| The 1st Annual ComedyTown Project
was launched March 30, 2005 at Tab Benoit’s Langiappe Music Café
in Houma, LA with a fundraiser concert for Komics Kare, which benefited
the St. Louis Infants Care Center and featured the Misfits of Comedy, starring
Derrick Cameron and Dwight Slade. A subsequent fundraising concert with
comic Kip Attaway and the Tab Benoit Blues Band raised money for the Voice
of the Wetlands. As March turned to April, the comedy really kicked in,
with eleven rising comics from around the country performing a special showcase
for industry booking agents in attendance. Those performing were: Josh Skulniak
and Kirk Buckout from Phoenix; Pete Johansson and Willis Turner from Los
Angeles; Vince Valenzuela from Seattle; Stewart Huff from Atlanta; Lamar
Williams, Rich Aronovich and Denis Donahue from New York; Mike Strecker
and Gary Remy from New Orleans; and Will Hardesty from Louisville, KY.
“The Business of Comedy” was
the theme for a comedy workshop, which featured Marty Fischer, owner of
the New York Improv and Goldstar Entertainment, Tom Sobel of the Comedy
Caravan and TSM Artist Management of Louisville, KY, and Pat Wilson with
Comedy West/Odyssey Management and the producer of the ComedyTown Project.
Sponsors included: The Ramada Inn, Barker GMC and Mike Watley, Dickie
Gonsonlin, Eager Eagle Television, 103.7 Radio, and the Langiappe Music
Café. Overall, the inaugural ComedyTown Project was a success,
a great mix of comedy, music, great food and networking. It established
ComedyTown as the premier gathering for the comedy arts.
|
History