Still together, still crazy

Alums from the NY Comedy Festival, now entering its eighth year, include Came Carey, Susie Essman, Denis Leary, Margaret Cho and Louis C.K.Louis Faranda, Caroline Hirsch and Andrew Fox prepare another laff confab. Because the NY Comedy Festival comes into its eighth year this month, the huge event orchestrated by Caroline Hirsch, Andrew Fox and Louis Faranda from the Caroline's on Broadway comedy club appears like a highly-oiled machine, with more than 50 shows featuring the nation's top comics happening in Manhattan and beyond. But getting here wasn't as simple. Comedy never is simple. "It had been very hard whenever we began, without a doubt. It had been crazy in the beginning," recalls Faranda, who's the talent producer for that fest along with the club. "The very first two, 3 years were crazy, because you will find there's famous club, but i was not festival marketers. We were not theater marketers. But one thing that Caroline accustomed to tell me constantly was that people could get it done much better than anybody, because we live comedy, we live it and breathe it every single day in our lives." The concept for that fest coalesced in 2003 when Hirsch and company celebrated two decades of Caroline's having a large show at Carnegie Hall. "It had been this type of grand event, people had the optimum time,Inch the comedy impresario recalls. "Everyone was like, 'Oh my God, you must do this more frequently!' So that's the way it began. It had been additionally a way that i can use individuals who had graduated in the club and gone onto the concert circuit and that i could be involved."So by using her wife, lawyer and business connect, Andrew Fox, plus Faranda, Hirsch leaped to the festival biz. "The very first year we incorporated in regards to a 100 different comics within 20 shows through the city," she recalls. With Comedy Central along for that ride right from the start, it had been an excellent start. However things got rocky. Really, really rocky."Following the first couple of years, the 3 people, Caroline, myself, and Andrew Fox were fighting so bad, since it am crazy attempting to make it work," confesses Faranda, that has been the talent booker at Caroline's within the last 16 years. "Caroline was prepared to throw me out, and Andrew and that i were not speaking, it had been just nutty. It had been a level within the festival, because all of us finally made the decision that individuals would like to see us just fail and leave behind the entire factor. And that we were not likely to allow that to happen." The trio battled with the hard occasions, in what Faranda calls their collective "deep associations" with numerous world's top comics. "It's become to the stage in which the industry sees us as great producers. We now have won over their rely upon these eight years," he states. It's clearly assisted to possess Comedy Central within their corner forever that area of the puzzle of assembling a effective comedy festival really came easily. Mitch Fried, senior Vice president from the network's live entertainment, states, "I have known Caroline and Andrew Fox a very long time, then when Andrew contacted me initially concerning the festival, being it's within our backyard, we thought about being involved. "Caroline is among the leading people in the market if this involves knowing comedy and also the nuances from it, and getting an awareness from the different amounts of talent," Fried continues. "She's a significant eye, to determine that up-and-comer that has that potential. And that is something which Comedy Central is honored on too. We grow them on the way, and thus does Caroline. Therefore it would be a real natural fit between her approach and our method of comedy generally.InchMarketing the NY Comedy Festival with "just a little exposure around the network" at first has morphed right into a larger presence, both via TV and also the Internet. "We have grown it a great deal as time have passed by," Fried states. "We have extended what we should do pretty significantly. This past year we introduced a unique show known as 'Comics to look at,A that is really youthful comics who had didn't have exposure on tv before, that people chose together with Caroline's. We are streaming that demonstrate on our website this season. And we are also shooting the J.B. Smoove show throughout the festival to air afterwards the network, too."Plus, Fried was instrumental within the greatest alterations in the 2010 festival."I have had lots of heart-to-heart conversations with Caroline and Andrew about growing the festival out, which makes it bigger and larger," states the Comedy Central professional. "We actually desired to learn how to allow it to be more inclusive then sell more great comedy. It isn't nearly people in Manhattan, or NY City visiting the shows, it is the NY tristate area. People who reside in Connecticut and Nj and New York are likely to drive in or go ahead and take train directly into begin to see the shows, so why wouldn't you take it to the outer boroughs, too?"They're literally taking their show on the highway this season, going beyond such classic Manhattan venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Radio City, Beacon Theater, Town Hall and also the Tribeca Center for Carrying out Arts they have used through the years, and at risk of newer and more effective places."We always spoken about visiting the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which year it had been available, and that we had the best person to get it done there, that is Sarah Silverman, therefore it made sense. And we are delivering Louis C.K. to Staten Island, so that's very worthwhile,Inch Hirsch states. "This is along with what we have produced in NY with New york city & Co. (the marketing arm from the city). A few days from the festival is known as Comedy Week, and it is a part of getting comedy towards the whole city. We've got some small shows in Queens, too, and J.B. Smoove come in Williamsburg."Adding venues and "quadrupling the amount of comics this season,Inch based on Faranda, is clearly great for business. "We have gone from selling 20,000 tickets early onto selling 50,000 tickets!" Hirsch announces. Include the "over $ten millionInch the annual Fully stand up for Heroes benefit kickoff event (this season featuring Jon Stewart, Ough Gervais and Bruce Springsteen) has introduced in, and there is little question the shaky start is lengthy behind Caroline and company."We'll put this festival on until I can not get it done anymore,Inch she vows. HIGHLIGHTSNov. 9What: The fifth Annual Fully Stand Up for Heroes BenefitWhere: Beacon Theater, 8 p.m.Who: Annual benefit for that Bob Woodruff Foundation, featuring Ough Gervais, Jon Stewart, Jim Gaffigan, Bruce Springsteen and also the Max Weinberg Large Band.What: Comics to WatchWhere: Carolines on Broadway, 7 p.m.Who: Jeffrey Ross hosts this showcase of up-and-coming comics, new talent hands-selected by Carolines and Comedy Central, also streaming on Comedy Central's website.November. 10What: "Wanda Sykes Live"Who: Wanda SykesWhere: NY Comedy FestivalWhat: "Back on Ground"Who: Russell PetersWhere: Carolines on Broadway, 7:30 p.m.What: "Louis C.K. Live"Who: Louis C.K.Where: Beacon Theater, 7:30 p.m.November. 11What: "That's What You'll GetInchWho: Bill BurrWhere: Carnegie Hall, 7:30 p.m.What: "The KnowledgeInchWho: Tracy MorganWhere: Beacon Theater, 8 p.m.What: "Louis C.K. Live"Who: Louis C.K.Where: St. George Theatre, Staten Island, 8 p.m.November. 12What: "Tired Hooker"Who: Kathy GriffinWhere: Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m.What: "A Night Time with Bill Maher"Who: Bill MaherWhere: Beacon Theater, 7:30 p.m.What: "Sarah Silverman and Buddies"Who: Sarah SilvermanWhere: Brooklyn Academy of Music, 8 p.m.November. 13What: "Existence from NY...Attorney At Law using the 'SNL' Writers'Who: Seth Meyers, Erik Kenward, John Mulaney, Colin Jost, Marika Sawyer, moderated by Steve GaydosWhere: Paley Center for Media, 4 p.m.What: "JB Smoove One-Hour Comedy Central Special"Who: JB SmooveWhere: Music Hall of Williamsburg, 7 p.m.What: "A Conversation with Ough Gervais"Who: Ough GervaisWhere: 92nd Street Y, 7:30 p.m.RELATED LINKS Comics flock to NY Comedy Fest Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com