The Seattle International Comedy Competition is a month-long

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, ...

competition held at various venues throughout Washington State. It has been held every year since 1980 until 2020, when the competition was not run due to pandemic restrictions.

Format

Contestants are scored by a panel of judges, not by audience vote. 32 contestants are divided into two week-long heats. The 5 top-rated performers from each heat meet for a week of semi-final performances, and the top five of those compete in the finals week.

Competitors

Many well-known comedians and actors have competed, including 1997 winner

Mitch Hedberg Mitchell Lee Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 30, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and deadpan delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes mixed with absurd elements and non seq ...

Aisha Tyler Aisha Nilaja Tyler (born September 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, director, and talk show host. She is known for playing Andrea Marino in the first season of ''Ghost Whisperer'', Dr. Tara Lewis in ''Criminal Minds'', Mother Nature ...

Christopher Titus Christopher Todd Titus (born 1964) is an American comedian, podcaster and actor. He grew up in Newark, California. Titus came to network audiences with the eponymous FOX series ''Titus'', of which he was the star, executive producer and co-crea ...

Ron Funches Ronald Kyle Funches (born March 12, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born in California, Funches spent his early life in Chicago before relocating to Salem, Oregon, as a teenager. He began his comedy career in Portland, Oregon, a ...

Arj Barker Arjan Singh Āulakh (born 12 August 1974), known by the stage name Arj Barker, is an American comedian and actor from San Anselmo, California. He has toured in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. He was born to an engineer father ...

Sean Kent Sean Kent is a stand-up comic who stars on A&E's unscripted comedy ''Modern Dads''. He won the 2011 San Francisco International Comedy Competition and the 2009 Seattle International Comedy Competition. Originally from Austin, Texas, Kent res ...

, radio host

Bill Radke Bill Radke is an American radio talk show host, web video host, author, comedian and columnist. He currently hosts Seattle's KUOW-FM's ''The Record'' and ''Week In Review''. From November 1, 2010 to October 2012 he hosted Seattle's Morning News on ...

, Dwight Slade,

Dax Jordan Dax Jordan is an American actor and standup comedian. He was born and lives in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Sandy, Oregon. Standup comedy Jordan has performed as a stand up comedian since 2005, appearing several times at the Brid ...

Auggie Smith Auggie Smith (born 1970) is an American comedian. His real first name is Kevin. Born in Santa Rosa, California, he was raised in Billings, Montana. He lives in Los Angeles, CA. He is a frequent guest on the Bob and Tom Show, a nationally syndica ...

, Tom Cotter,

Joe Klocek Joe Klocek (born 24 June 1995) is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles in the television series '' Nowhere Boys'', as well as his roles in the film '' The Dry''. In 2017, Klocek had a guest role as Evan Lewis in the Australian soap ope ...

Jeff Dye Jeffrey Dye (born February 4, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Early life Dye was born in 1983 in Seattle and raised in Kent, Washington. He attended Kentwood High School in Covington. Dye is of Spanish, French-Canadian, German ...

, Josh Gondelman,

Anne Edmonds Anne Elizabeth Gabrielle Edmonds (born 11 October 1979) is an Australian comedian and actor best known for her stand-up work and for creating and starring in the ABC comedy series ''The Edge of the Bush''. Beginning her career in comedy at 29 ...

, Ria Lina, and

Rory Scovel Rory J. Scovel (born August 6, 1980) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He released his first stand-up comedy album '' Dilation'' in 2011. He has since released the stand-up specials ''The Charleston Special'' (2015), ''Rory Scovel Trie ...

. The winner of the 2016 Seattle International Comedy Competition was Preacher Lawson. The winner of the 2019 Seattle International Comedy Competition was Nancy Norton, who became only the second woman to ever win the Seattle International Comedy Competition, following the late Peggy Platt, who won in 1985. The 2021 Champion, Danny Martinello, becomes only the second Canadian citizen to win the competition, following Damonde Tschritter in 2006. The current champion, Ari Matti from Estonia, becomes the first performer hailing from outside of North America to ever win the Seattle International Comedy Competition.

Previous winners

References

External links

Official Festival Site
* {{facebook, /seattlecomedycompetition Festivals in Washington (state) Comedy festivals in the United States