Banded Together: Touring as a Standup Comedy Group
Spike Lee's Original Kings of Comedy struck box-office gold in 2000. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour filled theaters for six years. And the Comedians of Comedy documentary – which debuted at SXSW in 2005 – turned Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford and Brian Posehn into standup megastars, kicking off a trend now sweeping the industry. Today many groups have enjoyed booking and production avenues that might remain otherwise unattainable by their individual members. Touring as a unit can also come with its own headaches…and pitfalls. Performers and industry members discuss the work and rewards involved when comics come together to leave audiences laughing as one.
Presenters
Julie Seabaugh received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. She has contributed to the 14 alternative-weekly papers in the Village Voice Media chain, Spin, Alternative Press, Blender, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago, spent three years as a Las Vegas Weekly staff A&E writer and founded, published and oversaw the entire editorial content of Two Drink Minimum – a NYC-based print and online magazine dedicated to stand-up comedy – from 2003-2005. Among other current pursuits including PR, booking and production, Seabaugh also serves as Comedy Doer for BrownPaperTickets.com and recently launched professional comedy-criticism site TheSpitTake.com. She lives in New York City and Los Angeles.
Jack Vaughn is the head of Comedy Central Records, the world's premiere comedy record label.
HENRY H. OWINGS is a writer, graphic designer, semi-professional heckler, dog lover and publisher of the no-holds-barred chronicle of the music industry Chunklet Magazine. Since moving to Georgia almost two decades ago, Grammy Award nominee Owings has also at various times worked as a booking agent, DJ, promoter, record producer, and tour manager. When he's not busy with all of this, he plays whirlyball which is essentially polo in bumper cars. His team is currently 63-0 against rock bands. "The Indie Cred Test," Owings' third book is being released worldwide by Penguin/Perigee this fall. Henry lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife, Sarah, his daughter Charlotte and two Australian Labradoodles Bun E. Carlos and David Lee Roth.
Website(s): www.chunklet.com or www.henryowings.com
Wednesday, March 14
