I've been really excited this year about the way that comedy has invaded the rock festival circuit. Over the last couple of weeks, however, a little whiff of disillusion has set in. I've recently been to both the Mighty Boosh Festival and last week's Latitude Festival and while the all-round line-ups have been superb, the events have not been the best showcases for stand-up.

The al fresco organisers have simply underestimated the popularity of comedy. At Latitude the comedy events took place in a tent, but I can't tell you the capacity because in the three days I was there I could never even get into it. The promoters had positioned a couple of plasma screen TVs outside, but this was a pretty feeble concession compared to the mega-screens next to the main music stage which were so big you could see Nick Cave's individual chest hairs.

On Saturday Ross Noble responded by organising a 3000-strong audience conga around the Latitude field, ending at a vegan stall where they demanded meaty sausages en masse. Unfortunately I'd given up trying to get into the tent by then. Noble had had a similar overcrowding issue at the Boosh-fest, where the modest comedy tent lurked at the edge of the huge Kentish field like an embarrassing sibling.

At another point at Latitude I went to see the fairly unknown rising star Jon Richardson, but the venue was already unfeesibly rammed because Bill Bailey was the next act on. On Sunday morning I thought I'd cracked it by turning up at noon for Russell Kane when the show started. No luck. The crowds had already gathered to laugh at his yobby-intellectual gagsmithery while they enjoyed a late breakfast.

On the positive side, Latitude's poetry tent was a great place to dip into. One could usually get inside and poetry lends itself to quick bites between larger cultural meals. There were some awful acts, but lots of good ones too. I particularly warmed to Tim Turnbull, whose political rhymes and Carry On innuendo were truly so bad they were brilliant. Baby-faced regular host Luke Wright was impressive too, despite losing his voice halfway. Oh, and Sarah Bennetto's gloomy teenage poetry was cringemakingly hilarious.

The Mighty Boosh festival was an intriguing adventure and Latitude had enough high points to warrant its popularity. Let's just hope it doesn't become a victim of its own success and turn into a multi-genred Glastonbury-type monster. It is great to see comedy doing so well and hopefully next year Latitude will respond by putting such strong acts on a bigger stage. After all, there is not much point in booking brilliant crowd-pulling non-musical events if you can't get into them.