses in the past with the likes of Frank Carson, Jimmy Cricket and more recently Patrick Kielty, Jimeoin and Colin Murphy.

However as the slow economy hits many were it hurts, it seems that laughter is truly the best medicine and there has never been a better time for belly laughs.

With that in mind, Northern Ireland Screen hosted a free comedy workshop, titled 'Jest In Time', on Friday at Queens Film Theatre.

This event was a unique opportunity for local talent to meet the Kings of comedy face to face and gain valuable direction in comedy writing and production.

The sell out seminar focused on accessing and targeting comedy commissioning, current and upcoming opportunities for comedy commissioning, and how the comedy commissioning processes work within the broadcasters.

The one-off workshop, which took the form of a panel event, was moderated by Stuart Kemp, European Editor of The Hollywood Reporter.

Professionals on the panel included: Pete Thornton, Commissioning Editor of Comedy Central, Kristian Smith, Executive Editor of Comedy Commissioning at BBC Comedy, Eddie Doyle, Commissioning Editor at RTE Entertainment and Music, Sam Ward, Commissioning Editor at Sky Comedy, and Shane Allen, Head of Comedy at C4.

(BMcN/BMcC)