Aspen RooftopComedy Festival

Last updated

The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival was a stand-up comedy festival that was held annually in Aspen, Colorado on or around the Memorial Day Weekend since 2008. The festival is the concept of Roxane Davis and the City of Aspen. [1] Davis, a consultant and producer, created the partnership between rooftopcomedy.com and Aspen's Wheeler Opera House, a historic theater located in downtown Aspen.

Contents

The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival was designed to fill the gap left by HBO canceling the US Comedy Arts Festival, which had been held in Aspen from 1985–2007. HBO has since renamed the festival and relocated it to Las Vegas, Nevada. [2] 2008 marked the inaugural debut of the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival as a replacement to the former HBO event.

RooftopComedy.com brought the focus of the festival towards an underground talent base and an online media focus, and The Wheeler Opera House ensured that the festival transitioned to an event for the Aspen community by offering affordable tickets and local discounts on festival passes. Whereas the HBO/U.S. Comedy Arts Festival had evolved into primarily an industry event, the producers of the new festival committed to creating a community for developing unproven comics, as well as presenting comedy for a devoted live-comedy audience.

The festival ran for three editions, being followed in 2011 by the Aspen Laff Festival. [3] [4]

2008 festival details

Performers
Other Highlights

A cross-section of new media and comedy industry leaders discuss how the Internet is impacting the comedy business, and how comedians are harnessing new media strategies to further their careers. Participating Panelists are below. The discussion was moderated by RooftopComedy.

Awards were presented to comedians and those working in the field of online comedy who "are doing exciting, innovative and, yes, hilarious things." [5]

The Finals of the NCCC featured the top 4 students in the categories of Stand Up and Short Film from across the US competing for the title of Funniest College Student.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspen, Colorado</span> City in Colorado, United States

Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains' Sawatch Range and Elk Mountains, along the Roaring Fork River at an elevation just below 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level on the Western Slope, 11 miles (18 km) west of the Continental Divide. Aspen is now a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspen Music Festival and School</span> Music festival in the United States

The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado.

The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component called the Film Discovery Program.

Auggie Smith is an American comedian. His real first name is Kevin.

Rick Crom is an American actor, singer, comedian, lyricist, and composer. He has appeared in numerous television shows and specials, Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, as well as written several off-Broadway revues, and has 3 times been nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

<i>Monty Python Live at Aspen</i> American TV series or program

Monty Python Live at Aspen was a reunion show featuring the surviving members of the Monty Python team: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, appearing on stage together for the first time since their Hollywood Bowl shows in 1980. Filmed on 7 March 1998 at the Wheeler Opera House in Colorado as part of The US Comedy Arts Festival, it featured the five Pythons in an interview with host Robert Klein. The late Graham Chapman was also allegedly in attendance as his "ashes" were brought out in an urn with his portrait attached to the front, only to be knocked over by Terry Gilliam.

Derek and Simon: The Show is a 2007 web based series created by Derek Waters, Simon Helberg, and Bob Odenkirk, which aired on the website Super Deluxe. It went through several iterations and names, starting in 2005, before the 13 episode series came to fruition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Himesh Patel</span> British actor (born 1990)

Himesh Jitendra Patel is a British actor. He began his career portraying Tamwar Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2007–2016). This was followed by roles in the Channel 4 sitcom Damned (2016–2018) and the films Yesterday (2019) and Tenet (2020).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Piedmont</span> American writer and director

Matt Piedmont is an American film director and writer.

Dan Cummins is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host. His first comedy album, Revenge is Near, distributed by Warner Bros. Records, was ranked as one of the top 10 comedy CDs of 2009 by Punchline Magazine. His first hour-long special for Comedy Central, titled Crazy With A Capital F, premiered May 29, 2010. He was a co-host for The Playboy Morning Show and hosts multiple podcasts: Timesuck, since 2016; Scared to Death, with his wife Lynze, since 2019; and Is We Dumb with Joseph Paisley, which ran from 2020 to 2022.

<i>The Life & Times of Tim</i> Adult animated sitcom

The Life & Times of Tim is an American adult animated sitcom created by Steve Dildarian for HBO. It premiered on September 28, 2008. The series is about a hapless man in his mid-20s named Tim who lives in New York City with his girlfriend Amy. Throughout the series, Tim constantly finds himself in increasingly awkward situations in both his work and personal life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Braunger</span> American actor

Matthew Braunger is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. His most recent special Finally Live In Portland was launched by Comedy Dynamics in 2019. Outside of performing stand-up, Braunger is noted for being a cast member on MADtv during its final season in 2008–2009, numerous guest star roles, and numerous voice over roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Wood (comedian)</span> American comedian, producer and actor

Andrew "Andy" Wood is an American comedian and a founder/producer of Portland's Bridgetown Comedy Festival. He is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan currently residing in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshe Kasher</span> American comedian and writer (born 1979)

Mark Moshe Kasher is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in the Los Angeles area. He is the author of the 2012 memoir Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16. In 2009, iTunes named Kasher "Best New Comic" and his comedy album Everyone You Know Is Going to Die, and Then You Are! was ranked one of the top 20 comedy albums on iTunes that same year. He was also named "Comic to Watch in 2010" by Punchline Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheeler Opera House</span> 1887 historic building in Colorado, US

The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke that blends elements of the Romanesque Revival and Italianate architectural styles. In 1972 it became the first property in the city to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the second in Pitkin County. The upstairs auditorium hosts a number of events every year, ranging from nationally prominent music and comedy acts and some of the Aspen Music Festival's events to productions by local community groups.

Tim Harmston is a stand-up comedian from Minneapolis. He competed on Last Comic Standing in 2014, and has performed on The Late Show With David Letterman and Comedy Central's Live at Gotham. Star Tribune critic Jay Boller wrote that Harmston combines "the cadence of Brian Regan and the observational absurdism of Jim Gaffigan." He has released two albums on Stand Up! Records, The Most Bees Ever and The Whim of Tim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cole Stratton</span> American actor, comedian, producer (b. 1976)

Cole Stratton is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, writer and producer, best known as one of the Co-Founders of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival and the co-host of the Pop My Culture Podcast.

April Richardson is an American stand-up comedian. She was a round table regular on the television show Chelsea Lately and a frequent contestant on @midnight. She is from Atlanta, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridgetown Comedy Festival</span> Event in Portland, Oregon, United States

The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is a stand-up comedy festival located in the Hawthorne district of Portland, Oregon that took place every spring from 2008 to 2017, featuring standup comedy showcases, live podcasts, panel discussions and improv comedy. It was created in October 2007 by comedians Andy Wood and Matt Braunger and filmmaker Kimberly Brady.

References

  1. IMDB - Roxane Davis- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2211256/
  2. Oksenhorn, Stewart, "HBO pulls U.S. Comedy Arts Festival", The Aspen Times (http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070512/NEWS/70512001 Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine )
  3. "Wheeler Opera House :: Aspen Laff Festival". Archived from the original on 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
  4. "Aspen Laff Fest just for laughs? Nope - the Wheeler wants smarts, too | AspenTimes.com". www.aspentimes.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-23.
  5. the RooftopComedy Awards at The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival Archived June 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

39°11′21″N106°49′11″W / 39.18917°N 106.81972°W / 39.18917; -106.81972