PORT TOWNSEND — Sixteen comics from the United States and Britain will compete in the Seattle International Comedy Competition on Wednesday night at The Upstage Theatre and Restaurant, 923 Washington St.
The Upstage is just one port of call for the regional competition, which is in its second week of preliminaries. Comedians are traveling from club to club throughout Western Washington in hopes of going on to the semifinals.
Among the comedians preparing to do five-minute sets here are Bob Biggerstaff and John Wessling from Houston; Dan Boulger from Boston; Nancy Reed from Austin, Texas; Matt Davis from Birmingham, Ala.; Billy Wayne Davis, Drew Barth and Danielle Radford from Seattle; Vintz Fluke from Manchester, England; Victor McCullough from Hollywood, Calif.; Andrew Orvedahl from Denver; Keith Wallan from Vancouver, Wash.; Andy Wood and Nathan Brannon from Portland, Ore.; AJ Finney from Kansas City, Mo.; and Sean Patton from New Orleans.
The host for the two-hour comedy show is former competition finalist Lars Callieou of Edmonton, Alberta.
These performers were chosen from hundreds of candidates, festival producer Ron Reid said, adding that “this is the most overwhelming response we have ever had to our call for entries.”
The multiweek Seattle International Comedy Competition pits 32 comedians against one another in preliminaries that started last week and progresses to semifinals and finals later this month.
Cash prizes of more than $15,000 go to the winners along with comedy-club bookings and a one-year recording contract with the all-comedy record label Uproar Entertainment.
Show time Wednesday is 8 p.m. and tickets are $12.
For reservations, phone The Upstage at 360-385-2216 or visit www.upstagerestaurant.com.
