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Rooftopcomedy's 1st Annual National College Comedy Competition Announces Finalists in Stand-Up & Short Film Categories

May 13, 2008

Finalists Compete to be Named 'The Country's Funniest College Students' in Live Broadcast from the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival, May 31st

San Francisco, CA (May 13, 2008) — RooftopComedy (www.RooftopComedy.com), the Internet Comedy Channel and foremost provider of stand-up and sketch comedy, announces the 8 finalist in the Stand-up and Short Film Competitions. Finalists will go head-to-head to be named 'The Country's Funniest College Students' in a live broadcast from the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival in Aspen, CO on Saturday, May 31st, 6:45MST.

After 32 On-Campus events all across the country, 16 Regional Semi-Final Competitions and 2 Online Voting Rounds, the more than 600 comedians and short-film makers have been narrowed down to just 8 Finalists. The winners in both categories will be determined by audience and online voting.

Stand-Up Comedy Contestants:

  • Kathleen O'Brien — A Senior English Education Major at University of Virginia, from Montclair, VA
  • Tim Ball — A Senior Sociology Major at Duke University from Dallas, TX
  • Reid Faylor — A Sophomore Biology Major at Xavier University from Fort Wayne, IN
  • Mary Sasson — A Junior English Major at UNC from Pittsburgh, PA

Short Film Contestants:

  • "Icescraper" — by Mark Potts, a Senior Film/Video Studies & Professional Writing Major at University of Oklahoma from Enid, OK.
  • "Car Phone" — by Dan Perrault, a Junior Acting Major at Emerson College from Hingham, MA.
  • "The Breakup" — by Amos Vernon a Senior Peace & Conflict Studies Major at UC Berkeley from Chapel Hill, NC.
  • "Actor Hunters: Ep.1 Pt.1" — by Matthew Schwartz a Senior Theater/Government Major at Skidmore College from Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ.

"This has been a whirlwind competition that has revealed a number of amazing talents in both categories," said Will C. Rogers, CEO of RooftopComedy. "We are thrilled to present them to the thousands of attendees at the upcoming Aspen RooftopComedy Festival and the millions of viewers who will be watching and voting online."

With the Regional Semi-Final Competitions having taken place at prestigious comedy clubs all across the country and industry leaders acting as judges, The RooftopComedy National College Comedy Competition has begun to lay the professional foundation for these up-and-coming comedians.

"I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the competitors. There will certainly be a couple I will keep my eye on to watch them develop. I think The RooftopComedy competition is an excellent scouting opportunity and we here at Comix are thrilled to be a part of it," said Rocky Benloulou-Dubin, Director of Programming, Comix, New York City.

"I was expecting to see some really painful, awkward moments onstage at the regional semi-finals. But after judging two shows, I could honestly say all the contestants are obviously taking this seriously and have surprisingly strong skills," said Dylan Gadino, Editor in Chief, PunchlineMagazine.com.

"I'm always on the lookout for new talent and the RooftopComedy competition has given me a whole new pool to consider when casting new projects," said Allison Cohn, Manager, Talent & Casting, MTV.

The Final Round of the RooftopComedy National College Comedy is the centerpiece of The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival, a new event that is building upon the deep history of comedy in Aspen with a re-energized focus on the discovery of new and upcoming talent, while embracing current technology to open it up to comedy fans all around the world.

The Finals will be broadcast live on www.RooftopComedy.com/college from the "Main Stage" at the Wheeler Opera House, which is one of RooftopComedy's 20 current venue partners from which RooftopComedy records, broadcasts and syndicates live comedy performances. The Finals are one component of the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival, Aspen's comedy festival produced by RooftopComedy that is bringing together over 30 of today's most innovative comedians. Aspen was the home of the annual H.B.O. / U.S. Comedy Arts Festival that ran from 1985 through 2007.

 
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