Party at the Moontower: Lara's 2018 Moontower Comedy Picks!

It’s the most won­der­ful time of the year! That’s right, it’s what we at Com­e­dy Wham refer to as ​“Com­e­dy Christ­mas.” It’s the sev­enth Moon­tow­er Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val and if you haven’t got­ten badges or tick­ets, I’m not sure what you’re wait­ing for! Or how we can even be friends?! Okay, enough dra­mat­ics, it’s time for me to do the gru­el­ing task of pick­ing amongst some of the best com­e­dy line­ups in the coun­try and decid­ing which ones I will see. Cue the vio­lins, because with this sched­ule, you can­not make a bad choice.

For some sil­ly rea­son I have nev­er seen Tig Notaro, so as I’m typ­ing this I’m already in line at the Para­mount The­atre for her 7pm show. This begins my Thurs­day, April 21 sched­ule. Next up, I head to Antone’s for Major FOMO at 9:30pm with Ali Sad­diq, Tom Rhodes, and Mike MacRae, just to name a few. Always a great way to close a Moon­tow­er night, I will stay parked at Antone’s for the 11:30 return of Josh Adam Mey­ers’ God­damn Com­e­dy Jam. If you’ve nev­er expe­ri­enced the Com­e­dy Jam, come­di­ans do a set, tie it into song, and then per­form said song with a live band! You are guar­an­teed to lose your voice singing along.

The appro­pri­ate way to start the day, Fri­day kicks off with the apt­ly named You Up , the Sir­iusXM show with Nik­ki Glaser at Palm Door at 11am. I’m always intrigued by shows with an inter­est­ing con­cept, so it shouldn’t sur­prise you that I’m eager to see The Para­mount Sto­ry Wran­glers, fea­tur­ing com­e­dy leg­end Dom Irrera, Los Ange­les’ Jere­mi­ah Watkins, and Austin favorite Avery Moore per­form­ing sketch­es writ­ten by Austin ele­men­tary school stu­dents! Lat­er that evening I will join the oth­er campers in, what has become a tra­di­tion for me, gath­er­ing around The Bon­fire, SiriusXM’s show host­ed by Dan Soder and Big Jay Oak­er­son. They have sched­uled guests, but with so many come­di­ans con­verg­ing on Austin, you nev­er know who may drop in and say hel­lo. It may be tight, but I’m going to try my luck at see­ing World Cham­pi­on Judah Fried­lan­der at The Velv. Plan­ning to close out my evening with Stars in Bars, the night­ly show­case that dish­es out major head­lin­ers in a more inti­mate set­ting than you would nor­mal­ly see them, and SHE­BANG!, Moontower’s sig­na­ture all-female showcase. 

Anoth­er tra­di­tion I refuse to miss each year is the Ping Pong Slap­down, host­ed by the Sklar Broth­ers. This day­time tour­na­ment pits brack­ets of come­di­ans and fans against one anoth­er until a final vic­tor emerges. How­ev­er, fear not, los­ing is actu­al­ly how you get inter­viewed by the Sklar Broth­ers. My after­noon now sends me over to Raised by TV with Jon Gabrus and Lau­ren Lap­kus, to ful­fill my nos­tal­gia for the 80’s/90’s tele­vi­sion I was also raised by. 

Sat­ur­day night is where I am real­ly strug­gling to choose, so I’m giv­ing you a few of my options and if you see me there, you’ll know what I chose. In the 7:30pm spot I’m torn between Stand-up On the Spot, an impro­vised stand up show, at The Velv and Nik­ki Glaser at Cap City Com­e­dy Club. Tied for my 9/9:30pm slot are Apres Le Del­uge: The Bud­dy Cole Mono­logues, at Fall­out The­ater star­ring Scott Thomp­son of Kids in the Hall and Maria Bam­ford at State­side Theatre. 

Last­ly, do I dare do one last night of God­damn Com­e­dy Jam at 11pm at Parish or spin the wheel and head to 800 Con­gress for Satel­lite Sur­prise at 11:15pm? Satel­lite Sur­prise is a show host­ed by the Sklar Broth­ers fea­tur­ing some of the best comics of the fes­ti­val, but the line­up is kept secret, like a com­e­dy grab-bag of awe­some­ness. What­ev­er I choose, I know I will have an unfor­get­table time and what­ev­er you choose, so will you! Par­ty at the Moontower…see ya there!!!