The Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree John Ratzenberger

From November  11 to 19, Somerville will be the Center of the Comedy Universe! 

The Boston Comedy Festival, now in its 17th year, will have something for everyone. The festival includes both famous and soon-to-be famous comedians, the latter vying for the top spot of the $10,000 Comedy Contest. 

The Comedian of the Year Award will be presented to Boston’s own Patty Ross. Patty has been on a roll with hilarious parts in the films Spotlight, The Heat, Grown Ups and The Three Stooges, to name but a few.
 
The Boston Comedy Festival will also honor the great John Ratzenberger with the Lifetime Achievement Award. While he is best known (and beloved in Boston) for his iconic role as Cliff Clavin in the classic television series, Cheers, he is also the only actor to have voiced a character in every single Pixar film. Additionally, the films he has appeared in have a greater box office than any other actor, ever.

David Zucker, who made the movie Airplane (and& countless other comedies) will be honored for his Contribution to Film Comedy. Mr. Zucker created an entirely new genre of comedy, which continues to this day.
 
The Festival will conclude with 8 top comedians (who have beaten out literally hundreds), competing for the $10,000 and bragging rights that go to the Winner of the 2016 BCF Comedy Competition at the Somerville Theater on Nov 19. Fresh off Gotham Live, Boston comedian Jim McCue, “Boston’s King of Crowd Work”, will be hosting this gala comedy event. 
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

What better way to kick off the Boston Comedy Festival then with Boston Comedy Legend Steve Sweeney in his one-man show Townie. He’ll be utilizing all his Boston Characters that have made him famous on Friday, November 11 @ 7:00 pm at The Rockwell Theater in Somerville.

Also on Friday, November 11 is national headliner Justin McKinney, at The Rockwell @ 9:30 pm, with a $20 admission price. With multiple performances on The Tonight Show, his own Comedy Central specials and consistently selling out theaters, he’s at the top of his game.

The BCF is excited to present Ronny Chieng on November 12 @ 8:00 pm and 10:00 at The Rockwell, with an admission price of $22. Ronny Chieng is a Chinese-American stand-up and actor who was born in Malaysia, and raised in NH and Singapore. He made his US television debut on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2015. He is a correspondent on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central. 

On November 14 @ 7:00 pm Kyle Kinane will play the Rockwell. Kyle is an internationally touring comedian who has appeared on @Midnight, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, Workaholics, This Is Not Happening, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser” and Comedy Bang! Bang! He invented science. His newest one hour special, Kyle Kinane: Loose in Chicago was on Comedy Central in October of this year.

Boston Comedy Legend Lenny Clarke Will appear at the Rockwell on November 15 at 8 PM. Lenny was born in Cambridge and is the most famous “saloon comic” of the peak of the Boston comedy scene. He has been on too many TV shows and films to name. Lenny’s special guest will be Christine Hurley, who is never at a loss for comedic material, and hosted by Tumblin’ Jack Walsh.

The Boston Comedy Festival Contest will begin on November 16 at the Rockwell theater and Once Somerville and will conclude at the Somerville Theater.  The BCF Contest, a nationwide stand-up competition, will present 96 bright-eyed comics competing for $10,000 dollars in prize money.  When it’s over, there will be one comic standing with a nice little bag of money and a ton of bragging rights.

On November 17 at 9:30 PM Eugene Mirman’s HOLD ON will be at the Once Theater, with an admission price of $20. Often, the very best stories have a moment – or several moments – where the audience desperately wishes that they could raise their hand, jump up, and ask the storyteller on stage one question: “UM, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??!!” Well in this hilarious show That’s exactly what Eugene does. 

On November 19 @ 7:00 pm the BCF presents the legendary Emo Phillips at the Rockwell Theater for just $20. Described by Jay Leno as “the best joke writer in America,” and considered by many, including “Weird Al” Yankovic, as the funniest person on the planet.

At 9:30 PM at the Rockwell, Emo will share the stage with the great Barry Crimmins, the man who literally started the Boston comedy scene. Author of Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal and star of the documentary, Call Me Lucky,he founded two of Boston’s most fabled clubs: The Ding Ho and Stitches, where acts like Steven Wright, Bobcat Goldthwait & Kevin Meaney got their start. Mr. Crimmins will headline, while the one and only Emo Phillips will feature.