The Bentzen Ball is a comedy festival held in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, first in 2009, and then in 2013. It is produced by the D.C.-based online magazine and event company '' Brightest Young Things'' (often abbreviated as BYT) and curated by Tig Notaro. Named for Ollie Bentzen, a Danish man who allegedly laughed himself to death during a screening of the film ''

A Fish Called Wanda ''A Fish Called Wanda'' is a 1988 heist comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and written by Crichton and John Cleese. It stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin. The film follows a gang of diamond thieves who double- ...

'', the inaugural festival featured 60 comedians and 26 shows from October 22, 2009 to October 25, 2009. The second festival was held October 10–13, 2013, and was jokingly billed as the "Fifth Annual Bentzen Ball," referring to its hiatus.

History

2009

The 2009 Bentzen Ball consisted of 26 shows and 60 comedians. The festival opened on October 22 with an opening night headlined by

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

with Rory Scovel and

Kyle Kinane Kyle Christian Kinane (born December 23, 1976) is an American stand-up comedian and actor from Addison, Illinois. Career Kinane's first television appearance was on ''The Nanny'' playing "Young Roger Clinton". His debut album ''Death of the Pa ...

at the Lincoln Theatre and closed with a

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...

headlined-show featuring Chelsea Peretti,

Steve Agee Steven Douglas Agee (; born February 26, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series '' The Sarah Silverman Program'' and as John Economos in the DCEU superhero f ...

, Laura Silverman and Tig Notaro at the 9:30 Club on October 25. Shows were also held at the

Studio Theatre A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

, HR-57 Center for the Preservation of Jazz and Blues, Bohemian Caverns and

Black Cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...

as well as a drop-in open mic show at Ben's Chili Bowl hosted by Justin Cousson and Vish Bhatt.

2009 performers

* Todd Barry *

Mary Lynn Rajskub Mary Lynn Rajskub () is an American actress and comedian who is best known for portraying Chloe O'Brian in the action thriller series '' 24'' and Gail the Snail in ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia''. Rajskub was a regular cast member on HBO' ...

* Tig Notaro *

Jimmy Dore James Patrick Anthony Dore (born July 26, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, podcaster and YouTube personality. He is the host of '' The Jimmy Dore Show'', a comedic political talk show on YouTube. Dore started as a ...

* Morgan Murphy * Dave Hill *

Reggie Watts Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, musician, beatboxer, and actor. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. He refers to himself as a "disinfo ...

* Matt Braunger * Chelsea Peretti *

Natasha Leggero Natasha Leggero () (born March 26, 1974) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series '' The 70s House'' in 2005, and as a regular roundtable panelist on ...

* Nick Thune * Paul Rust * Laura Silverman * Ian Edwards *

* A.D. Miles *

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. He became widely known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015), for which he received the Television Critics Association Award fo ...

* Kyle Dunnigan * Jen Kirkman * Jackie Kashian *

* Jesse Thorn * Brendon Walsh * Cynthia Levin * David Huntsberger *

Lizz Winstead Lizz Winstead (born July 5, 1961) is an American comedian, radio and television personality, abortion rights activist, and podcast host. A native of Minnesota, Winstead is the co-creator of ''The Daily Show'' along with Madeleine Smithberg, ...

* Adam Cayton-Holland * Duncan Trussell * Ruby Wendell *

Seth Herzog Seth G. Herzog (aka The Zog) is an American comedian. Herzog is active in New York City performing comedy and is a warm-up comedian for ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''. He was the subject of the short film ''Zog's Place''. He has also had small ...

* Andy Wood * Aparna Nancherla *Jeff Klinger * Jeff Maurer * Rory Scovel

2013

The 2013 Bentzen Ball opening night was headlined by Notaro once again, joined by Doug Benson,

Wyatt Cenac Wyatt John Foster Cenac Jr. ( ; born April 19, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He was a correspondent and writer for ''The Daily Show'' from 2008 to 2012. He starred in the TBS series '' People of Earth'' and in Bar ...

, Everything is Terrible, Heather Lawless and others on October 10 at the 9:30 Club. A live episode of Doug Loves Movies was taped as part of the festival at the Sphinx Club on October 11, and the festival closed with an Ira Glass and Friends show at the Lincoln Theatre on October 13. Other acts who performed at the 2013 festival were

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for the FX (TV channel), FX comedy series ''The League'' (2009–2015), creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'' (20 ...

, Garfunkel and Oates, Moshe Kasher,

Megan Mullally Megan Mullally (born November 12, 1958) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Karen Walker in the NBC sitcom '' Will & Grace'' (1998–2006, 2017–2020), for which she received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outst ...

, Brody Stevens,

Kate Flannery Kate Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She went o ...

, Sara Schaefer, Martha Kelly,

Rachel Dratch Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College, she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. Dratch's breakthr ...

Michael Hitchcock Michael Hitchcock (born July 28, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and television producer. Early life Hitchcock received his Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Un ...

Janet Varney Janet Varney is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She is known for voicing the character of Korra in the Nickelodeon animated television series ''The Legend of Korra'', co-starring as Sheriff Evie Barret in the television ser ...

, Jessica Makinson, Cole Stratton, Graham Elwood, Brandon Wardell, Andy Wood, Jena Friedman, and others, plus DJ sets by

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

and

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is cha ...

Record label

In 2016, Notaro released the first comedy album on Bentzen Ball Records on July 8, '' Aparna Nancherla: Just Putting it Out There''. Later that year on August 5, the second release on the label was Tig's own third album, '' Boyish Girl Interrupted'', released jointly with

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, part of the Secretly Group. The Secretly Group includes record labels Dead Oceans and Jagjaguwar as well as a music publisher known as Secretly Publis ...

References

External links

Official Bentzen Ball siteOfficial Bentzen Ball Records site

BrightestYoungThings
{{Authority control Tig Notaro Comedy festivals in the United States Festivals in Washington, D.C. Record labels established in 2016