Jesse Case

The New Faces class of 2010 at Just For Laughs Montreal has been announced and Nashville native Jesse Case is on that list. Congratulations!

Jesse got his start at Nashville open mics before traveling across the country, doing shows and surveying local comedy scenes. He lived in Seattle for a few years, where he used the abundant stage time to his advantage. He since won both the Seattle Laughs Comedy Competition and the 2008 Rocky Mountain Laugh Off, was nominated for ‘Best “Short Format” Comic’ in the CLOG! Awards, was selected to perform at the Great American Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot and the Bridgetown Comedy Festivals..  appeared on Season 6 of Last Comic Standing and is now living in Los Angeles.

Catch up with Mr. Case on Twitter or listen to his podcast “The Last Resort with Jesse Case” over on ComedyPodcast.com.

The 1st Annual Longest Running New Famous #1 International Open Mic Comedy Festival

April 1-7, 2010
Nashville, TN
(facebook event)

This amazing, unprecedented mega-event kicks off TONIGHT!

Thursday, April 1, 2010 – 6:30pm
“Laugh like hell” OPEN MIC
The Rusty Nail
4054 Andrew Jackson Parkway
Hermitage, TN 37076-2220
(615) 889-2613
(facebook event)

Sunday, April 4, 2010 – 8pm
OPEN MIC at Joe’s Place
Joe’s Place
(Near the Green Hills YMCA and Whole Foods)
2227 Bandywood Drive
Nashville, TN 37215
(facebook event)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 – 6pm
Hope Lodge Night of Laughs
American Cancer Center
Hope House
2008 Charlotte Avenue
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 342-0840

http://www.cancer.org/

(facebook event)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 – 8pm
OPEN MIC @ Spanky’s
Spanky’s Sportsbar & Grill
330 Welch Road
Nashville, Tennessee 37211
(behind the WalMart @ Nolensville and Harding Place)
(615) 837-3450
(facebook event)

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 – 9:30pm
Dive Laughing OPEN MIC
Springwater
115 27th Ave N.
Nashville, TN 37203
615-320-0345
(facebook event)

“Be there! ..or SUCK IT!”

Keith Alberstadt

The Boston International Comedy & Movie Festival began back in 2000 as a way to showcase New England stand-up comedy talent to bigger audiences and the entertainment industry. Given the long line of successful comedians who got their start in Boston, it seemed to be a natural fit for such a festival. The audience agreed, and the event has grown every year. In addition to the traditional stand-up comedy routines, the festival also includes improv, sketch comedy, and one-person theatre shows, as well as the newly expanded movie portion of this festival.

Over the past seven years, they’ve expanded to over a week of festivities, including outdoor family-friendly events and $10,000 in prize money for the competition winners. The addition of The Boston Park Plaza Hotel as the official host hotel and hub of the event has created a more centralized feel, and partnerships with other sponsors have helped them to include over 30 Boston venues and to bring in stars such as Lewis Black.

This year, over 96 comedians from around the world will compete for the prize money. Improv, sketch, and showcase acts will run throughout the week, and the film exhibition will take place at the historic Coolidge Corner theater.

For more info: www.BostonComedyFestival.com

Mary Mack

For example, this year one of the New Faces is our own Mary Mack. You might remember this nationally touring headliner from her appearances on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham”, or on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” or on the “Bob and Tom Radio Show”.

Congratulations to Mary! She and the rest of the New Faces perform “the most important sets of their lives” Tuesday thru Thursday this week at the Cabaret Juste Pour Rire.

The 2009 edition of “the largest Stand-up Comedy festival in the Southeast” consists of five shows featuring over 40 comics over the course of three days – July 16-18 – in the Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, North Carolina. The final schedule with dates, times and details of all performances has not been announced yet. See www.laughyourashevilleoff.com for more info.

Keith recently wrote a guest article for Rooftop Comedy about the comedy.tv project:

It was a big surprise to get the call, especially since in my emails to the producers, I kept calling him Brian Allen. I felt like my mom, who calls comics things like Kathy Mandarin (Kathleen Madigan), Jack Jergensen (Jake Johannsen), and Bill Saguine (possibly Conan O’Brien).

The only bad thing about this whole experience was the timing. I got the invite Thursday last week and had to be in LA Sunday. A trip cross country, connecting in Detroit, sitting in the middle seat between two middle-aged women who laugh out loud at the in-flight movie “Bridal Wars”. . . All of these things are tolerable. What’s not is finding a reasonably-priced plane ticket with only two days notice.

The best rate I could find was $410 which I paid for with 10,000 shares of GM stock. But it was well worth it.

Forty-two comics doing six minutes each. Of course not everyone stuck to six minutes, because there’s still a mentality of “hey, I’m killing so that red light in the back of the room can suck it”. But overall it was amazing. Events like this are fun because it’s like a comedy convention. Comics from all over can catch up on what they’re doing, where they’ve been, and which comedy condos have been de-loused lately.

The Great American Comedy Festival takes place June 14-20 at the Johnny Carson Theatre in Norfolk, Nebraska. Created as a tribute to the legacy of native son Johnny Carson, the festival’s competitors were booked by Late Show with David Letterman‘s Eddie Brill. This year’s line-up features Keith along with 24 other fast-rising comics including Nashville’s own Jesse Case and friend of N’Sup Pat Dixon.

“Stand Up 360″ is a series of new big screen productions in theaters now. It’s hosted by Caroline Rhea and spotlights some of the best comics in New York City. Keith’s part of the series will be in theaters June 1-14. Visit www.Stand-Up360.com for more information and to purchase tickets while they last! Check your local listings for select theaters, dates & times of the limited engagement showings.

For more from Keith, visit KeithComedy.com.

“These are some of the brightest, most intelligent and creative minds in the industry,” said Eddie Brill, the executive producer of the festival and the talent coordinator for the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Brill and Lora Young, executive director of the festival, auditioned comedians in 10 cities across the United States — including New York City, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago — to select the top 24 who wanted the chance to compete in Norfolk.

“As a result of the incredible success of last year’s festival, the good word has spread rapidly throughout the comedy community,” Brill said. “The high quality of comedians who auditioned for the Great American Comedy Festival made it so difficult to narrow the list down to just 24.”

The list includes: Keith Alberstadt (Nashville native, now living in New York City), Jesse Case (Nashville native, now living in Seattle), Pat Dixon (currently living in New York City.. he is not from Nashville, but was almost murdered by a crazy chick from here, so we claim him as our own), and Tim Harmston (from Minneapolis, who is a very good friend of our own Mary Mack).

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.

Congratulations to everybody selected!

The Boston Comedy & Movie Festival is pleased to announce Keith Alberstadt’s acceptance into our sixth annual stand up competition. Keith was chosen out of a field of over 250 applicants to compete for 10,000 dollars in prize money.

Not many people know Keith’s name and not many telemarketers can pronounce it but nevertheless, his name is rising. Keith’s incredible sense of humor has been desribed as “a friendlier, more engaging kind of sarcasm”, and it leaves an impression everywhere he performs. He’s a down to earth comic whos friendly demeanor and witty disposition combine to form a likeable “buddy” who the audience instantly connects with. Keith is a favorite of comics and audiences alike because he reminds everybody of someone they know- he’s the drinking buddy, the jackass uncle, and the naÔve bachelor all rolled into one comic. Although his material is solid, his attitude is what jumps out. Keith genuinely loves comedy, and it shows- he takes control of every show with a confident stage presence and is never afraid to mix it up with the audience for some off-the-cuff laughs.

The brain child of comic Jim McCue, The Boston International Comedy & Movie Festival began back in 2000, as a way to showcase New England stand up comedy talent to bigger audiences and the entertainment industry. Given the long line of sucessful comedians who got their start here in Boston: Jay Leno, Stephen Wright, Janeane Garafalo, Dennis Leary (to name a few), Boston seemed to be a natural fit for such a festival. The audience agreed, and the event has grown every year! In addition to the traditional stand-up comedy routines, improv, sketch comedy, and one-person theatre shows have been added to the line up- as well as the newly expanded movie portion of this festival.

This year the festival stretches from September 9th to the 17th, bookended by headliner Lewis Black and Friends performing at the Emerson Majestic Theater on Friday and Saturday the 9th and 10th and the finals of the Stand-up competition on Saturday the 17th. In between, over 30 shows and thousands of jokes will take place transforming Boston’s theater district into the “hub” of the comedy world.

For more info: www.BostonComedyFestival.com

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