Hats off to Post blogger Clifford Fewel, the man who brought local comedy back to the Roaring Fork Valley--and put the "nite" back in Nite Club. "I wondered what a local comic’s perspective on living here would be like," he blogs. "I really wanted to be IN the HBO Comedy Festival, but I knew I didn’t have the comedy chops myself to break the first screen. I thought a standup show made up of locals might be different and groovy enough for the festival. Plum TV agreed to tape the show for us and to create a DVD to showcase our entry application for the following year."
The rise of the fractional industry in Aspen led like a bad sit-com to the demise of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival presented by HBO. "Read between the lines and the conclusion is almost inevitable," writes Post blogger Michael Conniff. "HBO pulled the plug on the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in part because of the impact of fractionals on the Aspen hotel market. Now nobody is going to come right out and say it that way, and maybe the demise of the laugh fest had more to do with the charges of sexual assault against former HBO chief executive officer Chris Albrecht, or the decision made of late to put on a more boffo comedy fest in Las Vegas."
HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht is leaving the company folowing charges of sexual assault. "Now the future of the CEO and the storied HBO Comedy Fest in Aspen are in jeopardy long-term after Albrecht was forced to resign pending assualt charges against women that go back to 1991," Post Time News reports. "Though the fest is all but certain to return in 2008, the fate of the festival is likely to be put in the hands of Jeff Bewkes."
Posts filed under 'HBO Comedy Fest'
Arthur Piubeni, the most outspoken and irreverent of the troupe, let me know loudly and often that comics do not rehearse. I saw it as an opportunity for a bunch of first-timers to work through a few kinks and get used to the room. Arthur, Michael Yoder and me were the only ones with any standup experience. I had started in 1996 at an open mike at Comedy Works in Denver, and had been working at it for ten years while I toiled away in big-city newspaper advertising management jobs at papers across the Sunbelt.
Continue Reading August 22nd, 2007
Cut to Aspen and my job selling tickets at HBO Comedy Fest. The late night set of Dave Chappelle was going well. The topic was Aspen.
“It’s really nice to be here in your little Smurf Village,” said Chappelle. “I’ve been here three days and already I hate poor people.”
It killed and I wondered what a local comic’s perspective on living here would be like. I really wanted to be IN the HBO Comedy Festival, but I knew I didn’t have the comedy chops myself to break the first screen. I thought a standup show made up of locals might be different and groovy enough for the festival. Plum TV agreed to tape the show for us and to create a DVD to showcase our entry application for the following year.
Continue Reading August 20th, 2007
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)--Despite its long and storied history here, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival sponsored by HBO has inevitably lived from year-to-year waiting for the annual green light from HBO chairman and chief executive officer Chris Albrecht in order to live to see another year.
Now the future of the CEO and the storied HBO Comedy Fest in Aspen are in jeopardy long-term after Albrecht was forced to resign pending assualt charges against women that go back to 1991. Though the fest is all but certain to return in 2008, the fate of the festival is likely to be put in the hands of Jeff Bewkes, the man expected to assume command of the pay channel and its myriad operations.
Continue Reading May 10th, 2007
Ever wonder who made names for themselves at this year's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival presented by HBO in Aspen?
Continue Reading March 12th, 2007
What I really love about Comedy Fest is watching the people from New York freeze their asses off. It doesn't get any better than that. And the whole urban commando thing is about as uncool as it gets. Let's face it: if you want to be cool in the mountains you have to dress warm. If you have the wrong coat or a vest that doesn't zipper or a hat that makes no sense you look like the village idiot.
Continue Reading March 6th, 2007
The highlight of the show was the retrospective film clip of George Carlin that HBO created prior to him taking the stage. After that it was a long night at the Wheeler. George told the audience he was 69 and that he was actually would be performing a "workshop" in it's adolescent form. He had his notes and some of his jokes worked. I enjoyed his new synonym for the word "fellow" and his list of advantages of being 69. I am sure his "die-hard" fans were pleased however after 40 minutes some of the audience left and I saw others sleeping.
Continue Reading March 1st, 2007
I shouldn’t be telling you this.
This is my fourth Comedy Fest in Aspen—the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival presented by HBO—and for the first time I seem to think I have figured the damn thing out. That’s another way of saying I now know how to get the best possible tickets given the ducats I’ve drawn.
Continue Reading March 1st, 2007
Hello Friends!
As you know I’ve been performing stand up comedy as of late. There’s been a slight change of venue and of title as a few of my friends and I have broken away from Laugh Your Aspen Off. The Locals’ Choice will be presenting Apres Comedy this Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Cost of admission…absolutely FREE. Of course, donations are always welcome. We’re putting a lot of hard work into this and promise to be just as funny as we were at the Wheele r t hree weeks ago.
Continue Reading February 28th, 2007
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—Lost in the shuffle of live entertainment at The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (USCAF) here in Aspen is the plethora of movies that make this one of the premier venues for comics breaking through on screen.
As befitting a fest sponsored by HBO, the lineup for the 2007 Film Program sponsored by HBO Films, and showing February 28-March 4, 2007, showcases 30 features, three world premieres, two North American premieres, and 20 shorts culled from entries around the world.
Continue Reading February 28th, 2007
