News

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.

 

November 17, 2009
Rooftop Media Expands Comedy Club Network Adding Mottley's Comedy Club, Boston & The Lincoln Lodge, Chicago

October 15, 2009
Rooftop Comedy Accepting Submissions for 2 Funny Film Competitions

August 25, 2009
Rooftop Media Takes Flight with digEcor Distribution Deal

August 19, 2009
MediaPost: Show 'Sucks' Across Multiple Platforms

August 14, 2009
peHUB: This Portfolio Company Does Not Suck

August 12, 2009
BACKSTAGE: Standing Up, Breaking In

July 30, 2009
Rooftop Comedy Launches Record Label, 'Rooftop Comedy Productions'

July 5, 2009
Rooftop Comedy Launches Talent Institute for Nation's Most Promising Comedians

May 20, 2009
Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival Announces 2009 Line-Up & Schedule

February 27, 2009
RooftopComedy Partners With Dirty South

January 23, 2009
RooftopComedy Launches 2nd Annual National College Comedy Competition

November 17, 2008
RooftopComedy Now Live from New York City

November 4, 2008
RooftopComedy Expands International Presence into South African Mobile Market

October 27, 2008
RooftopComedy Content Syndicated to Motorola U.K.

October 20, 2008
Current TV, RooftopComedy to Launch TV Series

September 15, 2008
Rooftopcomedy Launches Six New Comedy Channels On Hulu

September 15, 2008
Rooftopcomedy Content To Be Syndicated To Australian Mobile Audience Via Optus Zoo

August 25, 2008
Online Video on Every Device

July 21, 2008
RooftopComedy Now Broadcasting from Canada

June 2, 2008
Tim Ball of Duke University & Dan Perrault of Emerson College Win RooftopComedy's 1st Annual National College Comedy Competition

May 13, 2008
Rooftopcomedy's 1st Annual National College Comedy Competition Announces Finalists in Stand-Up & Short Film Categories

April 28, 2008
Rooftopcomedy to Produce Aspen's New Comedy Festival

February 13, 2008
RooftopComedy Launches National College Comedy Competition

December 16, 2007
A New Era for Aspen Comedy: The Wheeler, David Brenner and RooftopComedy Partner to Bring Comedy to Aspen, CO

November 7, 2007
RooftopComedy Now Broadcasting from United Kingdom

Calling comedians, sketch groups and comedy filmmakers.
The Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival 2009
Check out clips from this year's festival
We work with the best comedians, sketch groups and comedy filmmakers.
Rooftop Comedy has a blog. Rooftop staff write funny about everything.
Advertisers
Tech Support
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2009 Rooftop Media, Inc. All rights reserved.