The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

performances, appearances by the casts of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

shows, and has a film component called the Film Discovery Program.

History

The first 13 editions of the US Comedy Arts Festival were held annually at the

Wheeler Opera House The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke that blends ele ...

and other venues in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...

. The primary sponsor of the festival was HBO, with co-sponsorship by

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesar ...

(the primary venue), TBS,

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...

Insurance, Twix

candy bar A candy bar is a type of candy that is in the shape of a bar. The most common type of candy bar is the chocolate bar, including both bars made of solid chocolate and combination candy bars, which are candy bars that combine chocolate with othe ...

s and Smirnoff Vodka. In-between, HBO had started a spin-off version simply named The Comedy Festival, which was held in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, since 2006, in collaboration with the

Anschutz Entertainment Group The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports even ...

. The Aspen event folded in 2007 once HBO exited the festival business, considering the expenditures too high. American comedian Chris Fleming performed at the 2007 event. TBS picked up the Las Vegas event in 2008, and organized a follow-up edition that year, also arranging for other comedy festivals in collaboration with Just For Laughs. In turn, Aspen replaced the festival with similar events, the

Aspen RooftopComedy Festival The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival was a stand-up comedy festival that was held annually in Aspen, Colorado on or around the Memorial Day Weekend since 2008. The festival is the concept of Roxane Davis and the City Of Aspen. Davis, a consultant and ...

and the Aspen Laff Festival.

References

External links

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US Comedy Arts Festival
Aspen, Colorado
The Festival You're Supposed to Laugh At

U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Tribute to Monty Python

Comedy Central Comedy Festival, Summer 2017, San Francisco
Film festivals in Colorado Film festivals in Nevada Comedy festivals in the United States Film festivals established in 1985 Defunct film festivals in the United States 1985 establishments in Colorado 2008 establishments in the United States Culture of the Las Vegas Valley Aspen, Colorado Comedy film festivals {{US-film-festival-stub