Contest finals kept the laughs coming
Nothing ever goes exactly as planned in stand-up comedy, so it was no surprise to see a few kinks in the Boston International Comedy & Movie Festival's contest finals on Saturday at the Berklee Performance Center. A late start, the cancellation of the host, Tom Bergeron (from "Hollywood Squares"), and the need to tailor the show to the editing requirements of
Steve Sweeney, who had been scheduled to close the show while the votes were being tabulated, did an admirable job of keeping things moving, stepping in as host at the last minute.
Festival cofounder Jim McCue took Sweeney's closing spot. The crowd was restless and talkative as a judge, Eddie Brill, began by waxing nostalgic about his Boston roots. The audience settled down as he finished and as Sweeney got the night rolling.
This year's final eight were the strongest group the festival has presented. Finalists hailed from all around the country: local veterans D. J. Hazard and Teddy Bergeron (no relation to Tom), former Boston comedian Tom Cotter, Tampa's Danny Bevins, Vancouver-by-way-of-Vegas's Darryl Lenox, Costaki Economopoulos and Tom Simmons, both from Atlanta, and James P. Connolly, who currently calls Los Angeles his home. All were competing for a share of the $10,000 purse.
Usually, at least one act flops in a competition, either because the performer didn't deserve to get through or from audience fatigue. That didn't happen here. From first to last, each contestant racked up laughs and applause.
The out-of-town contingent was especially fierce (Lenox, Bevins, Simmons, and Economopoulos are good friends who have been known to rent a house to write together). Hazard and Bergeron have roughly half a century's experience between them, and their poise showed onstage.
But it was Cotter who turned in the set of the night for audience and judges alike.
Cotter's quick, sarcastic style didn't give the crowd much room to breathe. He stuffed a wealth of topics into his 10-minute slot, including his Irish heritage ("I get burned by the moon on cloudy nights") and a Christmas tree cutting party ("First they get you liquored up, then they hand you an ax. What could go wrong?"). Cotter took the main prize, followed by Bevins and Simmons.
It was a fitting end to a festival that included some hidden gems from out of town (Keith Alberstadt from Nashville, Chris White of Washington, D. C.) and a strong showing from Boston comics Rich Gustus, Mary Beth Cowan, Chris Tabb, and Ben Boime in earlier rounds. There was a stark contrast between the comics sweating it out in the clubs and legends such as Joan Rivers and Jackie Mason playing in theaters such as the Wilbur and the Orpheum.
If this festival lasts another 30 years, it might be the Cotters, Bevinses, and Simmonses on those marquees, with a new batch of young comics trying to live up to the standards they set this year.
