Hosting a monthly stand-up showcase isn’t easy, but like music, improv or visual art, it’s not impossible to set up shop at a friendly space and have a few laughs.
Keeping your showcase going for more than a few months is the hard part — especially given the competitive nature of Denver’s stand-up scene, which boasts more than a dozen weekly and monthly showcases, open mics and one-offs that compete with bigger shows at mainstream clubs and corporate-booked theaters.
So it’s with no small amount of joy that producers Andy Juett and Kayvan Khalatbari will celebrate six months of their showcases in May with a lineup that reflects their growing reputation.
“In the first six months we’ve had Sean Patton, Mike Lawrence, Ben Kronberg, Nikki Glaser, Beth Stelling, Kate Berlant and a host of amazing Denver comics,” said Juett, who’s also the sales manager for Denver’s Comedy 103.1 FM and a producer with The Grawlix. “And we’re just getting started.”
Juett is expecting the usual 200 to 300 attendees for tonight’s (Friday, March 21) Sexpot show, which runs at with headliners Chris Fairbanks and Rory Scovel, two acclaimed L.A. comics who are no strangers to the Mile High comedy scene.
Reverb has also learned of the final lineups for the next two months of shows, including the May 30 sixth-anniversary show. April will feature L.A.’s (Comedy Central, “Conan,” “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”), while May’s headliner is comedy icon and David Letterman favorite (“Maron,” “Bob’s Burgers”), who delivers the State of the Industry speech at the in Montreal.
“Andy Haynes who just crushed SXSW and had his first Comedy Central special last year,” Juett said. “Andy Kindler and the people on that May 30 show will make it special. Kindler is an icon and we’re crazy fortunate to have him. Anybody who knows comedy looks to him as somewhat of a herald of joke writing and biting commentary on a lot of topics.”
Check out the full lineups:
Thursday, April 17
Theme: “Midnight Run:
Andy Haynes
Billy Wayne Davis
Nathan Lund
Ian Douglas Terry
Noah Gardenswartz
Brent Gill
with your host Jordan Doll
May 30
Theme: TBD
Andy Kindler
Chuck Roy
Bobby Crane
Christie Buchele
Mara Wiles
your host Jordan Doll
“What Kayvan and I have been able to do with this show is a direct result of the thousands of hours of those before us,” said Juett, who also co-produces Denver’s High Plains Comedy Festival. “There’s a historical and personal reverence for those around us. I think there’s a reticence to celebrate it, because it can feel like a bubble is going to pop when there’s this many shows. But I think that simply means the shows have to get better. We’re all time starved, so the comedy better be good.”
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John Wenzel is an A&E reporter and critic for . Follow him .
