As part of an effort to include the entire Seattle area in its venues, the 37th annual Seattle International Comedy Competition (SICC) will be hosting one night of its preliminary round at 8 p.m. Saturday at Capps Club in Kenmore.

Club owner Mark Capps is hoping to bring a little more laughter to his venue in general, and said he hopes the SICC date can be a way of starting to have more comedy shows in Kenmore.

“It’s a great addition,” Ron Reid, SICC producer, said of Capps Club, which just opened earlier this year. “I’m hoping it will put the venue on the map. … It’s very exciting to have it there.”

The competition started Wednesday and runs through Nov. 27, at a variety of different venues. In addition to Seattle venues and Capps Club, other locations include the Kirkland Performance Center, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Skagit Casino Resort and the Admiral Theatre in Bremerton. The event includes 22 shows over 26 days at 18 venues.

“It’s world-class entertainment that’s coming to your town,” Reid said of the philosophy behind bringing SICC to different cities in the Seattle area.

In the first two weeks of the competition, the 32 contestants are split into two groups of 16. The first group will perform at five different venues (including Capps Club) this week before being dwindled down to five semi-finalists through scores given by the competition’s judges. The second group of 16 will perform at five different venues next week, with another five semi-finalists chosen from that group. All 10 semi-finalists will then perform at five venues from Nov. 16-20, when the five finalists will be named. Those five will then perform on Nov. 23 and 25-27 to determine the winner of the competition.

The comedians in the competition are chosen through an audition process, both through videos and in person. This year’s competitors are from the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom, with 10 of the 32 comedians coming from the Puget Sound area.

Reid said the competition typically draws an international audience as well, including attendees from Serbia and Australia at past shows.

“They’re going to see a comedy show that they could not see anywhere,” he said.

The tickets for the Capps Club show are $25 in advance or $30 at the door and can be purchased at cappsclub.com. The KPC show is scheduled for 8 p.m. Nov. 25; tickets are $40 and can be purchased at kpcenter.org. For more information about SICC, visit seattlecomedycompetition.org.