| Portland Queer Comedy Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Portland, Oregon |
| Inaugurated | 2017 |
| Founders | Belinda Carroll, Andy Barrett |
The Portland Queer Comedy Festival is an annual five-day comedy festival that takes place in Portland, Oregon. [1] [2] [3] Multiple venues are used throughout the festival's stretch, and upwards of 50 comedians perform. [4] [5] [6] Comics such as Bruce Villanch, Irene Tu, Mary Jane French, Danielle Radford, [7] Guy Branum, [8] Jeffery Jay, [9] [10] Corina Lucas, [11] Scott Thompson, [12] and James Adomian have participated. [13] [14] [15] Drag queens such as Valerie DeVille and Bolivia Carmicheals have hosted bingo games as part of the fest. [16]
The festival was founded in 2017 by comedian Belinda Carroll [17] [18] and entertainment venue owner Andy Barrett, both queer activists. [19] [20] [21] [22]
The fest includes traditional standup showcases, industry panels, podcasts, drag bingo, parody game shows, and strip shows. [23] [24] [25]
Peterson Toscano is a playwright, actor, Bible scholar, blogger, podcaster, advocate against global warming, and gay rights activist. Toscano spent nearly two decades undergoing ex-gay treatment and conversion therapy before accepting his sexual orientation and coming out as a gay man. He has since shared his experiences internationally through various media outlets, especially plays. His talks and performances use comedy and storytelling to explore LGBTQ issues, religion, and climate change.
Matthew Glave is an American actor best known for his recurring roles in the television shows Picket Fences, ER, Charmed, Stargate SG-1, Army Wives, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, Better Things and Angie Tribeca. His best known films are The Wedding Singer, Baby's Day Out, Safety and Funny Story.
Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staff of in-house writers, producers and directors, and occasionally from a number of famous contributors including Judd Apatow, James Franco and Norm Macdonald. The associated production company continues to make TV shows including truTV's Billy on the Street, Comedy Central's @midnight and Zach Galifianakis' web series Between Two Ferns.
James Adomian is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and impressionist. He is best known for his work on Comedy Bang! Bang!, Chapo Trap House, Last Comic Standing, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson where he impersonated President George W. Bush until 2009, and for portraying Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Trump vs. Bernie tour. He voices Talking Ben in the Talking Tom and Friends animated series.
Ophira Eisenberg is a Canadian American comedian, writer, and actress. She is from Calgary, Alberta. She has been living in New York City since 2001 and obtained American citizenship in April 2021.
Myq Kaplan is an American stand-up comedian. Born Michael Kaplan in Livingston, New Jersey, he is based in Boston and New York City.
Guy Montgomery is a comedian from New Zealand. He is known for his panel game show Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, which he began as a web series before becoming a TV series, for +HR=E in New Zealand, and later, adapted to a slightly higher budget Australian version for the ABC. He won the Fred Award in 2023.
Funny Story is a 2018 tragicomedy film, directed by Michael J. Gallagher and co-written by Gallagher and Steve Greene. It stars Matthew Glave, Emily Bett Rickards and Jana Winternitz. The film premiered as an official selection at the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival on January 21, 2018.
Holocene is a music venue and nightclub in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The venue, which opened in June 2003, is a former auto-parts warehouse with an industrial, modern interior. Holocene hosts a variety of events, and was named the city's "Best Place to Dance" by Willamette Week readers in 2017.
Spare Room Restaurant and Lounge, or simply The Spare Room, is a dive bar, restaurant, and entertainment venue in northeast Portland, Oregon, United States.
Dana Goldberg is an American comedian. She is especially known in the gay community, as Goldberg herself is gay. She is a weekly guest on The Stephanie Miller Show on SiriusXM and hosts her own podcast, Out in Left Field With Dana Goldberg on Advocate.com. She hosts an annual show in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2013, she was named a finalist in the Advocate's Stand Out: The National Queer Comedy Search. In 2017, she hosted the Los Angeles Resist March. Also in 2017, she performed at Trevor Live in New York City on a bill featuring John Oliver and Imagine Dragons. In 2019, she spoke at Lambda Legal's annual National Liberty Awards. In television, Goldberg has appeared on LOGO with her comedy special One Night Stand Up: Episode 4, filmed at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall.
Belinda Carroll is an American standup comedian, writer, activist, actress, and singer. She is the founder of the Portland Queer Comedy Festival, organizer of the Portland Dyke March, and is a co-organizer as well as date auction host and fundraiser emcee of the Butch Voices Portland Regional Conference.
Irene Tu is an American comedian, actor, and writer. She has appeared at comedy festivals such as SF Sketchfest, the Portland Queer Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and Comedy Central's Clusterfest, and on shows such as Take My Wife and Funny How? In 2016, she was named one of KQED's Women to Watch and SFist listed her as one of the Bay Area's 11 Best Stand Up Comics. In 2017, the San Francisco Chronicle dubbed her as an "artist on the brink of fame". In 2019, Vulture by New York Magazine placed her on their list The Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2019, tracking "23 comics that industry insiders are watching closely". The same year, SFist listed her as one of 13 San Francisco Standup Comedians to Go See Now.
Karinda Dobbins is an American comedian. She co-produces the monthly comedy show The Resistance! alongside Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, has regularly opened for W. Kamau Bell, and additionally opened for Trevor Noah, Gina Yashere, Michelle Wolf, and Dave Chappelle. She has performed at festivals such as the Desi Comedy Fest, the Portland Queer Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and Comedy Central's Colossal Clusterfest. In 2019, SFist named her one of their 13 San Francisco Standup Comedians to Go See Now.
Straight Up is a 2019 independent film written, produced, and directed by James Sweeney. Sweeney stars in the film with Katie Findlay, Dana Drori, James Scully, Tracie Thoms, Betsy Brandt, and Randall Park. The film premiered July 23, 2019 at Outfest, with limited distribution by Strand Releasing beginning February 28, 2020.
Rachel Anne Sennott is an American comedian, actress and screenwriter. After training at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, she began her career on the New York City open mic scene with a regular gig on It's A Guy Thing. She later co-developed two web series for Comedy Central.
Local Lounge was a gay bar in Portland, Oregon, operating from 2010 to 2021.
Dig a Pony (DAP) was a bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Named after the Beatles' song of the same name, the business opened in mid 2011. Dig a Pony closed in June 2022, following an ownership change.
Flawless Shade is the stage name of Tajh Jordan, an American drag performer and make-up artist based in Portland, Oregon. A former Miss Gay Oregon, Flawless Shade has been featured in campaigns by Adidas, GLAAD, and Top Level Design.
Pepper Pepper, also known as Kaj-anne Pepper, is a drag queen, performance artist, and choreographer based in Portland, Oregon.
