Moontower Comedy 2019: Lara's Picks & Recommendations!

It’s that time of year again! Time to string up the lights, hang the orna­ments, and hang up your stock­ings in hopes that Andy Kindler leaves you some­thing good. Wait…Moontower does have orna­ments, right? They should, because it’s Com­e­dy Christ­mas again in Austin. I’ve been mak­ing my ​“naughty” and ​“nice” list and I’ll let you decide which list I go with to decide what shows I’m see­ing. With assis­tance from the new Moon­tow­er Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val app (avail­able for iPhone and Android), here are my picks for Moon­tow­er 2019:

Wednes­day

I’m kick­ing off Moon­tow­er on Wednes­day ⁴⁄₂₄ at Cap City Com­e­dy Club with The Dud­ley and Bob with Matt Sideshow, with guests, Ron Ben­ning­ton and Joe Derosa. This show appears to already be sold out, so if you need some alter­na­tives, I would point you to the very hard work­ing, Jere­mi­ah Watkins with Avery Pear­son at The Velv at 8pm, or Vir Das at 7pm or 9:30pm at The State­side The­ater. Watkins is a Com­e­dy Wham favorite and with all his ver­sa­til­i­ty as a musi­cian, standup, and actor, Moon­tow­er keeps him so busy, you’d swear he’s omnipresent. Das is an actor/​comedian of huge fame in India, who has quick­ly gained noto­ri­ety here. Watch his Net­flix spe­cial Abroad Under­stand­ing to see how well he blends pol­i­tics, eth­nic­i­ty, cul­ture, and reli­gious sub­jects into hilar­i­ous and thought-pro­vok­ing observations.

Thurs­day

Mov­ing into Thurs­day, I begin at Cap City again with my com­e­dy crush, Dan Soder with Ezno Pries­nitz. Soder has become a sta­ple of Moon­tow­er, both per­form­ing and with his Sir­ius XM show, The Bon­fire. If the stars align I will be rush­ing down­town to 800 Con­gress to catch New York’s Finest at 9:30pm. Per­haps Soder and I can share a Lyft down­town, as he’s also on the line­up there. Clos­ing the night out at Antone’s is the God­damn Com­e­dy Jam at 11:30pm and I have learned nev­er to miss these each night at Moon­tow­er. They are filled with moments you can­not pre­dict and will nev­er forget!

Fri­day

Fri­day. How is it already Fri­day?! I will begin at 5pm at the Inter­Con­ti­nen­tal SFA with the Austin Film Fes­ti­val tele­vi­sion series On Sto­ry. Kevin McDon­ald of Kids in the Hall will be the guest. I will be giv­ing myself plen­ty of time to get into my next pick, Andy Kindler’s Par­tic­u­lar Show at Speakeasy 8pm. Click that link to the line­up and you’ll see why I am so anx­ious to get in. Next I’m head­ed to the 9:45 pm Stars In Bars at Antone’s. Always a line­up of head­lin­ers you would nor­mal­ly only see in a big club, all booked in a more inti­mate set­ting. Every Stars in Bars I’ve ever been to has been stel­lar. Here’s where strat­e­gy is everything…I’m already at Antone’s for the next God­damn Com­e­dy Jam at 11:55pm

Sat­ur­day

Sat­ur­day, the final day of the fes­ti­val, starts ear­ly for me. Back at the Inter­Con­ti­nen­tal SFA with On Sto­ry with guest Dana Gould. I wouldn’t get up this ear­ly for just any­one. The tra­di­tion­al Ping Pong Slap­down starts at 2pm and there’s always tasty treats and hours of tour­na­ment enter­tain­ment, as comics and fes­ti­val-goers bat­tle it out on the stage. Then I’m off to That’s Offen­sive at 800 Con­gress 5pm, to watch Ron Ben­ning­ton mod­er­ate a pan­el dis­cus­sion on ​“what’s too offen­sive?” in the indus­try. Mak­ing my way east to The North Door at 8 pm for About Last Night host­ed by Adam Ray and Brad Williams, I will be in the per­fect posi­tion to remain there for the 10pm Roast Bat­tle. If you’ve nev­er seen Roast Bat­tle, make this a pri­or­i­ty, even if you have to catch a rideshare. Hav­ing just wit­nessed one at SXSW Com­e­dy, they are unfor­get­table. In true Moon­tow­er fash­ion, I will end might fes­ti­val at the God­damn Com­e­dy Jam, thus putting anoth­er won­der­ful Moon­tow­er Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val to bed in the wee hours of the morning.