Starting Wednesday night, local comedians will take the stage every Wednesday night in a bid to earn the prestigious title of “Funniest Person in Bloomington.”
The tournament, which will take place at the Comedy Attic, will progress through 11 weeks of preliminary, semifinal and final rounds until a winner is declared.
A big factor in the event’s success has been a strictly audience-only voting policy, said Jared Thompson, owner of the Comedy Attic.
“I can’t think of one show that hasn’t been sold out or nearly sold out,” Thompson said. “It’s the kind of event where I’d recommend getting tickets in advance.”
In the tournament, 20 comedians advance to the second round in accordance with the audience’s paper-ballot vote.
That number is whittled down in the following seven weeks until just three contenders remain Aug. 24.
Bloomington Comedy Festival was jumpstarted in 2009 when a standard open mic night took on a competitive twist, Thompson said.
“We just decided to do something interesting,” he said. “We thought we’d have a tournament over the summer and call it Bloomington Comedy Festival—and it ended up being so popular that we sold out every seat.
“Actually we were going to close that summer, but once we decided to start a tournament, it’s been here ever since,” Thompson said.
Emily Jones
