The Comedy Festival
GenreComedy festival
Location(s)Las Vegas, Nevada
Aspen, Colorado[1]
Years active1995–2008[2]
Founded1995[3][4]

The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival,[5] was a comedy festival that ran from 1995[6][7] to 2008.[8] The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component[9] called the Film Discovery Program.[10][11]

History

The first 13 editions of the US Comedy Arts Festival were held annually at the Wheeler Opera House and other venues in Aspen, Colorado.[12] The primary sponsor of the festival was HBO, with co-sponsorship by Caesars Palace (the primary venue), TBS, GEICO Insurance, Twix candy bars and Smirnoff Vodka. In-between, HBO had started a spin-off version simply named The Comedy Festival, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 2006,[13] in collaboration with the Anschutz Entertainment Group.

The Aspen event folded in 2007 once HBO exited the festival business, considering the expenditures too high.[8] American comedian Chris Fleming performed at the 2007 event.[14] He was taken into custody by Federal Authorities following his performance.

TBS picked up the Las Vegas event in 2008, and organized a follow-up edition that year, also arranging for other comedy festivals in collaboration with Just For Laughs.[15] In turn, Aspen replaced the festival with similar events, the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival and the Aspen Laff Festival.[16][17][18][19]

References

  1. ↑ Phil Rosenthal (1997-03-03). "Live From Aspen, It's a Tribute!". LA Times. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  2. ↑ "Celebrating a Decade of Laughs, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Wraps in Aspen". IndieWire. 2004-03-16. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  3. ↑ Steve Johnson (1997-03-07). "'Animal House' Without Belushi". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  4. ↑ "HBO Comedy Festival - USCAF History". hbocomedyfestival.com. Archived from the original on 2004-06-12. Retrieved 2017-07-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ↑ "U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Details, a Report by Trademark Bank | Calendar Your Mark | Monitor Similar Marks". Trademarkbank.com. 1994-09-16. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  6. ↑ Lei, Richard (1995-04-02). "What Are You Laughing At? Weird And Hostile Detours In The Search For New Comedy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  7. ↑ Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), Sunday, March 26, 1995, Page 55. ... going for yucks at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo.
  8. 1 2 Hooper, Troy (2007-05-10). "Comedy fest drops Aspen". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  9. ↑ The Mandy Network (2006-03-12). "HBO's Comedy Fest announces winners | HBO Comedy Festival". Festivalfocus.org. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  10. ↑ "The HBO Comedy Festival to Be Held in Aspen February 28th – March 4th, 2007" (Press release). IndependentFilm.com. 2006-07-18.
  11. ↑ "HBO: No U.S. Comedy Arts Festival next year". Denverpost.com. 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  12. ↑ Variety Staff (1997-02-24). "Live From Aspen". Variety. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  13. ↑ "The Comedy Festival - About". The Comedy Festival. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2017-07-26. HBO and AEG Live will team up once again to make Las Vegas 'the home of funny' when the second annual edition of The Comedy Festival is presented Nov. 14-18, 2006.
  14. ↑ "Chris Fleming during HBO's 13th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival -..." Getty Images. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  15. ↑ Szalai, Georg (2008-02-21). "TBS expands comedy festival work". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  16. ↑ "Aspen Laff Fest just for laughs? Nope – the Wheeler wants smarts, too". AspenTimes.com. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  17. ↑ "HBO pulls U.S. Comedy Arts Festival". AspenTimes.com. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  18. ↑ "Wheeler Opera House Announces Line-up of 2017 Aspen Laugh Festival | Aspen CO Chamber". www.aspenchamber.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  19. ↑ Husted, Bill (14 May 2007). "Comedy Arts Festival was a hoot in Aspen". Denverpost.com. Retrieved 2017-07-26.


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