Pittsburgh Comedy Festival puts area's growing comedy base on display
Comedy's moment seems to have arrived.
That doesn't mean there are more opportunities for comics or an increase in the number of laughs-per-capita. It means audiences need to start thinking about comedy as an art form.
At least, that's the idea behind the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival, from Aug. 21 to 23, which Brian Gray hopes to make into an annual event.
“There's more of a national energy behind comedy,” says Gray, the festival's executive director and an IT consultant who has been doing group improv in Pittsburgh for about 10 years.
“From my perspective, I'd think it's getting cooler,” he says of comedy. “It used to be it that it was a lot of Catskills guys, and now it's a much more personal art. People are doing a lot of different things with it. What guys like Louis C.K. do is unparalleled in how personal it is, as well as being funny. People think they can make art as well as comedy, and that they're not mutually exclusive.”
This Comedy Festival is funded, in part, by the Heinz Foundation, which support all sorts of arts initiatives. But this is the first time they've done anything with comedy. The Grable Foundation is another supporter.
More than a hundred comedians from all over the country, from stand-up to improv theater troupes, will perform. The headliners include former Pittsburgher Judah Friedlander and the improv duo Cackowski and Talarico. There will be panel discussions and open mics and other events to help build a better awareness of the thriving comedy community in Pittsburgh.
Blocks of events are tied around specific types of comedy.
Group improv, in particular, is getting a lot of attention at the moment, with many top entertainers — Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert — having come out of this particular discipline.
Improv can involve “any number of people onstage, working together to create comedy that nobody expected,” Gray says. “From the moment they step onstage, no one knows what's going to happen. It looks like sketch comedy or theater.”
Improv can take many shapes, like musical improv (5:30 p.m. Aug. 23).
“The Lupones, who came out of Steel City Improv, they improvise a musical,” Gray says. “They'll do like an hourlong musical with keyboard, percussionist. Some songs, dancing. There's a group from New York City called Wonderland, and another called North Coast, who are an incredible New York group who do improvised hip-hop, beatbox, freestyle, scenework and improvised hip-hop. They're also doing a workshop, teaching people to rap on their feet.”
Another block of events is the Kids Comedy Cabaret (12:30 p.m. Aug. 23), with Josh and Gab, Mark Hayward and Penny Arcade.
“Penny Arcade has kids do crafts at different stations,” Gray says. “They'll draw scenery and masks. The players will use that stuff for games that the kids will watch.”
Friedlander (8 p.m. Aug. 21 and 22) is best known as the hairy writer with the trucker hats on NBC's “30 Rock.” The comedy series was an important touchstone for the current comedy renaissance. Friedlander is a pretty big name in the world of stand-up, known for improvising a lot and never doing the same show twice.
Cackowski and Talarico (10 p.m. Aug. 22, 8 p.m. Aug. 23) are known for being able to take a single audience suggestion and build an hourlong, totally improvised piece of theater — complete with character development and believable relationships.
Rick Talarico has written for “Key and Peele,” “MadTV” and “Saturday Night Live.” Craig Cackowski has had recurring roles in “Community” and “Drunk History” and appearances on “Arrested Development” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Pittsburgh's local comedy community will be well-represented. It has grown exponentially in recent years.
“On the stand-up side, we've got a ton of venues doing showcases and open mics for people to experiment and become better,” Gray says. “They're all over town”: Hambone's in Lawrenceville; The Pleasure Bar, Bloomfield; Smiling Moose, South Side; Corner Cafe, South Side slopes.
“Comics can hit an open mic every night of the week, sometimes multiple ones in one night, and grow in their craft.”
Comedy pros coming through town tend to be surprised by what they find here, Gray says. It's something he hopes to amplify through the festival.
“We were performing this improv jam at the Cabaret at Theater Square, Downtown,” he says. “The legendary Second City touring company was in town: ‘You guys are doing this long-form theatrical-style improvisation to a theater full of people — not just a bunch of people drunk at a bar.' Second City was really impressed.”
Michael Machosky is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at mmachosky@tribweb.com or 412-320-7901.
