North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival Preps for 13th Year

This year, the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival has set out to create a 13th year that will showcase the best up and coming stand-up comedians, sketch artists, and improvisors in the nation and some well-known headliners. In its 13th year, the festival remains one of the largest events of its kind on the East Coast. Organizers are busy finalizing the schedule, but they are pleased to announce the schedule and some already confirmed headliners for the 13th Annual North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival. This year's headliners include comedian Larry Miller and Kevin Allison's RISK! Live. This year the festival runs January 30-February 17. The festival will be held at several venues throughout the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area and will have one night each at the Carolina Theater and MotorCo in Durham. Tickets and a full schedule will be available at www.nccomedyarts.com.

The festival begins with stand-up comedy which runs January 30-February 3. Last year, the festival highlighted Mike Birbiglia and Eddie Brill. This year's line-up will be no exception. The festival continues with a week of sketch comedy running February 6-10. During the sketch week, the festival is hosting headliner Larry Miller at the Carolina Theatre in DurhaM. Miller brings his one man show, Cocktails with Larry Miller, to the Triangle on Friday February 8 at 8 p.m.

As one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, Comedian Larry Miller has appeared in over 50 films including Pretty Woman, The Nutty Professor, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and The Princess Diaries. He is also a regular guest on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In this new one-man show, Miller mixes two parts comedy, one pArt Theatre with a dash of music and a twist of truth. The Perils of Plumbing, The Unmasking of Marriage and A Debate between Moses and God are just an ice-breaker for this hilarious cocktail party

Also during the sketch block, the festival is welcoming a live performance of Kevin Allison's RISK!. This live show and podcast will take center stage at the Arts Center in Carrboro at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 9. RISK! is a show "where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share in public." The show will feature local storytellers and is hosted by Kevin Allison, of the MTV sketch comedy troupe The State. The award-winning live show happens monthly in New York and Los Angeles. It's featured people like Janeane Garofalo, Lisa Lampanelli, Kevin Nealon, Margaret Cho, Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Lili Taylor, Rachel Dratch, Andy Borowitz and more.

The final week of the festival features improv. Running from February 12-17, the longest running portion of the festival annually pulls out all of the stops. This year, the festival is welcoming Magnet Theatre Touring Company from New York City, Junior Varsity (NYC), North Coast (NYC), Dual Exhaust (Chicago), ImprovBoston Mainstage (Boston), BIllyhawk (Los Angeles), Popular Science (Los Angeles) and others.

For more than a decade, the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival has made the town of Carrboro and the Triangle a national comedy destination. In 2008, the festival raised the population of Carrboro by 4% for a week and generated $150,000 in spillover spending for the downtown business community. Local leaders and the Chapel Hill-Orange County Visitors Bureau have acknowledged DSI Comedy Theater and the NCCAF as contributors to area economic development. During the economic downturn, the festival has continued to grow.

"I am thrilled that the festival continues to attract the level of talent that it does. The teams representing the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in both New York and Los Angeles this year are incredible. However, the ease with which the festival can program acts representing these two theaters alongside equally amazing talent out of Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, DC and right here in North Carolina – that's impressive," explains Founder and Executive Producer Zach Ward. "I'm personally looking forward to seeing Kevin Allison in RISK! Live. Watching The State on MTV is a formative comedy experience that you just don't let go – The State was one of the first shows that turned me on to self-produced ensemble comedy."

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