Great American Comedy Festival

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on April 28th, 2009

They’re holding it (and the competition) in Johnny Carson’s hometown of Norfolk, NE, in June. We snagged the list of competitors from their website:

Keith Alberstadt, New York City
Kermet Apio, Seattle
Aaron Aryanpur, Dallas
Ahmed Bharoocha, Smithfield, R.I.
Larry “Bubbles” Brown, San Francisco
Jessi Campbell, Minneapolis
Jesse Case, Seattle
Nhan Du, West Palm Beach, Florida
Pat Dixon, New York City
Jon Fisch, New York City
Tim Harmston, Minneapolis
Joe Larson, New York City
Ryan Lowery, Colorado Springs
Kumail Nanjiani, New York City
Michael Palascak, Orland Park, Ill.
Rudy Rush, Dallas
Tom Steffen, Minneapolis
Mike Vecchione, New York City
Chris Voth, Denver
Darlene Westgor, St. Paul, Minn.
Joe Wong, Boston
Andy Woodhull, Chicago
Jeff Wozer, Denver
Dwight York, Minneapolis

The 24 comedians will be split up so that six perform at each of the four preliminary rounds of competition at the festival on Wednesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Thursday, June 18, at the same times.

The top two from each of the four preliminary rounds advance to the finals of the competition set for Friday, June 19, which will be hosted by Brill.

The judges for the competition will include David Brenner, who will be the headliner for the festival’s gala finale on Saturday, June 20; Bill Dana, the longtime comedian writer and producer who will receive the festival’s “Comedy Legend” award; Wende Curtis, owner of the Comedy Works club in Denver; Chris Mazzilli, owner of The Gotham comedy club in New York City; and Jackie Miller-Knobbe of Falls City, a talent agent for the Agency for Performing Arts in Los Angeles.