bbc comedy festival – The Comedy Bureau

The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 107: Chris Copen & Small Market Comedy Economics

April 13, 2022

bbc comedy festival, bottlerocket social hall, chris copen, gilbert gottfied, pittsburgh

While the primary focus of The Comedy Bureau is in LA and NYC, there is plenty of great comedy to be had and shared all around the country (and the world). In fact, there are so many folks in smaller cities/markets that would love to see more than whatever the comedy club in the biggest city near them offers them that there would seem to be a niche to be filled.

That’s where Chris Copen and Bottlerocket Social Hall come in.

Copen, a la Field of Dreams, is opening up an indie comedy theater, following in the footsteps of Philly’s Good Good Comedy Theatre, that will be a forward thinking, “hip”, multi-faceted comedy and performance theater. After trying a traditional industry route that was upended by the pandemic, Chris followed his dreams down a long, very winding road to open a dreamy, 70s inspired comedy spot. Copen shares his journey as well as the lay of the land of how comedy works in smaller markets and what the future holds with TCB’s Jake Kroeger for this week’s Field Report.

Also, “hot” takes on the passing of Gilbert Gottfried & Sara Mostajabi, The BBC Comedy Festival, and more.

Follow Bottlerocket Social Hall @bottlerocketpgh across platforms and Chris @chris_copen on Twitter & @typicalwhitegiant on IG

The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger).

Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

The BBC Is Throwing Its Very First BBC Comedy Festival

April 12, 2022

News

Adjani Salmon, bbc comedy festival, charlie brooker, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Greg Davies, Jamie Demetriou, Kat Sadler, megan ganz, romesh ranganathan, stephen merchant, Tim Renkow

The British Broadcasting Corporation has long since been a home for UK TV comedy as evidenced by the original version of The Office from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant debuting on BBC Two seemingly eons ago.

To continue in their comedy lineage and tradition and looking forward to their future, they’re throwing their very first BBC Comedy Festival in Newcastle next month from Wed. 11th May to Fri. 13th May. BBC’s Director of Comedy, Jon Petrie punctuated the announcement, “We are excited to be coming to Newcastle, the BBC’s first City of Comedy, to celebrate comedy in all its forms and to outline BBC Comedy’s vision for the genre in 2022 and beyond. We are committed to nurturing, developing and collaborating with comedy enthusiasts across the UK, to ensure comedy remains a staple part of our British culture.

With a focus on panel discussions and “in conversations”, this does seem to be geared for people in comedy, but rest assured there will actually be brilliant live comedy to be thoroughly enjoyed by those in attendance. Lined-up on the schedule include appearances from Charlie Brooker, Greg Davies, Jamie Demetriou, Megan Ganz, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Romesh Ranganathan, Stephen Merchant, Tim Renkow, Kat Sadler, Adjani Salmon, and Holly Walsh – plus the casts of BBC hits – Ghosts and The Outlaws.

If you’re in and around the UK a month from now, you’ll probably want to get in on this. We’ll keep you posted on passes/tickets.