comedy news

Moontower Comedy Festival announces Nick Offerman, Wanda Sykes and more, plusyour chance to snag single show tickets

Though it seems like 2012 just began, somehow we’re already past SXSW and heading towards summer. But first, the end of April approaches, bringing the inaugural Moontower Comedy and Oddity Festival.

The four-day fest, which takes over 11 venues around town from April 25-28, originally aimed to program about 60 performers, but they’re already on track to top 70, with several exciting additions announced yesterday: the incomparable Wanda Sykes, Nick Offerman (of Parks and Rec), Laraine Newman (from Saturday Night Live), J.B. Smoove(as seen on Curb Your Enthusiasm), The Dan Band, Ari Shaffir, Casey Ley, Big Jay Oakerson, the Walsh Brothers, Lynn Koplitz and Steve McFarlin.

They’ll be joining previously announced acts including SNL head writer Seth Meyers, Oscar winner Steven Wright, Parks and Rec star Aziz Ansari (and writer Chelsea Peretti), Just for Laughs closer Andy Kindler, Twitter genius Joe Mande and locals like Danny Palumbo, John Ramsey, Kath Barbadoro and John Tole.

We’re especially excited to see what Offerman’s one-man show, “American Ham,” is all about. The actor / woodworker is a trained improviser who spent time in the Chicago scene, and co-founded experimental troupe Defiant Theatre — we know whatever he brings to the stage will be equal parts absurd and eclectic. The show description tells us to expect Offerman’s “Tips for Prosperity, Original Acoustic Songs, Humorous Anecdotes, Audience Participation… and so much more,” so get ready for that.

Also! Starting Thursday, March 29 at 10 a.m., you’ll be able to get single show tickets to some just-announced lineups, like:

SHOW HOUSE @ The Parish (three shows)

From the mind of Duncan Trussell (Comedy Central, Funny or Die's "Drunk History"), featuring a different cast of Moontower comics each night and packed with country's most hilarious and original standups from TV, film and the web.

April 26, 10:00 p.m. ($15): Brendon Walsh, Eric Andre, Brody Stevens, Chris Trew and Brent Weinbach

April 27, 10:00 p.m. ($17): Nikki Glaser, Maria Bamford, Moshe Kasher, Lucas Molandes and Brendon Walsh

April 28, 10:00 p.m. ($17): Rachel Feinstein, Joe Mande, Chelsea Peretti, Brody Stevens and Brendon Walsh

COMEDY CLOSE-UP @ Beale Street Tavern

Moontower presents a close-up of a hilarious mix of national and regional comedy talent.

April 25, 10:15 p.m. ($10): Hosted by John Ramsey, Featuring Bob Biggerstaff, Erin Foley, Joe Mande, Lucas Molandes and Erin Jackson.

HANNIBAL BURESS @ The Parish (late show added)

April 25, 10:00 p.m. ($15)

MOONTOWER MASH-UP @ Scottish Rite Theatre

A star-packed show for the comedy enthusiasts!

April 25, 8:00 p.m. ($17): Andy Kindler, Brody Stevens, Rachel Feinstein, Chelsea Peretti, Duncan Trussell, Bil Dwyer and Brent Weinbach.

LUNATIC FRINGE @ Stateside at the Paramount

The Amazing Johnathan headlines this power-packed show of comedians from near and far.

April 25, 8:30 p.m. ($25): Hosted by JR Brow, Featuring The Amazing Johnathan, Baron Vaughn, Mike MacRae, Nikki Glaser, Sean Patton and W. Kamau Bell

THE DAN BAND @ Mohawk

Well-known for their covers of originally female-performed pop songs, with added obscenities and swearing, their live show has become a staple of Los Angeles nightlife.

April 25, 9:00 p.m. ($25)

DOUBLE HEADER @ Beale Street Tavern

So you have had a taste of you favorite comedian and want to see more... Our brilliant Moontower stars do what they do best... BIG sets!

April 26, 8:00 p.m. ($10): Rachel Feinstein and Baron Vaughn

April 26, 10:15 p.m. ($10): Erin Jackson and Sean Patton

DANA GOULD & FRIENDS @ Scottish Rite Theatre

April 26 & April 27, 10:30 p.m. ($17)

NICK OFFERMAN @ Paramount Theatre

April 26, 10:00 p.m. ($36)

JB SMOOVE @ Mohawk

April 27, 9:00 p.m. ($17)

LEFT, RIGHT AND RIDICULOUS @ 29^th Street Ballroom

Award-winning comedian Jimmy Dore and a Moontower comedian panel skewer today's newsmakers, ridicule our favorite cultural jackasses and make fun of our celebrities.

April 27, 7:30 p.m. / April 28, 10:00 p.m. ($15)

WANDA SYKES @ Paramount Theatre

April 28, 10:00 p.m. (Reserved seating for $47 - $64)

BLUE MOONTOWER AKA THE DIRTY SHOW TRIPLE X RATED @ The Mohawk

Do you like your comedy twisted? Do you want to see comedians "go there?" Then Blue Moontower is for you, packed with naughty, spicy, adults-only comedy.

April 28, 9:00 p.m. ($15): Hosted by John Tole, Featuring Ari Shaffir, Big Jay Oakerson and Lynne Koplitz.

Check out the current full schedule now (note that more shows will be added over the next few weeks.)

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Single show tickets and badges are available at moontowercomedyfestival.com; you can also get them at the Paramount Theatre box office or by calling 512-474-1221.

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Theatrical History

New play weaves stories of real Austin women together from 1950s on

Photo courtesy of

A photo from the She Was Here dress rehearsal ahead of its world premier.

On January 17, She Was Here, a play about real Latina women in Austin, premieres at Austin Playhouse's new interim theatre space off of West 22nd Street. Although the story is fictional, it was compiled through interviews, making it a truthful rendition of Austin across 70 years.

Written by Austin's renowned Raul Garza and directed by Jerry Ruiz, this poignant but lighthearted play is about how Austin, and culture more generally, have changed over the decades. It's about how women's roles are shifting—moving forward, and sometimes backward; it's about mothers and daughters, and it's about the relationship between people and the space around them.

As Garza puts it, "What imprints do places leave on our soul, and what imprints does our soul leave on [a] place?"

The play was originally written and developed during the pandemic. Garza had received a grant from the city during a time when theatre could be written, but not attended.

"It was a time when there was nothing going on," says Garza, "so we just kind of got reacquainted with what was around us."

For this play's devising team, which included Garza, director Jerry Ruiz, Katie Bender, and mother and daughter Giselle de la Rosa and Chamila Muñoz, what was around them was Austin.

"I wondered what it would be like to wake up 50 years in the past, 60 years in the past, and revisit the exact same physical space but with a new sensibility," says Garza.

Ester A photo of Ester, one of the women whose stories inspired the play. Photo courtesy of Raul Garza

With this idea, Garza and the team began talking to multiple generations of Latina women from Austin, starting with Garza's own mother who went to UT. From there, they expanded their conversations to include multiple groups and multiple family members—activists, mothers, daughters—all via Zoom or the phone. They asked them, How did you get here? What hardships did you encounter? What was it like for you then?

The story that began weaving itself together showed that despite changing times and a changing place, the little things in life always remained the same.

The play, starring Tonie Knight, Alyssa Hurtado, Vivian Noble, and Yesenia García Herrington, is inspired by these stories; but it doesn't focus on any one of them autobiographically. Instead, it follows the lives of two imagined families in one imagined house over the span of decades.

"We see this one consistent place, a physical house, that we imagined was somewhere in the Rainey Street neighborhood," says Garza. "And we see what happens to the lives of the people who inhabit that space, from the 50s through 2020. So it's like you're a fly on the wall, if you could be a fly on the wall in your grandmother's house. The setting is definitely a character."

Joann and her family Joann, pictured here with her family, was one of the women interviewed for this play.Photo courtesy of Raul Garza

At first, this might sound like a play about how things are getting better over time, but of course, it's not that simple. Austin is being developed, and depending on who you ask, we're better or worse off than we were a few decades ago. The same goes for women's rights; it certainly hasn't been a linear progression.

"In the wake of our latest election, it really made us stop and think," Garza says. "Wow, they're talking about the ERA March in 1975; we're talking about the ERA March in 2025. What is going on here?!"

Though the play covers some important and at times heavy topics, Garza says it's also a lot of fun; he hopes the audience comes away with a new appreciation for Austin, for those around them, and for the stories we all hold.

She Was Here is showing at Austin Playhouse Theatre at 405 West 22nd Street, from January 17 though February 9. Tickets range between $24 and $38 and can be purchased online.

theater plays women history

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Theatrical History

New play weaves stories of real Austin women together from 1950s on