How To Kill Yourself And Others By Running Your Own Comedy Festival
Is DIYing your own comedy festival an awesome idea? Or a terrible idea? Let's dig into it.
Thank you for taking a hot minute to read The Museletter. This newsletter is all about the comedy life, and for $70 a year, which is about the amount you spend on 1-2 coffees a month, you get your own whole-heartedly dedicated comedy-obsessed witch-slash-magician-slash-70%psychic-slash-advocate-slash-coach-slash-publicist in your corner to help you do honestly anything in comedy you want to do. I’m personally paying others a lot more than that to help me (hey, even the helpers need helpers), and then I turn around and pass that knowledge onto you for a fraction of the cost. Think of me as a (fun) comedy aunt, who has been dragged through enough comedy mud puddles to know that comedians need help, we need to support each other, and we need to be paid for our work. Tell me what you need.
Etc.
Submit to the first NEPA Comedy Fest! Oct. 3-5 HERE - Submission fees cover costs of producing the festival | Google Forms
Had a great weekend of shows | Instagram
Last week I moved onto the next round in Wisecrackers NEPA’s Funniest contest, which was on my birthday | Wisecrackers
Let’s give a big hand to all the comedians who moved onto the next round, L to R: Nick Yanos, Tony Leoni, Trisha Marie, Ryan Manzo, Shevaun Brannigan, Teri Granahan, Jennifer Bellsino, Mike Stanley. Thanks to Ryan Manzo for his historical comedy knowledge re: NEPA comedians.
After performing in, I dunno, maybe 100 comedy festivals, it occurred to me—I could do this. How hard could it be? I’ve produced 100,000 shows (hyperbole, sure, but I don’t know if the number is that far off at this point) and I’ve been on enough shows to know what makes a show great and what makes it terrible, from the comedian, from the venue, and from the audience member’s points of view.
I floated the idea around to a few friends—hey, what would you say if I told you I wanted to start a comedy music festival?
The overwhelming response was OMG, yes, please.
So, I did.
The first NY Funny Songs Festival was, I forget, in maybe 2010? And I’m just gonna say it—it was primarily an overwhelming success.
First, I started by raising money.
I created a Kickstarter and put together a program that would hopefully inspire people to get involved. With that effort, I was able to raise $10,000 in 30 days. (Let me know if you want me to write a post about how I did that, and I will.)
We got loads of amazing press—coverage from The New York Times, and Time Out NY and The Wall Street Journal and a bunch of indie magazines. Hundreds of comedic musicians applied to be in the festival and flew in from around the world to be part of it. The festival ran for three days. All of the money the festival earned was used to cover expenses and produce the festival. The entire festival was run by volunteers, including myself. (In fact, I still have money in the festival bank account that has sat there, unspent, since the last festival in 2016.
Here’s the line up from the final festival, posted by MurphGuide. That year, we rebranded the NY Comedy Music Festival to give it more of a grown up vibe. I kind of regret doing that. I preferred it weird and sophomoric, honestly.
I did the festival for 5 years, and then I had a baby and I stopped producing a festival.
But seriously, it was not a lot different than producing any other comedy show. Except that there were like 15 or so in 3 days.
Over the years, I’ve seen all types of mini comedy festivals pop up. The word “festival” is a great, buzzy word that immediately ticks a lot of boxes for people. I’ve seen one day long festivals, week long festivals, piggy back festivals, and so much more.
What did I get out of hosting my own comedy festival?
Well, the festival, it’s performers, and I got a ton of (free) press — thousands and thousands of dollars worth of press, something I gained more skills in acquiring.
Together, me and about a dozen or so comedians built something that was fun and awesome and gave a community of hundreds of comedians that was kind of floundering around, in some ways, a bit of a chance and place and time to congregate.
The festival allowed me to test my skills and abilities in terms of producing—it was a big challenge, and I believe it was a success.
It also gave me a chance to test my fundraising skills; another success.
I got to experiment, succeed, and fail, on my own terms.
I think it also allowed me to prove something to myself; that I can do just about anything I put my mind to, including things that are big and hard and scary. Tee hee.
I will say it’s a heck of a lot easier to be invited to perform in someone else’s festival. But it’s really exciting to produce your own. Because you can make it anything you want it to be. You can make it about comedy, but also about music, or wrestling, or food, or whatever you want.
One thing I didn’t do with the festivals I produced before that I hope to do this time around is explore grants. Last time, the festival was funded privately.
Want to produce your own comedy festival? AMA.
And yes, by the way, I did say this time around. Because I’m doing it again. Me and a close, trusty crew of local comedians will be bringing a comedy festival in Fall of 2025 to the great state of Pennsylvania.
Introducing the first ever NEPA Comedy Festival.
The NEPA Comedy Fest!, taking place in Northeast Pa.’s beloved Pocono Mountain region will be the first comedy festival of its kind, including stand up, musical comedy and other laugh-inducing talent. The show will run for three days from Oct. 3 to 5, and will include a variety of shows, showcases, open mics, parties, contests and other gatherings geared specifically at helping to further develop a small but thriving comedy scene in Northeast Pa.
Want to know more or be a sponsor or volunteer? Email ComedyInThePoconos@gmail.com.
Want to submit? Here’s the form to do that.
Follow and get updates on Facebook.
Here’s my philosophy behind running a festival. These are my goals.
I aim to:
- Put on great shows
- Provide lots of opportunities for comedians (and myself) to perform and to meet other comedians
- Provide good freebies, like head shots, swag, and food
- Throw a really fun party
- Introduce a new audience of comedy lovers to up and coming comedians (and to myself!), and vice versa
- Make a little money for next year’s festival, spread a little money around to comedians and venues
What did I leave out?
Have you ever run a festival before? What did you do right? What do you wish you’d done differently?
If you decide to try to produce your own festival, let me know!
Daily Musings:
2016 Women In Comedy | The New York Times
How To Plan Your Own Comedy Festival | Backstage
How To Get Sponsors | WildApricot
Bye bye, love.
You do good things. All the best!
Great artice, Jess -- LOVE to see this kind of "think big, be big" thinking!!