In Valerie’s words, after going to Austin comedy shows for years, she was curious about the comics she was seeing perform and who they were off-stage. Comedy Wham has become a way to promote Austin comics, comics coming through or connected to Austin, Austin comedy shows, Austin comedy festivals, Austin comedy venues, and comedy in general. As comedy fans, we want to help comics and fans alike learn about what's happening in the comedy scene.
It started with our founder David Thomas (no, not the burger chain one) who wanted to promote local Austin shows by posting blogs. Valerie Lopez joined to add a podcast to feature interviews with Austin comics and those coming through Austin, and she also writes, plans, and serves as a contact person for the events pages. Lara Smith contributes interviews, articles, and festival coverage. Richard Goodwin joined to write articles and eventually to make ComedyWham.com the amazing destination website you see today including being the home of the Austin events page. Miss Purrington, George Clawstanza, and Penny serve as the cats spokes-purr-sons behind the scenes.
Over the last 10 years Austin comedy has been the source of amazing comics making big splashes when they move away to NYC and LA (just to rattle off a few names, Martin Urbano, Devon Walker, Daniel Webb, Vanessa Gonzalez). Now big name comics are moving to Austin. The number of shows happening on any given night is proof of how hot the scene is. We're also home to a number of comedy festivals that draw national and international comics here. We didn't know what a gem Austin was when we started Comedy Wham, but we're happy to have grown right along with the comedy scene.
Well, because Brian Gendron asked. That's the short version. The long version is that lots of Austin comics regularly perform in Houston and vice versa, and Brian loved our Austin events calendar and wished one existed in Houston. Richard made it happen in March 2021 and we started interviewing more Houston comics, too (including Brian).
Well, because MONNA asked. That's the short version. While MONNA is based in Dallas, she’s produced a lot of shows in Austin and loved our events page. Naturally, she asked if we’d consider a DFW events page and we launched it in December 2021. You can check out MONNA's podcast episode, too!
Why yes! Thanks for asking. Lucky for us Comedy Wham is a unique name and we can be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and Discord. Search for @comedywham
We rarely promote individual shows, but mostly because we're so busy with what we're already doing. We do promote the various comedy festivals including creating festival event pages. If a comic has a special show they want to promote, the best way to do that is by submitting it to the events page. Of course, during interviews, comics are free to promote their shows and projects.
Do you know of a show we should be covering? Are you interested in covering a comedy event for us? If you have an idea about Austin/Houston/DFW comedy, send a note to comedywham@comedywham.com.
We have a pretty good sense of what's happening in the Austin comedy scene, so if you keep working and getting noticed by show bookers and producers, we’ll find you and ask to schedule your interview. From time to time, we'll accept an interview request to help promote a special show, taping, or album release. Get in touch with us at comedywham@comedywham.com . Send only 1 request, please. Once your interview is released by podcast, we'll also write an article based on the interview. It's a great promo piece for you to share with your fans!
We wish we could do more album reviews (it's a time crunch thing again)! Get in touch with us at comedywham@comedywham.com if you have one coming out or you represent someone with an album coming out. Preference is for label-produced albums, but we may make exceptions for self-produced albums occasionally. Send only 1 request, please. We'll write an article reviewing your album. It's a great promo piece for you to share with your fans!
Yes! Be prepared to provide writing samples. Since our articles are all posted to www.comedywham.com , it's easy enough for you to determine if you can fit our writing style. Get in touch and we'll see if we can make something work. Preference is given to Austin comics. Email us at comedywham@comedywham.com
Since we’re a small team, we’re focused on Austin, Houston, and DFW comedy scenes. If we could clone ourselves, we’d love to cover more and cover comedy news as well, but there are other sources for that, so we will continue our focus on these 3 scenes.
We love it when people reach out to help. We have a few contributors now who enjoy writing for us or assisting with festival coverage. They are usually comics and we have to know you, but we’re open to ideas! Email us at comedywham@comedywham.com
We currently book a monthly Comedy Wham Showcase in Lakeway Texas. If you follow our social media accounts, you’ll see the lineups and promotions in the week leading up to the first Tuesday show of the month. We are looking at doing more production, but we need help for expanding what we do. To see who is booking great shows in Austin/Houston/DFW, see the Austin, Houston, or DFW Events pages and look for the bookers.
We don’t work as booking agents, but the events pages are great resources for visiting comics. To see who is booking great shows in Austin/Houston/DFW, see the Austin, Houston, or DFW Events pages and look for the bookers.
Advertising on www.comedywham.com is a way to get our website visitors to come to your bar, restaurant or comedy show. You don’t have to be in the entertainment or service industry to benefit from advertising on Comedy Wham. Readers of Comedy Wham want to to support local comedy and local businesses. Contact us at comedywham@comedywham.com to inquire about how to advertise on our site.
We’re so happy to hear you want to get some Comedy Wham merch! If you find Valerie out and about town, chances are good you can score a sticker. We do sell magnets and keychains and we’ve set up 2 merch pages that you can order some shirts from. If you have a special request for some merch, let us know by contacting us at comedywham@comedywham.com
Merch pages are (each has different offerings):
Every little bit helps. We do receive a little bit of money from allowing ads on our website, but there are other ways to support us.
You can advertise, buy merch, or you can make a donation via these handy-linky-things:
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Actually, we launched our Patreon in 2021 after thinking about it for a few years. We came up with some pretty realistic tier levels centered around small monthly supporting subscriptions to more generous tiers that earn some podcast-related perks.
Fan Level - $5/month
Super Fan Level - $10/month. Nominate interview guests, sticker
VIP Fan Level - $25/month. Nominate interview guests, sticker, VIP Fan shoutouts on podcast episodes, monthly VIP Fan livestreams, t-shirt
Find us at: Patreon.com/comedywham
We have events pages for Austin, Houston, and DFW. We may be coming to other cities in the future, too! Keep an eye out.
The events pages are for fans and comics alike - you can pick a city, a show type, and you can even pick your favorite shows. For example, if you’re headed to Austin and want to check for open mics during your visit, select the Austin events page, select Open Mic as the show type and you should see all the possible options!
Our calendar is “fed” by comics submitting their shows. Sometimes, comics submit their shows and forget to let us know a show has ended. Always check with the host/producer or checking their social media pages before heading to a show.
Did you attend a show that wasn’t listed on the Comedy Wham events page? Ask the host or producer to submit their show to us so that you can use our page to find it in the future.
Contact us at comedywham@comedywham.com if you discover a show has been discontinued.
We have a super easy and convenient way to submit your shows - be they Headliner, showcase, open mic, improv, sketch, game show, variety, or “other”! Simply click on the “Submit a Show” button on the Events pages. Or, bookmark www.comedywham.com/events/new .
Once a show is successfully submitted, you’ll get a success message, an email confirming the details of your show, and an email from one of us at Comedy Wham confirming the show is live or asking you questions about your submission. Use the same confirmation email to notify us of changes in the future.
Our calendar is “fed” by comics submitting their shows. Sometimes, comics submit their shows and forget to let us know a show has ended. Always check with the host/producer or checking their social media pages before heading to a show.
Contact us at comedywham@comedywham.com if you discover a show has been discontinued.
Head to one of our events pages (for example, www.comedywham.com/events/Austin) , then select Open Mic as a show type. You should see a calendar view of all the open mics happening.
We don’t work as booking agents, but the events pages are great resources for visiting comics. To see who is booking great shows in Austin/Houston/DFW, see the Austin, Houston, or DFW Events pages and look for the bookers.
Our Love Language is Words of Affirmation and Receiving Gifts. We love seeing comics mention Comedy Wham as a resource for other comics!
Go ahead and send us feedback about how we’ve helped you out! We might feature your feedback on our social media post. One of our favorites was from Austin comic Mike Eaton, who was stunned how easy it was to submit a show, especially given how lazy he self-professed himself to be.
Gifts work, too, our favorite was Austin comic Megan Tucei who came armed for her podcast episode with her own homemade pasta!!
Write us at comedywham@comedywham.com or send us a DM on our social media (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook page).
Write us at comedywham@comedywham.com or send us a DM on our social media (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook page).
We don’t currently post video content on our website, but if you’re a past podcast guest, and have a video you’d like to us to share on our YouTube channel, let us know and we’ll work with you to do that. Write us at comedywham@comedywham.com
Of course we do. Don’t you?
Ok, fine, we doubt that site crashes are due to anything more than errant 1s and 0s being out of place. If you find that something is causing the site to crash for you, let us know. Be sure to tell us if it’s happening on a desktop or mobile version of our site. Richard is a true website wizard and can usually get the 1s and 0s to line up properly in short order.
Write us at comedywham@comedywham.com or send us a DM on our social media (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook page).
At last count over 500, but that includes an imposter. We are evaluating legal options, but more likely, it just means doubling down on posting new pictures. Interested in finding the pictures? Search for #MissPurry
You can also see Miss Purrington every time you successfully submit a show to our events submission form (sorry dog folks, Miss Purry rules!)