THE NASHVILLE COMEDY FESTIVAL – 2022
Comedy takes over Music City
Today, April 18th the Nashville Comedy Festival returns and it’s a fantastic line-up. Produced by Outback Presents, one, if not the biggest promoters of comedy in the country now, in a city that’s aflame with growth in every area let alone stand-up, this has slowly over the years become one of the greatest comedy towns in America.
There are several world-class comics that already live in Nashville, quite a few from here, and more than a few are moving here. Theo Vonn has a place here, Nate Bargatze of course, Kid Rock, (a new comedian just starting out) and it’s home to a slew of homegrown talent taking off right now. It’s also home to one of the best comedy clubs in America, Zanies, which sad to say, wasn’t around when I was doing stand-up. (Although I used to love playing the Chicago Zanies.)
The only place I ever worked here was the Vanderbilt campus, but this was in the late eighties and early nineties when colleges were great gigs to get. The smartest audiences you could cobble together, as opposed to now when I think a lot of comics would rather have dental work done than play colleges today. This was a time when any subject matter was fair game, and Vanderbilt was a primo place to perform. I was there a few times, once with Howie Mandel and Steven Wright as part of a Budweiser College Comedy Tour, and once opening for Kenny Loggins.
Comics I talk to today go on and on about the crowds in Nashville. They love to play Zanies, and the Ryman, which used to be the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974 and is just a flat-out iconic room. Newer comics like Theo Vonn, and Taylor Tomlinson work it partially just to rub ass with the Ghosts of Minnie Pearl and Junior Samples.
It makes sense that Nashville would be a crazy great comedy town. It’s so artist-friendly to begin with, and the denizens here love to laugh and have fun, in fact they’re famous for it. I’ve spent a lot of time here in the last eight or so years. I truly love the people and I have a lot of friends here. Also, any place with this many venues has to be a natural fit for a comedy festival.
There’s a load of competition these days for the comedy town throne. Hell, there’s New York, Edinburgh, I know that Netflix is going all out on in L.A. on the ‘Netflix is a Joke’ fest, which will be huge, Montreal’s Just For Laughs is baked deep into the top DNA of Stand-up, and of course, there’s Portland. That’s a fun town these days. The streets are always on fire. (Sorry. Saw the joke, had to sling it.).
Austin has rebranded, and Rogan-Hinchcliff-Segoura-sized itself into an unstoppable comedy nation, there’s also Melbourne and London, but I can’t help think Nashville could easily grow into one of the most important comedy festivals in the world in a few short years.
Especially with lineups like Bill Burr, Ari Shaffir, Bert Kreisher, Taylor Tomlinson, Joshua Black, Josh Wolf, Eddie B. Janeane Garafalo, Eleanor Kerrigan, Nikki Glasser, Steve Byrne, Joe Gato and so many more.
Hell, I’m here to see Shane Gillis alone. Damn!
I mean look at this stud. Tell me that’s not comedy’s future??
The Nashville Comedy Festival.
WEBSITE
https://www.nashcomedyfest.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nashcomedyfest/
https://www.facebook.com/NashComedyFest/
ELONMUSK’S TWITTER
JEFF ROSS SAYS GOOD-BYE TO YET ANOTHER LOVED ONE
Anyone that knows the great Jeff Ross knows he’s lost a few of his best friends recently. Anyone that knows him well, as luckily I do, knows he’s a wonderful man, and a great comfort in tough times. He’s been so there and caring for Bob’s people, and now is in so much pain and so available for Gilbert’s beautiful family. All of that, and the heartfelt, open, revealing, and cathartic, piece he wrote on Alopecia and his real life experience with the horror of it in the wake of the Will Smith debacle at the Oscars has sadly given many others a chance to see what those close to Jeff all know so well. There’s so much more there than the ‘Roastmaster’ or the comic. Jeff Ross is one of the people that makes me proud to be in this business. I’m so sorry for all of his loss and pain during this rotten ass month or so. He’s one hell of a special guy. Bob, Norm, and Gilbert were damn blessed to have him their camps.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gilbert-gottfried-funeral-cathartic-jeff-ross-184544536.html
WHO ARE THE 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL STAND-UPS WORKING TODAY?
https://standupworld.substack.com/p/who-are-the-10-most-influential-stand?s=w
Stand-up comics are an important part of our lives, they dramatically affect our culture. They always have, and they do now more than ever. Check out how many arenas and concert halls are full of comedians performing for ten and twenty thousand fans at a time, and more. Not cuddly ventriloquists by and large these days, not sweet country bumpkins for the most part. I suspect if you did the detective work, the bulk of those ticket sales are for monologists who are speaking out, straight, harsh, against the grain, and raw. Each in a way that a large chunk of us wish secretly we could be speaking out.
And Politicians? They sure aren’t seen as people that are driving culture. No one sees any of our politicians as having any sense of true north. Not one of them. That group sucks off of opinion polls so energetically it’s as if they were all teens in the fifties getting high on airplane model glue. Even worse are the media personalities. Reporters? Journalists? They’ve all sold their souls out for book deals and second homes on Martha’s Vineyards so badly they can’t even influence their gardeners not to use their leaf blowers outside their windows when they get home from “covering” Davos.
So yes, it’s only the comic on stage with the microphone and the jokes, talking any version of the truth that’s interesting and real nowadays that strikes any kind of an emotional chord in a moment craving authenticity.
So who are the top ten comedians in terms of influencing our culture today?
CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
RIP GILBERT GODFRIED
The Great Gilbert Godfried has passed on. A beloved comic by family and friends, and fans, but surely by comedians. Gilbert was a comics treat. He was adored by his fellow comedians who he loved to make laugh, amuse, shock and tell jokes to. He was one of a kind. A wonderful soul. There will never, ever be another ‘Gilbert’. This is such a loss. He’ll forever be missed.
LOUIS C.K. WINS GRAMMY. SOME NOT TOO HAPPY.
The Recording Academy awarded Louis C.K. the Grammy for best Comedy Album last night. C.K.’s album, Sincerely Louis C.K., bested five other nominees — Chelsea Handler’s Evolution, Lavell Crawford’s The Comedy Vaccine, Lewis Black’s Thanks for Risking Your Life, Kevin Hart’s Zero Fucks Given, and Nate Bargatze’s The Greatest Average American.
It obviously didn’t go down well on Social Media. Some saw it as political. Nothing to do with the fact that it’s a great special. Which of course is their right to feel and think. It makes it hard to take, especially when it comes from the ‘smarter people’, as seen below.
Others took it personally in terms of the comics past ‘transgressions’. (His proclivities they find abhorrent.) They of course have every right to stalk and berate and bemoan him at every turn for the rest of his existence for these ‘choices’, and for the ‘choices’ several others made in unison with him, but I personally applaud the Academy and am just happy no one got slapped.
*I myself was rooting for Chelsea Handler. She’s done so much for the culture.
She’s just due. (Shrug.)
TONY ROCK SPEAKS UP FOR HIS BROTHER!
Tony Rock came off of the couch and stuck up for his big brother, Chris. Tony, who happens to be a seriously funny as hell comic himself and a favorite among comedians on the comedy scene went off on Will Smith over the ‘slap’ while performing at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday. He teased the crowd about coming up on stage.
‘If you think you gonna walk up on this stage, this ain’t the motherf**king Oscars!’
One audience member called out wanting to know who Tony thought hit harder Will or Jada’s boyfriend?’
Tony quipped: ‘Mama Rock.’
Another heckler yelled out wanting to know how Chris was doing? Tony, quick as ever, shot back, “He’s still rich!”
Want to learn more about Tony Rock?
Tour dates and media info;
https://www.instagram.com/tony_rock/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/TONYROCK?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor