Sharper local focus highlights this year's Comedy Festival
It's probably not a coincidence that this year's Boston Comedy Festival, which kicks off Sunday, has gotten a sharper focus the same year that organizers decided to get back to Boston's comedy roots. A quick scan of the schedule finds representatives from more than five decades of Boston comedy.
Norm Crosby and Bill Dana represent the first wave, from the '50s and '60s; Denis Leary , Steven Wright , and Kenny Rogerson , the '80s boom; Bill Burr , Jonathan Katz , and Anthony Clark from the overlooked-but-fertile '90s scene; and a host of younger acts, led by the Walsh Brothers and the main cast of Improv Asylum, represent some of the best of current scene.
Even the name is sharper. Gone is the unwieldy ``Boston International Movie & Comedy Festival" and, along with it, most of the puzzling theme shows. Wednesday's ``Studio Picks" at the Comedy Studio actually features comics who play the club regularly. Thursday's ``No [expletive] Rabbits: A Night of New Magic" at Dick's Beantown Comedy Vault will feature local magicians, and the ``Sketch Showcase" at Improv Asylum features, yep, sketch comedy. (That said, the Comedy Revolution, which runs Monday through Wednesday at the Vault, will not feature muskets or communists.)
In previous years, the centerpiece of the festival has been the stand-up competition, and the shows felt like an afterthought. That started to change with last year's ``Lewis Black & Friends," a night of talented comics handpicked by Black. This year's model builds on that success, kicking off Sunday with shows like ``Cruel and Unusual Punishment" at the Abbey Lounge and starring newly declared Libertarian presidential candidate and Worcester native Doug Stanhope. There's also the gay-themed ``Out and Out: A Comedy Gayla" at Club Cafe and a program of short films.
Some of the best acts are the ones with ties to Boston, thus the new slogan, ``Historically Funny." Emerson College will present a lifetime achievement award to Crosb y (and, oddly, to Jonathan Winters, who won't attend and has no ties to New England) next Saturday at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Crosby, a Dorchester native, has played for presidents and hung out with the Rat Pack, but he says this award `` is really special because it's from Boston, my old neighborhood."
When Crosby started out in the '50s, there were no full- time comedy clubs (they didn't pop up until the '80s). Crosby played variety and cabaret at weekend clubs from Worcester to Maine, where comics shared the stage with singers and other acts. ``Massachusetts was a great starting- out point because you had every ethnic background, every social strata," says Crosby. ``Blue collar, white collar, green collar. It was wonderful."
The out-of-town talent is stronger this year, too. Black returns to the Majestic Friday and Saturday with Des Bishop , a big name in Ireland, local acts Rogerson, Danvers native Nick DiPaolo, and festival organizer Jim McCue . Comedian and columnist Steve Hofstetter has his own show next Saturday at Dick Doherty's Beantown Comedy Vault.
With all the younger comics in the Studio show and the Walsh Brothers' Thursday night show at ImprovBoston, there's a chance someone might get work at the Montreal Comedy Festival auditions at Steve Sweeney's Comedy Cafe on Thursday (the club is slated to close but will be open for the festival) or Friday's ``The Late Show With David Letterman" auditions at Improv Asylum.
The Boston Comedy Festival runs from Sunday through Saturday at area venues. For details, call 617-782-8100 or visit www.bostoncomedyfestival.com. 