With scores of funny people plying their trade at bars, clubs and theaters, the city feels like a comedy festival every night. So why get excited about the annual New York Comedy Festival? Simple: Size matters. From Wednesday through Sunday, more than 200 comics will play more than 60 shows, including more major headliners in big rooms than at any other time of the year. The quantity of performances, large and small across the city, means a dizzyingly array of talent, and some fascinating story lines. Here are a few to keep an eye on.

HAS HANNIBAL BURESS CHANGED THE WAY WE LOOK AT BILL COSBY? When Eddie Murphy mocked Mr. Cosby in his 1987 concert movie, “Raw,” his jokes made the older comedian seem moralistic and old-fashioned. But a recent blistering joke by Mr. Buress about Mr. Cosby raised the stakes, providing a charged backdrop for their shows on back-to-back nights this weekend.

First, some background: Mr. Cosby, the 77-year-old comedy legend, has been accused of sexual abuse by several women since a civil suit was brought against him in 2005 and later settled. Mr. Cosby has denied wrongdoing.

Image Hannibal Buress Credit... Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Criticism of Mr. Cosby, who has been making a comeback of sorts with a new Comedy Central special last fall and an NBC pilot in the works, had been relatively muted (though Gawker and other outlets raised questions this year), and he has recently been warmly received on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Colbert Report.”