The latest is Wide Right, a Ballpark neighborhood restaurant, bar and hangout for Denver comedy fans and stand-ups. Owner on Aug. 28 that the spot would close permanently in December.

The closure arrives with the separate news that the Denver Comedy Underground venue would also close at its current location — both announcements arriving just a few days before this week’s High Plains Comedy Festival, when the stand-up world’s spotlight briefly turns to Denver.

The fest takes place at the Paramount Theatre and in several South Broadway venues Sept. 19-21.

One of those venues is also in its final days in Denver. Mutiny Information Cafe, a punk-rock mainstay bookstore and coffee shop, is moving from its longtime home at 2 S. Broadway to a less expensive location at 3483 S. Broadway in Englewood.

Taken together, the three stages have hosted dozens of regular, themed comedy nights, open mics, and showcases over the years.

, which opened as a Buffalo, N.Y.-themed bar in 2019, is known for its stand-up, storytelling nights, roast battles, and karaoke, many of which are free to attend. It was started five years ago by Denver comics DePonceau and Jeremy Pysher.

The space at 2100 Curtis St. had previously hosted the comedy-friendly venue Old Curtis Street, where Denver’s Grawlix trio — Ben Roy, Andrew Orvedahl and Adam Cayton Holland — got its start before going on to its truTV sitcom, “Those Who Can’t.”

“Before everyone gets upset or starts a ‘Save Wide Right’ Campaign…. Please know, I promised I would dedicate my life to Denver Comedy for 5 years,” DePonceau wrote on Facebook. “And I did, with every drop of blood, sweat and tears that I possessed. Don’t be sad. If my bar ever meant anything to you, please come by for a show, mic, game or karaoke and say goodbye this fall/winter.”

“That being said,” she added, “I am also hiring for football season…”

DePonceau didn’t make herself available for an interview after acknowledging multiple Denver Post requests.

The bar will host its final Bills game (vs the Detroit Lions) on Dec. 15, and its final night of business will be on Dec. 20, 2024 — the same date that beloved Denver comedy hangout El Charrito closed in 2018, DePonceau wrote. That was another rough, pre-pandemic time for the Denver comedy scene as El Charrito’s loss accompanied the closure of Denver Comedy RoomRoom.

Denver’s comedy scene snapped back after the pandemic much quicker than most, and this week’s High Plains Comedy Festival shows its continuing tenacity. But DePonceau’s post about the impending closure of Wide Right landed the same day last month as news of Denver Comedy Underground’s closing. That’s another beloved Denver comedy venue that welcomed national touring headliners and a rotation of local luminaries.

It operated in the basement of the Althea Center for Engaged Spirituality, a non-denominational church at 1400 Williams St., and shut down on Aug. 31. The board at the Althea Center made the decision after operations have “proved too difficult,” said , a Denver comic who founded the Underground in 2019.

“They were fine with it for three years, and then they suddenly weren’t fine with it,” Bryant said, noting that the Underground’s hiring of a catering company to keep up with liquor sales was one of Althea’s breaking points. “We’re looking for a new space but we only have a couple options: find a space that’s ready to go, or one that needs a literal million dollars so we can build out our own space.”

Like Wide Right, Denver Comedy Underground saw an outpouring of love in hundreds of social media posts.

“The area was sketchy, but Wide Right was really cool because it gave comics somewhere to go after shows,” said Ben Kronberg, a veteran Denver stand-up and operator of the Denver Comedy Lounge in the River North Art District, in a Denver Post interview. “They really championed the scene and created a community around themselves.”

With dozens of national comics in town for High Plains, however, it’s not a great look for Denver comedy. Sudden vacuums in artistic scenes are not unusual, Kronberg said. Clubs and showcases close. Big-fish, small-pond comics move to other cities, and others rush in to fill the space. In cities such as Austin, Texas, those fillers can change the flavor of a scene: Joe Rogan has remade the city in his own comedy image, , attracting bro-dude influencers and other men’s-rights advocates to the typically liberal, music-heavy town.

That seems unlikely in Denver, with its established pipelines that route hungry, talented comics to A-room clubs such as Comedy Works and The Denver Improv, as well as a bevy of open mics, themed shows and touring names who often record national specials here.

But the loss of these venues, just before the national comedy spotlight turns to Denver for a week, shows the challenges of running a business in general, said Kronberg, who started Denver Comedy Lounge in 2019.

“The scene is always in constant flux and the nature of comedy is super fluxy,” he said. “But these venues served a lot of audiences and helped a lot of new and touring stand-ups. They’re definitely a big loss.”

On Wednesday, announced it would close its location at 2 S. Broadway after more than a decade and move about 4 miles south to 3483 S. Broadway in Englewood.

Co-owner Jim Norris told The Denver Post his building is currently for sale and that he would need to pay double the rent to stay there, which isn’t feasible.

“It����ap a tough pill for everyone to swallow in Denver, but the choice came down to close it down or find somewhere new,” Norris said. “We want to help build community in other places too, so we’re headed down to Englewood now.”

Mutiny Information Cafe’s last day open in Denver will be Sept. 22, and Norris hopes to open the new location by Oct. 4.

The new space is slightly smaller on the first floor than its Denver predecessor — about 2,100 square feet — but it also boasts a finished basement where Norris plans to host concerts and relocate popular events like twice-monthly hip-hop nights and Punketry, a combination of punk music and slam poetry.

In Englewood, Mutiny Information Cafe will also lean more heavily into comic books and coffee, he added.

Since opening in 2013, Mutiny Information Cafe has cultivated a dedicated community of locals interested in books, music, poetry, comedy, coffee and more. Norris and his partner Matt Megyesi looked for many months for a new location where they could continue to be a creative hub when they stumbled upon this brand-new building.

“The price was right, the timing was absolutely perfect,” Norris said. “It����ap just beautiful.” And it has air conditioning, he added.

Still, leaving Denver is bittersweet. Norris previously operated Three Kings Tavern, so he’s called the Baker neighborhood home for nearly two decades.

“It����ap hard not cry talking about it,” he said.

Mutiny Information Cafe will go out with a bang, however. In addition to hosting several concerts in September, the business’ last weekend coincides with the .

“The whole month of September we’re trying to fill with fun, cool stuff so we can say goodbye,” he said.

“Fatherhood jokes just sound lame,” the Denver stand-up said with a laugh. “There’s no edge to that. It’s like, ‘It’s dad time!’ But you can maintain your voice and your sensibility through all of it. I’d rather do that than lie about what’s going on in my life.”

With his new album and comedy special hitting Vimeo for free on Jan. 18, Cayton-Holland is attempting to pull off a familiar but risky move: making parenthood not just funny, but relatable to audiences who don’t have kids. That includes the Saturday, Jan. 27 Grawlix show at the Bug Theatre, the monthly comedy showcase where Cayton-Holland has tested many of his jokes over the years.

“Defund Paw Patrol,” he asserts on “Wallpaper” (also recorded at the Bug), mashing George Floyd-prompted calls to defund police with an absurd jab at the popular kid’s show. He  relates a conversation with his 3-year-old about not getting trapped by the “toxic masculinity podcast circle …” that’s taken over dude-bro stand-up. It was “a very real conversation that definitely happened,” he joked in press materials.

“If my (act) was full of canned sitcom moments it would suck,” said the 42-year-old. “But if I suddenly turned into that guy there’d be much larger problems going on. I ran the hour (special) two weeks before we taped it, in Raleigh, N.C., and I remember vividly all these TikTok kids in front row who were dying. I talked to them afterward. They were 22 and loving it.”

TikTok is where many comics have seen their biggest audience growth, with crowd-work videos and clips reaching new followers via endless links. Cayton-Holland’s November 2022 post about messing with his 9-year-old nephew Henry has been viewed, for example, .

But when Cayton-Holland eyes his 2024 calendar, he doesn’t see social media. He sees multiple projects in various states of completion — a revived one-man show about this sister’s suicide (“Happy Place,” running in February at Buntport Theater), a screenplay, new U.S. headlining dates, a looming festival, and new episodes of his podcast — with Grawlix comedy-trio members and Ben Roy. The monthly show recently notched 100 episodes over four years of ridiculous, good-hearted stunts, and will start churning out weekly episodes in 2024.

Cayton-Holland, who makes up one-third of The Grawlix, has seemingly gotten as big as any Colorado stand-up can. He’s played Carnegie Hall, won spots on late-night TV, sold out club dates, written an acclaimed nonfiction book (“Tragedy Plus Time”), and even co-created and co-starred in the sitcom “Those Who Can’t,” which ran on truTV for three seasons before jumping to streaming platforms (more on that below).

Still, not living in Los Angeles makes it harder to climb the TV and movies ladder, especially since the Denver native has wedded himself to his hometown.

“I’m at an interesting inflection point in comedy where I’m watching people I know become massive, massive draws,” said Cayton-Holland, who this year marks two decades in stand-up. “I feel like I’m a record store snob comic. If you go to talk to the cool guy at the record store who knows comedy, they’re like ‘Check out Adam Cayton-Holland.’ But I’m not a household name, and I’m OK with that. I’m a cool little indie rocker, like Spoon.”

Like that acclaimed, Austin, Texas band, Cayton-Holland has reached mainstream stages without all the fuss of pop-star collaborations or stylistic U-turns. The High Plains Comedy Festival, which he created, remains one of the most exciting showcases for new comedy in the U.S., held every fall in Denver at hip venues along South Broadway and the Paramount Theatre.

The Mile High City’s reputation as a national comedy destination, whether to record albums or headline the well-known Comedy Works clubs, is monthly reinforced with The Grawlix’s showcase at the Bug. That event has lately been sold out, as is typical, with Cayton-Holland and Grawlix members Orvedahl and Roy having welcomed buzzy names such as Kate Berlant, Kumail Nanjiani, Ron Funches, Kyle Kinane, Mo Welch and Cameron Esposito.

As with many comics at his level, Cayton-Holland is mum about his celebrity shoulder-rubbing, such as having drinks with Jimmy Fallon at Denver Forest Room Five, or constantly flogging past projects, such as his hard-won and highly coveted half-hour special on Comedy Central. Despite releasing six albums since 2007, he’d never done a taped special before that one.

Or since, until “Wallpaper” came together.

He was opening for alt-comic Kurt Braunholer during Braunholder’s taping at Englewood’s Gothic Theatre, where he met up with 800 Pound Gorilla reps. After they encouraged him to record a new special, he reached out to the Nix Bros., a former Denver directing duo that he and the Grawlix had collaborated with over the years.

“It’s not the biggest budget ever and they just made it look beautiful,” Cayton-Holland said. “It was like, ‘Don’t try to make this look glitzy. Make it look like the Bug, which is this 100-year-old disheveled theater in Denver, warts and all.’ I hate when productions look too slick.”

That may help explain why Cayton-Holland begins the special laying face-down on the floor backstage at the Bug. Self-deprecation is never far from his act.

Despite his successes, one of the most vexing parts of Cayton-Holland’s career is the ongoing absence of “Those Who Can’t,” which cannot be purchased or streamed anywhere at the moment, having been pulled from its second-wind spot on the HBO Max (now just Max) streaming service. Like Roy and Orvedahl, people approach Cayton-Holland after their shows to talk about their love for the sitcom, which featured guest stars such as Patton Oswalt, Sarah Michelle-Gellar, Mark Hoppus (Blink-182) and Michael Madsen at the fictional, Denver-based Smoot High School (the Grawlix members played inept teachers).

Whatever happens with that cult-hit project, Cayton-Holland is hewing to his roots. Despite playing rooms around the country, he’ll soon perform a pair of shows at the tiny punk-rock haven The Lion’s Lair on East Colfax Avenue to celebrate his comedy beginnings there.

“On ‘Those Who Can’t’ that was the bar where the teachers drank,” he said. “For me, in April, it will be where I started comedy 20 years ago. That’s where I met (the Grawlix members). I have love for other venues, but that’s where it all started.”

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The affably grumpy Gaffigan, 57, is a Denver favorite who typically sells out a show of any size in the metro area, from arenas to the relatively intimate 1,865-seat Paramount. And on Wednesday, promoter AEG Presents Rocky Mountains said Gaffigan is meeting demand by adding a whopping seventh show to his Jan. 10-14, 2024, run there.

It’s very likely the longest run, and largest number of shows, for a touring artist’s visit to the downtown venue, according to industry sources, as well as a Denver Post review of various for the venue. At the very least, it would appear to be a 21st century record.

It’s no small achievement. The Denver icon, built as a Publix () movie house in 1930 and designed by local architect Temple Buell — he of the nearby Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre — is internationally beloved among mid-tier and larger comedians, as well as those taping albums and video specials, such as Amy Schumer and Kathleen Madigan. Cerebral comic Demetri Martin this week announced an April 3, 2024, taping at the historic venue, and more are likely in the coming months.

Schumer, in fact, had an impressive run at the Paramount Aug. 27-28 last year, with a total of four shows over two nights. Anthony Jeselnik played the same number there last month. Gaffigan has nearly double that amount.

Adding a concert or two to an existing run of dates is common. Comics do it all the time, and in-demand artists often leave a day or two open in their strongest markets to add more shows, which can then be trumpeted alongside the sold-out date(s). Comics are also known for performing at least a couple sets per night at most venues, if sales warrant, and making the most of their visits.

Denver, with its geographic isolation and central role in Western tour routing, is a great place to add these marathon and revenue-generating sets. But more importantly, we’re a nationally renowned comedy town, with smart and laugh-ready audiences, the High Plains Comedy Festival, national names such as Josh Blue and Adam Cayton-Holland, and the towering club — easily one of the country’s top stand-up spots (or A rooms, as insiders call them).

That’s why ’90s sketch super-group The State plotted its first reunion tour date in Denver, and why it’s a good middle ground for performers too big for clubs and too small for arenas.

The Paramount, which sits on the National Register of Historic Places, is another notch on many touring belts, whether for musicians, stand-ups, chefs, drag queens, filmmakers or political rallies. As one of the city’s most recognizable facades, The Denver Post last year called it “as cozy as it is immaculately preserved” among the city’s 10 Best Venues.

And yes, it’s entirely possible Gaffigan will announce an eighth show at the venue, which since 2002 has been owned and maintained by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.

Tickets for the new, 5 p.m. Jan. 14 Gaffigan show, are on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 10 for $50-$90, plus service charges, via . It’s all ages.

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They’ll also see plenty of crowd work at the event, which began Thursday, Sept. 21, and continues through Saturday, Sept. 23. Most of us know it well: that seemingly unavoidable part of stand-up that trades practiced, written material for surface-y, sometimes contentious, audience interaction.

Whether that includes shutting down a heckler or querying unsuspecting folks in the front row, it’s something comics have increasingly come to regard as either an asset or a crutch — especially following its ascension on social media in the form of viral clips on TikTok and Instagram.

“Crowd work is something some comedians do very well and even base entire tours/careers on,” wrote , the festival’s executive producer and a veteran national comedy booker, via email. “But as comics have felt more pressure to build their online presences, crowd work seems to be a necessary piece (sometimes evil), even for comedians who have mostly avoided crowd work in their natural style.”

“(It has) ruined talking to the crowd,” said Colorado comic Sam Tallent, who will visit High Plains for a pair of podcast recordings, a reunion of Denver’s Fine Gentleman’s Club, and his own stand-up set at the Hi-Dive. “Now everyone thinks you’re trying to get a viral clip. And that translates to either people giving you preposterous answers to any kind of interaction — answers they think will help the comedian — or, even worse, answers they think are funny.

“Our phones are ruining our memories,” added Tallent, who is acclaimed for his nimble improvisation.

Phones and talking during the shows will be culturally verboten, as usual, at this year’s stand-up shows at the Hi-Dive, Mutiny Information Cafe, Skylark Lounge’s Bobcat Club, and Chaos Bloom. The Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Paramount Theatre will practically require their absence (as does Comedy Works, the region’s premier stand-up club).

The fact that most of the shows and recordings take place in independent rock clubs, bars, and coffee shops makes it harder to control. But by now, many Denver comedy audiences have learned some comedy etiquette. And not every comic is so down on crowd work when their crowds are friendly and relatively niche.

“For Dyketopia, so much of our show is centered on interacting with the crowd,” said co-founder Lee Robinson, who along with Kate McLachlan has seen a string of sold-out shows thanks to their inclusive, wildly funny, queer-focused format. “We bring audience members on stage with us to play games and talk to them, and the improvised comedy that is borne out of these interactions creates so much of the magic for our show. Audiences love to see something real, unrehearsed and spontaneous.”

Colorado comic and actor Janae Burris said she has come around to crowd work lately as it’s gained traction online. She’s specific about what she asks the audience to contribute, though.

“Lately, I ask for moms, then I ask motherhood-related questions that are not too broad so that I can leave that interaction and easily jump back into my set,” said Burris, a recent mother herself.

Burris and others interviewed for this article pointed to national comics such as Laurie Kilmartin and Jen Kirson as masters of crowd work, as well as Colorado’s own Tallent, John Novosad, Steve Gillespie, Christie Buchele. Denver’s nationally known Grawlix trio, which features , as well as Ben Roy and , are also known to turn audience interactions into hearty laughs at their monthly showcases at the Bug Theatre (they’re also performing as a trio and individually at High Plains).

Comics who avoid crowd work are often afraid it will devolve into a messy back-and-forth, in which audiences start to think they’re the ones telling jokes.

“(It) can derail the set,” said , a member of the Fine Gentleman’s Club who just released his first comedy album and special, “Soup’s On” (stream it for free on YouTube at ). “It can make someone think they should continue to interact after I have moved on, which can be awkward. If the crowd member is drunk, it can get annoying to be interrupted and then I have to shut them down and that can destroy momentum or create tension.”

Great crowd work from comedians who love and practice it isn’t cliché, producer Wachtel said.

“But the push to make every comedian do it is exhausting comedians who are skilled and artistic writers and creating audiences that don’t make for a positive live standup experience.”

Denver’s nationally acclaimed comic Josh Blue has no mercy for people talking during his set, and is known for shutting them down with breathtaking skill. In other words: if you talk while he’s telling jokes, .

“My general instinct is to go right at someone heckling or causing a problem,” he said. “If you make yourself a nuisance, I’m going to come right for you and verbally eviscerate you. Each case is different so there is not one answer for every situation. But for the most part, seek and destroy.”

If you go

10th High Plains Comedy Festival: Stand-up and podcast fest with Beth Stelling, Chris Gethard, Ian Karmel, Vanessa Gonzalez, Dave Hill, Shane Torres, Jonah Ray, Caitlin Peluffo, Giulia Rozzi, David Gborie, and many more. Thursday, Sept. 21-Saturday, Sept. 23, at various South Broadway venues. Full-festival passes sold out; most individual shows are $15-$20, minus Matteo Lane at the Paramount Theatre Sept. 23 ($39.50-$79.50).

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The Denver comedian and singer of the punk band Spells has taken a hatchet to polite society in his vicious but philosophical jokes, as well as spittle-flecked music performances that find his band setting up on the floor, surrounded by bouncing crowds, as vocalist and songwriter Roy vibrates like a wiry windsock.

After four critically acclaimed stand-up albums, tours and music albums with his band, his Denver-based, truTV series “Those Who Can’t” (with his Grawlix trio, including Denver’s Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl), and ongoing Grawlix podcasts, his is on the loose.

Released by 800 Pound Gorilla Records — the esteemed label for mega-comic Kevin Hart’s LOL! Studios — “Hyena” builds on the 44-year-old’s furious persona as Roy “wields a (figurative) knife on stage, grabs an audience member’s head by his ears, stares down into his soul, and screams ‘I was on extended basic cable television!’ ” as his publicist writes.

For a comic who’s been seen on HBO, Comedy Central and his own sitcom, that’s no idle boast. But it does deserve a bit of context, as Roy’s ever-evolving persona can move at head-spinning speeds.

“It was recorded exactly a year ago, and a lot of it was written during the tail end of the pandemic, when we were all debating about vaccines and things like that,” Roy said last week. “Some of it feels like a resignation. (Humanity has) reached this point where I don’t know that we can course correct. So there’s a part of me that’s laughing more at things now, because all we kind do is try to be kind to each other as it gets hotter and hotter.”

Even Roy’s glass-half-empty critiques don’t come off as angry as he used to be, particularly after he came out swinging in the mid-to-late 2000s scene as one of , helping lead underground Grawlix shows in what’s now the River North Art District, and dominating rowdy open-mics at the Squire Lounge and other small, hip venues.

His cred assured, and his demons long-since made public in his act — addiction, childhood sexual abuse and an anxiety-depression combo that both motivates and tortures him — he approaches “Hyena” with a fearless, hilarious sharpness.

“I used to take Klonopin and alcohol,” he says from the stage. “I loved to take three Klonopins, put them on my tongue and wash them down with whiskey. Which is the chemical equivalent of un-reading books, it makes you so (fricking) stupid.”

However measured, watching “Hyena” from your TV or mobile device may be preferred if you’re not interested in having Roy sit on your lap, legs casually folded, during a live set. He’s known for doing that while headlining Denver’s Comedy Works, and clubs and festivals across the U.S., upping the crowd-work ante from most comics’ light banter.

As Roy preps for his latest shows at Denver’s , which returns Sept. 21-23, he’s made his $10 “Hyena” special (including an audio download for all of your mobile stand-up needs) starting Thursday, Aug. 10.

“It’s called ‘Hyena’ because we’re feeding on the carcass and laughing,” he said. “Let’s ride this bird ’til it dies, you know?”

The video element of Roy’s new special, which captures his lithe intensity, finds Roy trotting out visual bits cut out from past albums since they couldn’t be fully appreciated in the audio-only format. But now he’s also ready to “rest,” such as it is in his world, after releasing two stand-up albums in two years and an exhausting series of Spells concerts.

“Definitely with everything else, with music and podcasts and touring, it’s a wild environment to write in,” said Roy, who as a member of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA unions is currently honoring the Hollywood actors-writers strike.

That environment has also pushed Roy to new levels of self-examination, even if he’s never above finding a laugh in dumb ideas.

“Cultures (crap) their pants when they’re about to die,” he says in “Hyena,” “and I have witnessed one of these proverbial pants-(crappings) of Western culture in the form of a new television show on Netflix that is just titled ‘Is It Cake?’ … I thought we had hit the bottom when we got to ‘Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader.’ But little did I know the Marianas Trench of intellectualism was right there.”

“I’ve always struggled with intellectualism and our vulnerability as a culture and our willingness to admit fear,” he said. “I struggle with it personally, too. I struggle with masculinity. Growing up the way I did poor in Maine, and the things that have happened to me — I definitely struggle with my self-image and what it is to be tough or soft.”

That gritty exploration is all the more cathartic for audiences, who have streamed his individual bits and rants on social media and YouTube tens of thousands of times over the years. Roy feels a deep, motivating catharsis from that, too.

“Entertaining and being on stage was the first time that I felt accepted for who I was when I was younger. I didn’t have to posture and act overly macho,” he said.

“Part of the reason Spells plays on the floor at venues is that I like being in the mix. I love interactive shows, and my fondest memories of my teenage years were fraternal Eagles club shows and playing at VFW halls and in art galleries — wherever we could put on a show. That’s what made it great,” he said, “and it’s what I’ve always wanted. To say, ‘This is yours, too.’ ”

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It will also, by nature, invite jokes about our fair city. That’s nothing new, said festival founder Adam Cayton-Holland, a proud Denverite who set his truTV sitcom “Those Who Can’t” here, along with co-creators Ben Roy and Andrew Orvedahl (also performing at the festival).

But even when Cayton-Holland was a newbie comic, he tried to subvert the tropes.

“I used to have an opener about the Denver weather, how it was so inconsistent, and it could change so suddenly,” he said. “Then I would say, “Well, you know what they say about Denver weather: if you don’t like the weather in Denver, why don’t you go back where you came from you Texas, transplant asshole.’ Hacky as could be, but it crushed every time.”

Pandering to locals with skiing, Broncos and is old hat, but a dozen-plus touring comics have in recent years chosen to record albums and specials here, in some ways documenting our sense of humor as much as theirs (see River Butcher, Nikki Glaser, Amy Schumer, Tom Seguro, etc.).

So what are comics saying about us? Before the Thursday, Sept. 8-Saturday, Sept. 10, High Plains Comedy Fest, we tracked down a few of the best and arguably worst jokes about Denver — and Colorado in general. We won’t try to tell you which is which, and a couple of them may stretch the definition of a joke, but hey: they made us laugh. (Note: longer bits, of which there are many, were excluded in favor of short quotes.)

“I didn’t know what a 14’er was until I moved here and found it that it’s something a man climbs over instead of going to therapy.” — Andie Main

“(It’s) pretty fun to be in Denver over Halloween. Everybody’s Halloween costume just looks like CBD-infused.” — River Butcher

“Thank you, it is great to be here in downtown Southeast Boulder!” — David Rodriguez (performing in Denver)

“Denver and Boulder are good record-buying cities. I don’t know why.” — Mike D (Beastie Boys)

“40% of the tickets for Bill Cosby’s Denver shows were returned for refunds. See, consuming pot doesn’t make you stupid.” — Warren Holstein

“Colorado, a.k.a. Potsylvania.” — Stephen Colbert

“… the divided world of Aspen, where locals with a sense of entitlement were pitted against developers with a sense of condominiums.” — Steve Martin

“Each year, millions of skiers come to Colorado to experience its superb emergency medical facilities.” — Dave Barry

“Does the song ‘Rocky Mountain High’ make John Denver our generation’s Nostradamus?” — Adam Wolf

“You don’t need missionaries in Colorado; you got Colorado.” — Trey Parker

If you go

The 9th High Plains Comedy Festival. Stand-up fest with Ken Jeong, Joel McHale, Kyle Kinane, Steph Tolev, Nick Thune, Josh Blue, Nancy Norton, Shane Torres, Pink Foxx, Amy Miller, David Gborie, Christie Buchele and more. Thursday, Sept. 8-Saturday, Sept. 10 at the Hi-Dive, HQ, Skylark, Chaos Bloom, Mutiny and Bellco Theatre. Most tickets are $10-$20 per show, with $125 festival passes.

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But this one’s different, said Christie Buchele, a nationally touring comic and Rise’s director of stand-up. Most of these other gatherings — Denver’s High Plains Comedy Festival, Trinidad’s Chief Comedy Festival, and upstarts such as the Vail and Boulder comedy fests — are curated, not submission-based.

That makes it nearly impossible for people without existing connections to break in, Buchele said. Furthermore, there are no Colorado comedy fests that feature stand-up, improv and sketch comedy all on the same bill. Rise Comedy Festival, running from Thursday, July 7 to Saturday, July 9, and then again July 14-16, is hoping to change that.

“I designed it for people who are newer here in Denver or who haven’t been here before,” Buchele, the festival’s producer, said this week. “It’s a chance to get their foot in the door and get seen in front of judges like Karen Wachtel.”

Wachtel is executive producer of the High Plains Festival, which was founded by Denver comic Adam Cayton-Holland, and a nationally known comedy booker. Despite welcoming acclaimed headliners such as Maria Bamford, David Cross, Anthony Jeselnik, and Marc Maron, High Plains and Trinidad’s Chief fest, for example, have more of a “friends get-together feel,” Buchele said.

In other words: Festivals like that are essentially brick walls for younger and less experienced, but still-talented, comics and improvisers.

“They put on great shows,” Buchele said of the other fests, most of which she has performed at. “But none of them are competition-based. It’s been my constant battle in this role to bridge the gap between improv and stand-up and sketch, because there’s never been an across-the-aisle culture.”

But does Denver need another comedy festival? Yes, say Denver comics and bookers interviewed for this story, provided it treats performers and audiences right.

Comic Marks Masters’ first-year, sold-out Vail Comedy Festival, which ran May 27-29, welcomed dozens of national and local stand-up headliners along with industry types from HBO, Netflix and New York’s famed Comedy Cellar.

“The more (festivals) the better, but they have to have quality stage time, a quality hang — how enjoyable is it for comics? — and industry,” he said. “If the booker for ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ is there, that’s a gold star for scouting talent. But do they pay for things like lodging for the artists? It needs to be a net positive for the comedy community.”

Guests in Rise Comedy Fest’s first year include “Amber Ruffin Show” writer and stand-up headliner Patrick Rowland, Comedy Central’s senior talent and development executive, Ryan Moran (doing a panel for attendees only), and lots of local and national sketch and improv groups — Big Kids Table, Hot Nap, Basement Doctors, Orange Tuxedo and Denver’s own, long-running Hit & Run Musical Improv, among dozens more. Stand-ups hail from across North America, and up and down the Front Range. The overwhelming majority of names would likely be unfamiliar to general audiences.

Submissions cost between $20 to $30, based on when comics applied, and Armstrong estimated about 300 or so submissions in this first year. Around 30% of them, or 100 performers, were admitted.

The programming mix is unusual for most events, but it’s familiar to patrons of the Denver Improv Festival, which ran for more than a dozen years before dissolving during the pandemic. The board members there decided to let Rise — which in 2020 took over the former Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, at 1266 22nd St. — have a go at it with a renamed, reconfigured event.

“Comedy changed during the pandemic,” said Nick Armstrong, co-owner of Rise Comedy. “Now we have a lot of stand-ups who are improvisers, and improvisers who are stand-ups. We train them that way when they come in, too, so it’s not so segmented.”

The crossover allows for a variety of guests, said Armstrong, who brings his Los Angeles connections as a writer and performer to the festival, along with Buchele’s booking prowess. The July 7-9 events focus on stand-up — tickets run about $18-$20 per showcase — while the July 14-16 weekend features improv and sketch comedy. Classes, workshops and parties are all on deck.

“Improv and festivals helped me get out of my comfort zone and establish great relationships,” “Ruffin Show” writer Rowland said in a press statement. “You meet people who end up writing for shows and they remember you and give you opportunities.”

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Most shows are 21-and-up; check individual websites for details. You also can view a running list of local shows at , and visit denverpost.com/calendar for more.

RELATED: Denver’s desperately needed 2022 comedy revival is here, and not a moment too soon

Denver comic Janae Burris does well in pretty much any venue, from hosting Film on the Rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheatre to slinging jokes at a biker bar, which makes her April 16 taping at the Aurora Fox Arts Center such a treat. She’ll record her first-ever special, “Long Overdue,” before the comic, actor and TV host takes a break after having a baby (due later this month). Shows at 7 and 9 p.m. April 16. $30-$50 (the $50 ticket includes two drinks).

Tig Notaro lived in Denver for a time, but didn’t begin performing stand-up until she decamped to L.A. — where she quickly met Kristen Schaal (“Bob’s Burgers”), who happens to be from Longmont. Ah, the synergy. Now a force on streaming TV (Amazon’s “One Mississippi” and Paramount’s “Star Trek: Discovery”) and also a voice actor, Notaro remains a stellar stand-up who can flatten audiences with the most subtle of intonations and expressions. Her sets are a master class in deadpan humor. Notaro’s “Hello Again” show comes to the Paramount Theatre April 14. $39-$49 (with limited tickets as of press time).

Patton Oswalt, one of the funniest, most beloved and most influential comics of the last two decades, returns to the Paramount Theatre May 14 to catch us up on his life, which has been topsy-turvy in recent years while he’s dealt with the death of his wife, solo parenting, remarriage and a busy acting and writing schedule. He has, in my experience, never performed anything less than an excellent set. $45-$75.

If you haven’t heard of Chelcie Lynn, who gained online fame a few years back as Trailer Trash Tammy, get ready, because she’s coming for you. Lynn, who will perform at Comedy Works South at the Landmark April 13-16, is shooting a prank show, lining up more film cameos (see “Tangerine”), and consolidating her hundreds of millions of streaming views with merchandise and branding. $35-$85.

Also worthy at Comedy Works: “The Office” co-star Craig Robinson (at Comedy Works South, April 7-9); Comedy Central roastmaster general Jeff Ross (April 8-10); Nick Swardson (April 14-16); John Novosad, a.k.a. Hippieman, who has a great new album (April 27); Henry Cho (south club, May 6-8); Doug Benson (May 8); Michelle Wolf (May 12-14); Adam Carolla (south club, June 24-25); Tammy Pescatelli (south club, Aug. 18-20); and stand-up queen Maria Bamford (south club, Nov. 20-22), among many others. Various times and prices. Visit for the evolving calendar.

Comedy Works Presents, the club’s booking arm, has several big shows from touring comics that you can find on their websites — they’re just not at the Comedy Works clubs. That includes Chris Distefano (Paramount, April 9); Mark Normand (Paramount, May 7); trailblazing veteran Rita Rudner (PACE Center, April 10); Anjelah Johnson (Paramount, April 15-16); Paula Poundstone (Paramount, April 29; see below for more on her); and Kathleen Madigan (Paramount, June 4). Time and ticketing details for all shows are also available at .

The Denver Improv — which has been more of a complement to Comedy Works than competition since the national chain opened in Northfield in 2007 — has upcoming shows from Lynne Koplitz (April 8-9); Stone Cold & The Jackal (April 14); Eddie Ifft (April 15-16) Nick Shelton (April 21); Cowboy Bill Martin (April 22-23); Antoine Scott (April 29-30); and King Bach (June 17-18), among others. Various times and prices. Visit for details.

John Mulaney returns to Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the first time since the Oddball Comedy Tour played there in 2014 — and for his first headlining gig in the intimidating venue. As he proved in 2014, the Emmy-winning, deadpan (and lately very-in-the-news) comic and former “Saturday Night Live” writer has a knack for commanding his audiences, and these “From Scratch” tour shows should be no different. Shows at 3 and 8 p.m. on April 17, $79-$350.

Stand-up, improv and public-radio veteran Paula Poundstone performs a different show every time she steps on stage, leaning heavily on the mood and ideas of the audience to craft her sets. It makes sense that they’re such a consistent pleasure when you consider her spot on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” her books, and her podcast “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone” (haw!). April 29 at the Paramount Theatre, $37.50-$75.

Trinidad boosters have lately been hard-pushing the New Mexico border town as Colorado’s next arts enclave, with millions in investments from Denverites moving there to escape what they complain are high rents, traffic and pollution in the Mile High City. That’s potentially creating the biggest audience yet for the Chief Bicycle & Comedy Festival, which references both Trinidad’s historic rail line (the Southwest Chief) and its biking culture (also burgeoning). Creator Wally Wallace and his backers have booked dozens of comics to take over the town’s smaller venues — and expand to Raton, N.M., for the first time — with national and local acts Eddie Pepitone, Emma Arnold, the Grawlix (Denver’s Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl and Ben Roy, of truTV’s “Those Who Can’t), Babs Gray, David Gborie, Gabby Gutierrez-Reed and more. May 5-6. $20-$160 for passes; $30 for individual shows..

On the internationally known side: Hannah Gadsby, who cleaved the stand-up world in two with her invigorating one-woman-show/”stand-up” set “Nanette,” will bring her new “Body of Work” to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on June 2. Influential comic Chris Rock, who absorbed Will Smith’s Oscars slap like a champ, returns to Bellco Theatre June 21 to dissect relationships, race, politics and himself. And Tom Segura can lay claim to Colorado’s biggest stand-up show of the year (so far) with his appearance at Ball Arena on July 23. Various times and prices. Visit or  for more.

Amy Schumer, a lightning rod long before her Oscars co-hosting gig last week, returns to Denver for the first time in four years as part of her “Whore Tour.” Having recorded her 2017 Netflix debut “The Leather Special” at Denver’s Bellco Theatre, the Emmy-winning writer, author and actor should be right at home for her quartet of sets at the smaller but no-less-prestigious Paramount Theatre. Limited tickets available, Aug. 27-28. $99.50.

Denver’s High Plains Comedy Festival has over its eight years evolved into one of the country’s most notable stand-up and podcast events, with live tapings, showcases, reunions and headlining shows at the stately Paramount Theatre. Even while hosting heavies such as David Cross, Karen Kilgariff, Maria Bamford, Marc Maron, Kumail Nanjiani and Anthony Jeselnik, the event still feels indie, given its main perch along Denver’s hip South Broadway corridor, but also because of its affordable tickets, smart booking and curated local lineups. Performers TBD. Sept. 8-10. See more soon at .

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s storied career may seem improbable at times, but the master musical parodist has stuck to his guns through all manner of pop-culture battles and come out looking smart (also: silly, and intentionally so). He’ll stop in Colorado with stand-up opener Emo Philips for shows at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House (June 3-4) and later, at Colorado Springs’ Pikes Peak Center (Sept. 6), Grand Junction’s Avalon Theatre (Sept. 7) and Greeley’s Union Colony Civic Center (Sept. 9). Various prices. Visit for details.

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“I kind of stopped doing that, though,” Burris said with a laugh over tea and snacks at Denver’s Kochi cafe on Tuesday. “Now, or at least before the pandemic, I’ve gotten to the point in my (career) that I can tell people the truth and still get jobs.”

RELATED: Denver 2022 comedy guide: From Amy Schumer to John Mulaney, the best stand-up at Red Rocks, clubs and more

As an actress and nationally touring comic, Burris is in league with Colorado comedy-boosters who see a big comeback for 2022. Their optimism springs from dozens of refreshed bookings in Colorado’s stand-up scene, from big names headlining Red Rocks to club sets at the Denver Improv and Comedy Works, but also local festivals and showcases.

That comeback includes Burris. After years of hosting and appearing on local TV shows (including, full disclosure, The Denver Post’s former “Cannabist” show) and for Denver comedy titans such as Josh Blue, she’s finally getting around to recording her first comedy special, “Long Overdue,” at the Aurora Fox Arts Center on April 16.

Notably, she’s doing it about two weeks before her pregnancy due date, with the intention of burning old material before her expected, extended break. Like Ali Wong, the who has recorded two specials while pregnant, Burris has consistently told jokes and appeared during her pregnancy (she’s currently at the Aurora Fox as the title character in “Hurricane Diane”), challenging traditional notions of what a working comic and actor looks like.

“I feel like I’m trying to squeeze it all in,” she said. “Apparently you can get pregnant at 42! How weird.”

Other comics are making up for lost time by rushing to secure shows and apply to festivals, even as a lack of staffing keeps schedules less-than-full at some local music and comedy venues. Missing servers, bartenders, board-runners and more mean that sold-out runs from comics like Marc Maron, the agreeably cranky host of the “WTF” podcast who visited Comedy Works last year, aren’t quite the norm yet.

“It’s still not back yet to pre-COVID numbers,” said Wende Curtis, owner of Denver’s nationally renowned Comedy Works clubs (she also happens to have thrown a baby shower for Burris over the weekend). “We’re still recovering, but podcasts and specials continued to happen during the pandemic, so you’ve got a lot of (formerly smaller) acts jumping from clubs to bigger concerts. That leaves holes, but also opportunities for younger comics.”

Those holes are apparent at venues like Englewood’s Gothic Theatre, a favorite of stand-ups (and album tapings) that, despite its packed music calendar, features virtually no comedy as of this writing (unless you consider political commentator Dave Rubin to be a stand-up; he visits May 18).

Nontraditional comedy rarely has trouble fitting in, however, at least in Denver. Storytelling shows such as “Mortified Live!” (April 21) at the frequently 18-and-up Oriental Theater sit alongside favorites there like Lucha Libre & Laughs (wrestling and stand-up; April 24), touring stand-ups (Nick Colletti, April 29) and drag-queens extraordinaire (“RuPaul’s Drag Race” vet Adore Delano, Feb. 9, 2023).

Curtis, who owns and operates both the downtown club and Comedy Works South in Greenwood Village, is also happy to see upstarts like Fort Collins’ Comedy Fort flourish in recent months — the latter having bravely opened in the middle of the pandemic — as well as the return of Denver’s High Plains Comedy Festival (Sept. 8-10), Trinidad’s Chief Bicycle & Comedy Festival (May 5-6), and The Grawlix showcase (the last Saturday of every month at the Bug Theatre).

Some of Curtis’ club-owning peers, whom she confabs with at events such as Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival, have questioned her for supporting smaller, seemingly competitive shows in Denver. Comics work for years to get a brief opening spot on her prestigious stage, they remind her.

But Curtis’ blessing for and occasional sponsorship of independent events has been one of the driving forces behind the growth of Denver’s comedy scene. The DIY scene, evidenced at bars, open-mics and festivals, has also compelled comics who can’t find stages in other cities to move to Denver and contribute to our growing renown.

“Denver definitely came back faster and better than L.A.,” said Burris, a California native who has opened for names such as SNL “Weekend Update” co-host Michael Che and Roy Wood Jr. “I was doing beach shows out (in L.A.) and not getting paid. In Denver, I got promoted at Comedy Works. Josh Blue is executive producing my special. I’m getting paid! … It’s always been my dream to build a community like this, where they recommend me and call me up when there are jobs.”

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