The performance displayed some of the best acts which will occupy the town's stages and streets for the next 11 days of the Dunedin Fringe Festival.
The show was opened by MCs former Green MP Metiria Turei and comedian Te Radar.
Festival director Gareth McMillan then took centre stage and introduced the acts for the week ahead.
He then built excitement in the crowd by introducing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, before deflating them slightly by instead playing a video of comedian and imitator Tom Sainsbury assuming her character.
The stage was filled, one after the other, by dozens of comedians, musicians, dancers and spoken-word poets from various Fringe shows.
Most of the acts found a welcoming audience among the nearly-filled town hall.
Even the one or two acts which did not quite connect with the mainstream audience found their excited group of niche fans in the corners.
