Wheeler Opera House Announces New Comedy Fest

Don't laugh, this is no joke...

Wheeler Opera House and a internet publisher of comedy acts has penned a deal to bring comedy back to Aspen (HBO Comedy Fest called it quits, as did a local club in the last two weeks); it's called the RoofTop Comedy Festival and it starts May 30. A comedy competition is planned as part of the program.

(From a press statement issued by Wheeler this week)

A NEW ANNUAL EVENT COMES TO ASPEN WITH THE ROOFTOP COMEDY FESTIVAL

The Wheeler Opera House today announced that it has confirmed the creation of a new comedy festival for Aspen, in partnership with RooftopComedy, a web-based publisher of stand-up comedy performances and short-film comic content. The inaugural festival will take place over two days with six public events, on Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31.

“The creation of this festival with Rooftop was a natural outgrowth of the Wheeler’s increasing profile as an incubator for new stand-up comedy,” said Wheeler Executive Director Gram Slaton. “Rooftop was very much a part of the four-part series the Wheeler produced with comic legend David Brenner this winter, and we actually started talking about creating our own comedy festival long before that – last summer in fact, when Aspen was still coming to terms with losing the HBO/U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. With both Rooftop and David, our direction has been not only to construct something that had a strong local appeal and presence, but also to advance the craft of stand-up comedy. The series with David was an excellent start and a brilliant model in its own right. The festival with Rooftop gives us a chance to really stretch ourselves and bring an entire developing comedy community – including a developing international community – to Aspen for a brief but very intensive (and intense!) experience.”

The festival was targeted for the end of May to coordinate with the opening of the summer tourist season. “We had hoped to lock this in with the openings of Independence Pass and Maroon Bells, two of our area’s most spectacular natural attractions, but with the record snowfall amounts this year, having the festival scheduled one week later – after Memorial Weekend – is probably a huge positive for 2008. We really want to attract lots of our friends from the Front Range who know how well Aspen does comedy and make sure they can get over the Pass.” The Rooftop Comedy Festival in effect may become the lead event in a series of pre-summer-season attractions, including Snowmass’ Chili & Brew Festival and Food & Wine Magazine’s Aspen Classic, which take place in the weekends leading up to the official start of summer signaled by the opening of the Aspen Music Festival, Theatre Aspen’s season, and the Aspen Writers’ Foundation’s “Summer Words” festival. “We really like the idea of kicking off the warm months with comedy,” said Slaton. “It’s the only component to a great summer season that we’ve been missing.”

The six live events for the Rooftop Comedy Festival will include the following:
· The festival kicks off Friday with ROOFTOP AT LARGE, featuring three nationally-recognized names in New Comedy today, who have been featured on Comedy Central, VH-1, MTV, and other significant broadcast comedy outlets as well as regular national tours.
· Also on Friday, six new, relatively unknowns who are taking comedy into brilliant new territory are featured in ROOFTOP’S BEST AND BRIGHTEST. These six new faces represent some of the finest comics from Rooftop’s base of over 2,500 comedians.
· Friday closes out with a late show called ROOFTOP AFTER DARK, where five more comics take the material into a more adults-only direction, with hysterical results.
· Saturday starts with THE ROOFTOP NATIONAL CAMPUS COMEDY COMPETITION FINALS (details on this below).
· Saturday also features the second round of ROOFTOP’S BEST AND BRIGHTEST, with six more new faces representing Rooftop’s cream of the crop.
· The festival concludes with a second helping of ROOFTOP AFTER DARK, this time debuting three nationally-known performers getting a little bit down and dirty and closing the festival on a high note.

The centerpiece of this year’s festival will be Saturday’s ROOFTOP NATIONAL CAMPUS COMEDY COMPETITION FINALS. The competition is a nationwide search for the country’s funniest college students who have entertained sold-out shows at 32 universities and 16 semi-final contests throughout the winter. The four stand-up comedy finalists will go head to head at the Wheeler to claim the crown of funniest campus comedian during a show that will be broadcast live to thousands of viewers worldwide through Rooftop’s website. The finals promise to provide additional publicity for the Aspen festival; to date, the college competition has been covered by nationwide news outlets, including a half-page story in USA TODAY in March.

As an added attraction, the live shows are expected to include a variety of short comedic films which are also quickly becoming a staple of Rooftop’s website offerings, featuring the best clips from not only the United States but also from the United Kingdom and Australia. Other events expected for the festival include The Rooftop Awards Show, and even possibly a Rooftop Poker Invitational.

Tickets for individual shows will be priced as low as $15.00. A limited number of “Independence Pass” lanyards, which will provide first-seating access to all six shows will be sold for $65.00 each, with a special discounted price of $55.00 each for inclusion in room packages and as stand-alone purchases for Roaring Fork Valley residents. The Wheeler has teamed up with Stay Aspen Snowmass and the Aspen Chamber Resort Association to promote special rooms-and-passes packages for out-of-town patrons that will be available directly from the Aspen Groups division of the Aspen Chamber Resort Association, at 800-673-5043, or via the web at rooftop.bookaspensnowmass.com.

Locals wishing to take advantage of the Independence Pass discount will need to purchase in person at the Wheeler’s Aspen Show Tickets box office, with proof of local residence. The local inventory of “Independence Pass” lanyards will go on sale at 10am on Monday, May 5th. Tickets for individual shows will be put on sale during the week of the festival, as available.

The Wheeler Opera House is Aspen’s oldest and best-loved year-round performance venue, and was the setting for many of the centerpiece events for the HBO/U.S. Comedy Arts Festival over its nearly two decades of existence, including shows by and tributes to such names as Monty Python, The Simpsons Live, Don Rickles, George Carlin, Goldie Hawn, Dave Chappelle, Lewis Black, Kathy Griffin, and literally hundreds more. Its 503-seat venue is considered one of the very best showcases for stand-up comedy in the nation.

RooftopComedy records, produces and distributes live comedy performances from over twenty of the best comedy venues throughout North America, Europe and Asia, bringing the freshest new comedic voices to comedy fans around the world. In addition to live, interactive viewing opportunities via RooftopComedy.com, comedy fans across the globe will be able to watch highlights of Aspen and the Aspen festival on their mobile phones, and online via such outlets as YouTube and Facebook. Rooftop’s rapidly growing online and broadcast audience currently reaches over two million comedy viewers per month.

For more information, please call Wheeler Opera House Executive Director, Gram Slaton, at 920-5790, or email at grams@ci.aspen.co.us.

Comments and questions about the festival can also be left here.

Are you someone who hopes the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival returns to Aspen? Or wish it never left after last year? Post a comment!

Edited and posted by R.D.