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Rooftopcomedy to Produce Aspen's New Comedy Festival

April 28, 2008

New 'Aspen RooftopComedy Festival' Builds on History of Comedy in Aspen, CO Showcasing New Talent While Extending Reach Via Internet

San Francisco, CA (April 28, 2008) — RooftopComedy (www.RooftopComedy.com), the Internet Comedy Channel and foremost interactive media provider of stand-up and sketch comedy will produce and program a new, revitalized comedy festival in Aspen, CO it was announced today by Will C. Rogers, the CEO of RooftopComedy.

The 'Aspen RooftopComedy Festival' will build 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. Showcasing over 30 comedians, all of whom are rising stars, the centerpiece of the festival — the Final Round of the RooftopComedy National College Comedy Competition naming The Country's Funniest College Student — symbolizes the mission of the new event.

Aspen and The Wheeler Opera House, the 'Main Stage' of the festival, are working together with RooftopComedy to incubate and exhibit emerging comedy talent. The Wheeler Opera House is one of RooftopComedy's 20 current venue partners from which RooftopComedy records, broadcasts and syndicates live comedy performances. Aspen was the home of the annual H.B.O. / U.S. Comedy Arts Festival that ran from 1985 through 2007.

"Comedy has a grand history in Aspen, and we are proud to be a part of its future" said Rogers. "We're in the midst of a revolution in media distribution, and comedy is very much a beneficiary. It used to be that a working comic would play for a room of 250 people a night and, over the course of a good year, might perform for 40,000 total fans — with little opportunity for mass distribution of their material via the traditional media outlets of TV and radio. Now a comic can reach thousands of comedy fans in the matter of hours via online distribution. RooftopComedy.com is leading the charge that enables comics to easily find those larger audiences and interact with them in a whole new way."

The 2-day event kicks off on Friday, May 30th and features:

"Rooftop at Large": Performances by some of the larger names in new comedy
"Best & Brightest": A showcase of the fastest-rising stars in stand-up
"After Dark": Featuring new comedy voices taking stand-up in a more 'adult'-themed direction
"The RooftopComedy Awards": honoring the best in new comedy and in the comedy / new media industry
"National College Comedy Competition Finals": Broadcast live via the web, Aspen and online viewers vote to name the Funniest Students in the Country (in two categories, stand-up and short film)
"The Big Show": A finale of the more prominent comedians
Industry / VIP networking and social events

Performers include:

Jimmy Dore (Comedy Central half-hour special; writer/performer for the Off-Broadway hit The Marijuana-Logues, The Late Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Chris Porter (NBC's Last Comic Standing, The Bob & Tom Show, Comedy Central's Live Tour, Comedy Central's Live at Gotham)
Robert Hawkins (Comedy Central half-hour special, Late Night With Conan O'Brien)
Tig Nataro (NBC's Last Comic Standing, Sarah Silverman Program, Comedy Central Presents, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Dog Bites Man, Stand-Up Showdown)
Vince Morris (Comedy Central's Tough Crowd, The Late Late Show, Comedy Central's Premium Blend, BET's Comic View, HBO's Sex And The City)
Mike Lukas (The Tonight Show, Comedy Central, VH-1's Stand-up Stand-up, Co-star of radio talk show "Crackin-Up")
Others: Auggie Smith, Isaac Witty, Matt Braunger, Erin Foley, Andi Smith, Steve Wilson, Mike E. Winfield, Lisa Landry, Nathan Trenholm, Paul Varghese, Lamar Williams, John Ramsey, Dave Waite, Geoff Tate, Kevin Camia, Robert Buscemi, Tyrone Hawkins

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July 5, 2009
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January 23, 2009
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