New York Comedy Festival

DVDs
Live from the Laugh
Factory, Vol. 1 - Bob
Marley, Freddie Soto,
Ruben Paul and Butch
Bradley

The Aristocrats

Greg Behrendt - Greg
Behrendt is Uncool

Laughing Out Loud 2 -
More of America's
Funniest Comedians

Tom Green - Inside &
Outside

Gilbert Gottfried - Dirty
Jokes

Platinum Comedy
Edition - Sheryl
Underwood: Too Much
Information

P. Diddy Presents The
Bad Boys of Comedy -
Season One

CDs
Eugene Mirman, Bobby
Tisdale & More - Invite
Them Up Compilation

Harland Williams -
Har-larious

Michael Somerville -
Welcome to Somerville

Mitch Fatel - Super
Retardo

Tina Kim - Single Asian
Female

Rick Younger - Come
On N'ah

Steven Lynch - The
Craig Machine

Books
Larry the Cable Guy -
Git-R-Done

Judy Brown - The
Comedy Thesaurus

Billy Crystal - 700
Sundays

Tom Green and Allen
Rucker - Hollywood
Causes Cancer: The
Tom Green Story

Margaret Cho - I Have
Chosen to Stay and
Fight

Penn Jillette and
Mickey D. Lynn - How
to Cheat Your Friends
at Poker: The Widom
of Dickie Richard

Movies
Dec. 16
Big Momma's House 2 -
Martin Lawrence returns
as an FBI agent who
goes undercover as Big
Momma.

Dec. 23
Fun with Dick and Jane -
Jim Carrey with Tea
Leoni in the remake of
the 1977 comedy.

Dec. 25
Casanova - Omid Djalili
(HBO's One Night
Stand) co-stars with
Heath Ledger and
Jeremy Irons.

Hoodwinked - Andy Dick
lends his voice in the
animated feature
about the classic story
of Little Red Riding
Hood.

Jan. 6
Grandma's Boy - Kevin
Nealon, David Spade
and Nick Swardson add
laughs in the comedy
about a 35 year-old
man who moves in with
his grandmother and
her elderly roommates.
The movie was
produced by Adam
Sandler. Swardson
co-wrote the script.

Jan. 20
Match Point - Woody
Allen writes and directs
this Golden Globe
nominated drama
starring Scarlett
Johansson and
Jonathan Rhys-Meyer.

Feb. 3
Something New - Mike
Epps co-stars with
Sanaa Lathan in a
romantic comedy
directed by Sanaa
Hamri.

ABC-7 presented the 2nd Annual New York
Comedy Festival that granted comedy fans a
backstage pass to shows headlined by Denis
Leary, Joy Behar, DL Hughley, Mario Cantone,
David Alan Grier and Triumph the Insult Comic
Dog, but unfortunately it did not resonate with
the true essence of comedy.

The special was merely a publicity piece for
Caroline's on Broadway and an opportunity to
air footage to justify the festival. One of the
highlights of the six-day event was that it

brought comedians to 11 high schools - one in each borough.

The "Comedy in the Classroom" segment featured New York City comics such as Marina
Franklin, Donnell Rawlings and Pete Dominick. Watching them made me realize that the
real job of comedy is to reach out and give back to the community. Also, performing
stand up before high school students is definitely a more challenging experience than
performing at Caroline's on Thursday night.

I enjoyed watching Bob Saget, who is everyone's comic. He flits under the radar until he
gets onstage and rips it. I also loved Jon Stewart, but I see these comics on TV all the
time. A comedy festival is supposed to incorporate local talent, not just for an award in
honor of Andy Kaufman either, although I was happy to see a local, up and coming
comedian like Jessica Delfino gain some TV exposure.

Jeffrey Ross' film award was hilarious in that it was the only film in its category - more
stroking? Denis Leary will always have my respect for doing so much for the FDNY. It was
exciting to see New York based headliners Bill Burr, Nick DiPaolo and Patrice O'Neal
featured on Leary's show and receive airtime. Sam Champion hosting the special was
weird. I was expecting a weather report at a moments notice. Champion appeared a
little stiff and uncomfortable without his blue screen behind him. Mario Cantone could
have pulled the job off with a lot more gaiety.

Overall, the "Comedy in the Classroom" segment made the special worth watching. Most
of the show focused on the comedian's star status instead of the comedian. If The New
York Comedy Festival made an attempt to include more local talent on the roster like
the New York Underground Comedy Festival, maybe there would have been more of a
festival atmosphere and not just a series of headliner shows for celebrity comics.