Thereâs a new comedy festival in town: the Pacific Crest Comedy Fest (PCCF). And if youâre like me, youâre wondering, âWhat the hell is a Pacific Crest?â And also, whatâs this fest about?
âWe named it after the Pacific Crest Trail,â says Kirsten Kuppenbender, one of the festivalâs organizers. âYou may have read the book Wild? Inspired by my life?â Wild was written by another local, Cheryl Strayed, but Kuppenbender is a comedian (a founding member of Lez Stand-Up) so she gives a lot of joke answers at the PCCF meeting Iâve attended to interview the festivalâs trio of organizers. The other two are Siren Theater owner Shelley McLendon and former Bridgetown organizer Randi Wigginton.
âI donât think we got into it that far,â McLendon says, about the festival name.
âWe got a little bit of a pun rhyme in there and that was that,â Kuppenbender agrees.
Getting into it, the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service says the PCT âruns along the high crests of the Sierra and Cascades mountain ranges.â So âPacific Crestâ is a term for the highest parts of the West Coast mountain ranges. Thatâs actually a great metaphor for a fest which seems to feature every local stand-up comedy show that I like, my favorite comedians who moved away, and a nice assortment of promising up-and-comers.
McLendon diplomatically steers away from my best of Portland label, saying, âThere are lots of things we werenât able to include that are also the best of Portland.â
âItâs a sampler platter.â Wigginton says.
âItâs a taster,â McLendon agrees. This seems as good a time as any to mention that the Siren Theater just added Hot Pockets to their menu.
PCCF will be wholly contained at The Siren, with shows happening in both their main hall and the theaterâs upstairs loft. The Sirenâs loft used to be Kickstand Comedy, before they moved to their NW Broadway location, so although the Siren has been home to festivals like Sketchfest, this will be the first time theyâve been able to use both stages for programming.
If youâre one of the festivalâs weekend passholders, segueing between shows should be easy. âPassholders can go wherever the fuck they want.â Kuppenbender says. âAnd even if you arenât a passholder, you can still go to one show and then decide to go to a different show. Youâd just have to buy a ticket.â McLendon adds that the passes donât include admission to the Girls Gone Mild brunch show (Sun Nov 10, 11 am) because that show comes with waffles.
Itâs definitely tempting to hop around between shows at the PCCF because the line-up is bonkers quality: For instance, Caitlin Weierhauser and Amy Miller are reprising their Uncle Cait & Aunt Amy Holiday Show (Sat Nov 9, 8 pm) as a road show. That means theyâre touring up from LA, but I bet if you brought antiques, theyâd give appraising a shot. And as I mentioned before, all my favorite local shows are part of the festivalâs programming: Rants Off/Dance Off (Sat Nov 9, 10 pm), Minority Retort (Fri Nov 8, 8 pm), Earthquake Hurricane (Thurs Nov 7, 7 pm), and the Mercuryâs I, Anonymous Show (Sat Nov 9, 6 pm)âhosted by Kate Murphy with guests Weierhauser, Bri Pruett, and Steven Wilber. Weierhauser and Pruett both used to be I, Anon hosts so that one should be pretty spicy!
Although many are hailing PCCF as âthe successor to Bridgetownâ (oops, I think that was us), especially due to Wiggintonâs involvement (sheâs also helped organize High Plains Comedy Fest and LA Riot Comedy Fest), the team disagrees.
âWeâve gotten that question a few times,â McLendon says. ââAre you trying to replace Bridgetown?â But how could we? Nor do we want to. We hope they come back. The things weâre trying to do with PCCF are in part inspired by the caliber of Bridgetown. Thereâs so much talent in Portland. And people want to see it, so why not do this?â