Aug 4 – Milwaukee Comedy Festival

Saturday, August 4

3pm at The Underground Collaborative

The first of 5 shows on Saturday starts things off with some real talent! With improv from Personal Space, Milwaukee, and more stand up from Megan Hosack, Chicago, and Milwaukee favorite AJ Grill will headline.

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About the Comics:

Derek Minto (Host)
Stand Up, Pittsburgh
Derek Minto is stand-up comedian currently residing on the top of a mountain in Pittsburgh PA. Derek been a featured comic for the WDVE comedy festival as well as being voted best comic in the City Paper Best of the Burgh in 2016. Derek has opened for Hannibal Buress, Todd Glass, John Heffon, and Amy Schumer once drunkenly told him he was very funny. Derek has traveled the United States doing comedy but still finds any city without fries on their salad gross.

Personal Space
Improv, Milwaukee
Our group was born out of the Mojo Dojo Way of the Dragon workshop, and we have been improvising together for about 2 years. Based on a suggestion from the audience, Personal Space creates a location and improvises a one-act play. We explore the environment and characters, and hijinks will inevitably ensure!

Megan Hosack
Music Stand up, Chicago
Megan is a musician and comedian from Chicago, Illinois. She brings a silly, witty, and at times even dark and absurd comedic sensibility to her songwriting. She is joined on stage by James Lenger, a musician who dips his toes into comedy at times.

AJ Grill (Headliner)
Stand Up, Milwaukee
AJ is a standup comedian based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An Iowa native he is the 2016 winner of Penguins Comedy Club Funniest Person in Iowa. AJ performs all over the country and has recently been featured in the Memphis, Floodwater and Cape Fear Comedy Festivals. He has also appeared at the world famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles. His comedy is a mix of wordplay, humorous personal tragedy, and the occasional rant about nature.

5pm at The Underground Collaborative

Some great examples of the thriving Chicago and Milwaukee comedy scenes make up this event! Milwaukee based funny people Elijah Holbrook will host and Goodlanders Improv, along with Chicago comic Ashley Ray and Sketch comedy from Neil Arsenty.

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About the Comics:

Elijah Holbrook (Host)
Stand Up, Milwaukee
Elijah Holbrook is a stand up comedian that has smart jokes mixed with absurd observations and occasional word play making entertaining show filled with laughs and quick wit that anyone enjoy from small Midwest towns to the big city.

Goodlanders
Improv, Milwaukee
Good Landers is a 3-year-old comedy troupe based in Milwaukee. We specialize in Armando style long-form improvisation. Our shows begin with audience suggestion, which inspires monologues and scenic improv. Feature shows often include special guests, both as participants as well as stand-up opening acts.

Ashley Ray
Stand Up, Chicago
Ashley Ray is a Chicago-based writer and comic who has been featured on Vice, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Reader and Jezebel. She explores the intersection between comedy, gender, pop-culture and race. In 2017, she was voted the 2nd Best Chicagoan to follow on Twitter by the Chicago Reader for her humor and insight. Ashley has performed at Helltrap Nightmare, Clickhole Live, Strip Joker, Chicago Underground Comedy, iO, The Second City and The Laugh Factory.

Neil Arsenty (Headliner)
Sketch, Chicago
Neil Arsenty: A Series of Hats and Mustaches. Using a script of wit and panache and a series of hats and mustaches, comedian Neil Arsenty presents a variety of interconnected characters in unique situations. Join an amusing world filled with love and hope, a culmination of the best performances Arsenty has done over the last 10 years, along with new material.

7:30pm at The Underground Collaborative

An excellent line up of stand up and sketch comedy with host Dana Ehrmann from Milwaukee, sketch comedy from The Comic Thread and stand up from Sherman Edwards, Chicago, and headliner Nicholas Anthony, Los Angeles.

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About the Comics:

Dana Ehrmann (Host)
Stand Up, Milwaukee
Dana Ehrmann first tried stand-up as a student at Carthage College in Kenosha, and has been self-deprecating and discussing sort-of-but-not-quite-adulthood on stage ever since. Now based in Milwaukee, she has performed at the Cream City Comedy Festival and Great Spirit Comedy Festival, and opened for Hari Kondabolu, Charlie Berens and Sean Patton. She’s also sorry she hasn’t watched that T.V. show you recommended, but she just has, like, a lot going on right now.

The Comic Thread
Sketch, Chicago
TCT is proud to be back at the Milwaukee Comedy Fest for the fourth time! Hailing from Chicago, TCT won BEST GROUP: LA Comedy Fest, AUDIENCE CHOICE: Chicago Fringe Fest, and are EMMY® AWARD WINNERS for their web short “The Engagement Party.” Aptly described as “Surrealistic comedy that bends the edges of logic in any particular direction with enough grace that you truly don’t know what’s coming next. And you really don’t care because there’s a 90% chance that it’ll be exceptionally funny” (Express Milwaukee).

Sherman Edwards
Stand Up, Chicago
Sherman Edwards was named 2012’s ‘Best Stand Up Comic in Chicago’ by the Chicago Reader and has been lucky enough to perform at the TBS Just for Laughs Festival in Chicago, The Del Close Marathon in New York, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and a few other notable places which has given him his cool, comfortable, laid-back style. Born and raised in Virginia but currently residing in Chicago, he can be found doing stand up, plays, improv and he can be seen on HBO GO’s “Single Long” and FOX’s “Empire”. He really likes cheese and hopes you do too. It’s okay if you don’t though. More for him.

Nicholas Anthony (Headliner)
Stand Up, Los Angeles
“High-Energy/ Heady” Nicholas Anthony’s curious mind takes random situations and twists them into comedic gems. With his quick, candid delivery he creates a fun-house ride audiences never forget. Nicholas received 1st place at the coveted Las Vegas Comedy Festival, has been on 2 seasons of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and is currently writing for CBS’s The Inspectors. Nicholas Anthony is quickly becoming one of America’s top touring comedians.

10pm at The Underground Collaborative

This Mid-West showcase of talent will feature Brittany Tilander (Host) from Madison, U Name It Improv, Chicago, and stand up from Carly Malison, Milwaukee and Andrew Frank, St. Louis.

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About the Comics:

Brittany Tilander (Host)
Stand Up, Madison
Brittany Tilander doesn’t give one good god damn what you think and this confidence is carrying her everywhere she wants to go. Her sharp humor and biting stories tend to toe the line between chaste and bawdy but leave you cackling and begging for more. She hosts a Strip-Storytelling Showcase, “Body Language” and is a writer and performer in the sketch comedy group The Late Early Show. She has performed at The Comedy Club on State opening for Ian Bagg, Noah Gardenswartz and Brent Morin.

UnameIt
Improv, Chicago
UnameIT combines the comedic talents of Rob Wilson and Sherman Edwards. They both were apart of Second City’s Diversity & Outreach program, Mission Improvable. They have been seen on FOX’s “Empire” and have performed on almost every comedy stage in Chicago and beyond. They’ve been performing comedy at clubs and colleges all over America and they can’t wait to perform for you.

Carly Malison
Stand Up, Milwaukee
Carly Malison is a comedian based out Milwaukee, WI. Where her comedy tackles the tough issues in life like her mother, and living in the drunkest city in the world. With three years of comedy under her belt Carly has already earned a few credits. Along with featuring and emceeing shows all over Wisconsin and Illinois, she is the reigning champion of the Caste of Killers’ Snark Madness comedy competition. She has performed at Turner Hall, the Gilda Radner Laughfest in Grand Rapids, MI and The Lady Laughs Festival in Madison, WI.

Andrew Frank (Headliner)
Stand Up, St. Louis
Andrew Frank is a comedian based out of St. Louis. His cerebral, imaginative style and relentless ethic have resulted in six nationwide tours spanning a total of 144 cities. His love of language, philosophy, sociology, biology, psychology, anthropology, and cosmology are on full display each time he takes the stage. He was the Winner of Make Me Laugh 2015, The Winner of Go Bananas Comedy Clubs Funniest in Cincinnati 2016, and the Runner Up in Trial By Laughter 2015. He was one of 32 comedians selected to participate in the 38th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition.

He will be competing in the Laughing Devil Festival in New York City this year, as well as performing his one hour show at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, Edmonton International Fringe Festival, and various venues in France, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Estonia. His first independently filmed hour special entitled Macrocosm was released in February 2017.

Midnight at The Underground Collaborative

The Late Night stand up showcase is not for the easily offended, with host Drew Flagge, Milwaukee, Levi Manis, Seattle, Trevor Gertonson, Chicago and headliner Matty Field, Milwaukee.

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About the Comics:

Drew Flagge (Host)
Stand Up, Milwaukee
I have been doing comedy for 4 years in Milwaukee, frequenting open mics 5 nights per week. Recently I competed in Madison’s funniest comic competition(didn’t win) but more importantly I run the Insult & Battery Roast Battle show in Milwaukee which has just passed its 1 year anniversary in April. I also hosted and opened for the Mean Boys Podcast when they were in town earlier this year. That’s all…

Levi Manis
Stand Up, Seattle
Levi started doing comedy when he was 21 in Arizona. After 6 months of open mics, he moved back home to Seattle to pursue his comedic endeavors. Since then, he has featured on the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle, the Devil Cup festival in NYC, and the Mutiny Radio festival in San Francisco. He has also starred in videos for the WatchCut Youtube channel that have been seen by millions.

Trevor Gertonson
Stand Up, Chicago
Trevor Gertonson began performing comedy in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Acme Comedy Club where he was a semifinalist in the 2010 Funniest Person in the Twin Cities Contest. He went on to perform his stand up throughout the Midwest and parts of the East and West Coast in rock venues and comedy clubs/festivals. He has been a regular at Gilda’s LaughFest in Grand Rapids, MI and the Elgin Fringe Festival. His first 30-minute special I’ve Seen better was released in 2012. He is also the creator of the comedy showcase DVD series Laugh You Bastards. Trevor’s stand up has been reviewed as “funny, weird and deeply human.” You should go see him. He would appreciate it.

Matty Field (Headliner)
Stand Up, Milwaukee
Matty Field can’t be put into a box, bro. Unless that box was labeled “Straight white bearded comedian with glasses”. Then he fits quite well into that box, along with 7500 other dudes. BUT, he’s a passionate absurdist and enjoys shining a light on racism, fatherhood, the elderly, and lots of other stupid things. Wait, important things. Before headlining the 2018 Milwaukee Comedy Festival, his biggest achievement was featuring at Dangerfield’s Comedy Club during the New York Comic Convention.