The Comedy Theatre on the corner of Exhibition and Lonsdale Streets, started its life in 1855 as Coppin's Olympic Theatre, a prefabricated wrought iron theatre made in Manchester, England. It was thus nicknamed 'The Old Iron Pot' and then was abandoned in 1894. It was then bought by one of the biggest theatre companies in the world, J.C. Wiliamsons in 1913.

It was briefly used as a film studio and then a scenery dock for Her Majesty's Theatre across the road. They then decided to demolish it and it reopened as The Comedy Theatre in 1928. Its exterior replicates a Florentine palace and the interior is in the Spanish-Renaissance style.

Designed for more intimate, smaller scale musical theatre productions. Some of the more notable of which in its beginnings were Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll and A Streetcar Named Desire. In its more recent years the Comedy Theatre has actually been used for comedy shows including the Melbourne International Comedy festival, ranging from 'Keating! The Musical', Wil Anderson and Tom Ballard to dave Huges.

It has hosted such notables as Googie Withers, Frank Harvey, Nellie Stewart, John MacCallum and Sir Ian McKellen. It has presented lively and fun loving productions such as Calendar Girls, Rock Of Ages, The Rocky Horror Show, Dawn French and Calamity Jane.