Roseanne Barr, John Waters and Jeff Garlin Headline First Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival February 19-21
Comedy Fest Founders Michael Moore and Jeff Garlin Announce Lineup of The Best in American Comedy
Stars and Rising Stars of Comedy Concerts, One Man Shows, Sketch Comedy and Improv Offer Something for Everyone
Pioneering comedian and superstar Roseanne Barr, and John Waters, the godfather of independent filmmaking, and comedy arts fest co-founder Jeff Garlin are coming to the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival February 19-21, leading a stellar group of some of the funniest people in the country.

Writer/actor/comedian J.B. Smoove, rising stars Whitney Cummings and Mike Birbiglia, sketch comedy duo Teenager of the Year, and improv legends TJ & Dave round out the lineup. All are coming at little or no charge to give Michiganders a good laugh and an economy boost, and all have been assured that it rarely snows in Traverse City in late February.

The brainchild of Oscar-winner Michael Moore (“Capitalism: A Love Story”) and Emmy-winner Garlin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), the comedy festival is a volunteer run project of the non profit Traverse City Film Festival. Any proceeds will go towards the TCFF and next year’s comedy arts festival.

Roseanne Barr’s TV show dominated the ratings at number 1 through its run. After 9 years, 224 episodes, 6 People’s Choice Awards, 4 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes, 2 American Comedy Awards, a Peabody Award and countless other accolades, the American domestic goddess has returned to her roots as a stand-up comedian. She will kick off the comedy festival with her funny and caustic stand up show.

John Waters made some of the funniest and most outrageous comedy films of all time — “Hairspray,” “Pink Flamingos” and “Serial Mom,” just to name a few. “Hairspray” went on to become a Broadway hit and won him a slew of Tony Awards. At the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival, he will be performing his critically acclaimed and hilarious one-man show, “This Filthy World.” This will be a once in a lifetime chance to see the master of comedy and filmmaking in northern Michigan.

Jeff Garlin will perform his very funny act on the stage of the State Theatre. Garlin just received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for his work on the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Veterans of the film festival have witnessed smidgens of Jeff’s comic genius; comedy festival audiences will get the full treatment. And on Friday and Saturday nights, Jeff Garlin will host a free late night “talk show” at Horizon Books.

J.B. Smoove, Garlin’s co-star on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is truly one of the funniest comedians around. In fact, if one were to take a poll of most comics, he would top the favorite comics list. The spirit of Richard Pryor lives on in J. B. Smoove, and he too will play Traverse City.

The festival is also bringing two of the fastest rising stars on the comedy circuit. The first is Whitney Cummings, whose one-woman show, “Live! Nude! Comedy!” has received rave notices around the country. Variety calls her one of the “Ten New Comedy Stars to Watch.”

And the festival will present the hot young comic Mike Birbiglia. Comedy critics say it won’t be long before it will be impossible to get tickets to see his act. According to Esquire, he’s “Jerry Seinfeld, if Jerry were remotely conversant with hip-hop.”

For improv lovers, the comedy festival offers TJ & Dave, Second City veterans who are widely acknowledged to be living legends in long form improv.

And for sketch comedy, the festival will present the Chicago duo of Joe Avella and Tim Racine, Teenager of the Year, billed as “the best group in Chicago, better than everyone… at everything. Best group, best band, sports team, restaurant, car wash. Doesn’t matter, we are the best everything.”

Schedule and ticketing information will be released next week, along with the list of movies and kids shows. Venues for the comedy festival will include the State Theatre, the City Opera House, the Old Town Playhouse, Horizon Books and the downtown outdoor venue, the Wade Trim parking lot.

The comedy fest will be a volunteer-run event, like the film festival, and local donors and sponsors will be asked to help cover expenses. Tickets will range in price from free to reasonably priced headliner tickets, so all people, no matter what their income, will be able to participate.

The festival aims to pump some much-needed revenue into the local economy by bringing people downtown and from out of town to the snowy Ann Arbor of the North.

A Project of the Non Profit Traverse City Film Festival
PO Box 4064, Traverse City MI 49685
231-392-1134