Modified On December 11, 2007
Will Ferrell will headline a short standup tour with what Variety calls “a trio of up-and-coming comics.” The February stunt will promote Ferrell’s new movie, “Semi-Pro,” and the online comedy venture, FunnyorDie.com.
Ferrell will hit the stage…
…with leading standups Zach Galifianakis, Demetri Martin and Nick Swardson. Event, dubbed “Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die Comedy Tour Presented by Semi-Pro,” will kick off Feb. 4 in Kansas City and serve as a promotional run-up to the Feb. 29 release of the pic.[…]
All of the comics involved in the FunnyorDie comedy tour have recently signed deals to produce TV programming for Comedy Central. Project was put together by CAA, which reps all of the talent involved.[…]
Tour will focus on East Coast and Midwest colleges, with stops in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Boston and North Carolina.
FunnyorDie tour is the latest example of Hollywood studios sending stars on the road to promote pics directly to consumers. John C. Reilly this week began touring the country in character as Dewey Cox in support of his pic “Walk Hard.”
Notable for many reasons. Not the least of which is the understanding that standup still works on college campuses.
Also notable that, in this day and age, a good old-fashioned personal appearance can’t be beat when it comes to promoting a movie. (Anyone who thought that the proliferation of broadband internet access would kill live performances or that personal appearances would be obliterated by holograms in one’s living room is mistaken.) Ferrell knows that the local media in all those markets will run short, lively commercials for his movie on the 11-o’clock newscast promoting both his movie and his website.
And one more thing: Can those three comics still be said to be “up and coming?” We’re pretty sure, they’re up and they’ve already come. (Just what are Josef Adalian’s criteria?!)