- Pat Moran
- Funches!
This is the last you’ll hear from me about the Bridgetown Comedy Fest, I promise. Just wanted to throw in a few final notes:
• Best Bridgetown yet? I think so. Best weekend of the year? Too soon to say, but Pickathon’s gonna need to step up its game.
• The live recording of Janet Varney’s JV Club podcast on Sunday afternoon was a festival highlight for me. Janet Varney, Natasha Leggero, and Karen Kilgariff are three fucking hilarious women; hearing them get a little personal (while remaining hilarious!) was a total treat.
• A few years ago at Bridgetown, when improvisers from Curious Comedy opened for the great improv troupe Theme Park, I was a little embarrassed for our locals. This year, when improvisers from Curious once again opened for Theme Park—our locals acquitted themselves quite well! And I was proud. (And of course, Theme Park’s Cole Stratton and Janet Varney are two of the most hilarious people ever.)
• I drank my final PBR of the festival (jesus christ I drank a lot of PBR last weekend) at the White Owl show on Sunday, with a one-liner battle between Baron Vaughn and the charming, ubiquitous Peter Serafinowicz, and a surprise set from Ron Funches. It was a great way to end a great weekend.
How did everyone else feel about this year? Was your pass worth the money? Do you wish you’d gone, or would you go again? What do you regret missing—or regret seeing?
We’ve got a ton of festival photos right over here. After the jump, a Gallagher-themed Bridgetown diary comic from local standup Andie Main.
It was fun seeing you at the closing show. But it definitely seemed like you were ready for the weekend to be over. I stuck around the White Owl until about 2 AM. It turned out to be a lot of fun, just getting the perspective of traveling comics (most of whom were competing over groupies at that point).
I had a lot of fun this weekend. The only truly disappointing set was the middle show at the Baghdad on Friday night. I think the combination of that room, an obviously irritable crowd and jetlagged performers made it a bit rough. I really enjoyed Caitlin Gill, saw her twice. Pretty funny.
Loved the dueling one-liners.
My final show was the 9:00 at the Hollywood Theatre. It was… ok. Obviously the space is too big, and that was made worse by the relatively tiny Sunday night crowd. I went in knowing this, but wanted to see Todd Glass. And guess who didn’t show? Anyone know what’s up with that?
Hard to say if it was better than last, since last year had Matt Besser, Maria Bamford, Jon Glaser, Brett Gelman, Pete Holmes, and a shitload more of absolutely incredible comedians.
At the same time, I thought this year’s was a lot better balanced – most of the people I’d never heard of were a lot more funny than last year’s.
The Bagdad closing show was a terrifically balanced show – the “classic” stand-up style of Phoebe Robinson against the bizarre story-telling of David Dineen-Porter, the manic energy of Baron Vaughn against the passive, almost lucid dream state of Alice Wetterlund, the jokes with six layered punchlines in 10 seconds from Myq Kaplan followed by the 8 jokes in 5 minutes of Ron Funches, all tied together with Braunger, Thune, and Reggie Watts. It was an incredible display of the variety in stand-up comedy today and every one of them was hilarious.
Honestly, I had the most fun I’d had on a weekend in ages. The festival was just exactly what I needed. I also think Tanker is such a great idea. My only regret? That some of the best shows were at the same times at different venues so I couldn’t see some people I really wanted to. All I can say is that I am so proud to live in a city that hosted such an awesome, non-pretentious event. See you next year!