Festival Fever
Comedy Apocalypse: Out of Bounds Festival set to detonate downtown with laughter
- Headliners John Lutz (l) and Scott Adsit.
The Mayan calendar ends on December 21 of this year, which means we may not be alive to see 2013. No reason to cry about spilt apocalypse, so why not laugh about it instead?
That's the philosophy taken by this year's Out of Bounds Comedy Festival organizers, who have themed the seven-day live improv, sketch and standup festival held August 28 - September 3 with a last-week-on-Earth flare. Rightfully (and adorably), it's been coined "OOBageddon."
As any good world-end bash should be, OOB's eleventh year of existence is its biggest and craziest yet, welcoming over 500 performers to perform in exactly 100 shows throughout seven comedy venues throughout the city including Scottish Rite Theater, The Velveeta Room and The Mohawk.
Wednesday, OOB announced their major headliners for the festival, whom TV comedy viewers will recognize as two of the cast members of NBC's 30 Rock: Scott Adsit and John Lutz. These two Second City alum are in fact incredibly talented improvisers — far more impressive than their charming sad sack characters, Pete and Lutz, from the TGS with Tracy Jordan writers' room.
As the Onion AV Club describes their act: "Offering a tweaked-out version of a long-form improv show, Adsit and Lutz put on a master class in comedy. Think of it as an even looser version of two characters you've seen on television, only in person, and somehow better." You can catch their special late-night performance at the Scottish Rite Theater on Sep 1 at 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, other wildly popular national acts like New York City's Upright Citizen's Brigade-based sketch comedy troupe Onassis, Los Angeles long-form improv experts Beer Shark Mice (including Anchorman's David Koechner), and beloved sketch/mystery/weirdo Butt Kapinski will pop up around the city like unstoppable forces of irresistible comedic delight.
Of course, Austin is home to one of the most prolific comedy scenes in the country, so performing alongside these touring megaliths will be many of Austin's best comedy institutions as well like the blood-thirsty improv team The Frank Mills, ruthless sketch comedians Your Terrific Neighbors and more Funniest Person in Austin finalists than you can shake a sharpened stick at.
For comedians looking to expand their skill base, OOBaggedon will again feature its consistently sold out series of Master Class workshops with some of improv and sketch comedy's biggest names at the Hideout Theatre throughout the week. Adsit and Lutz, for example, will teach a "Back to Basics" scene-work class on September 1, and Beer Shark Mice will proctor a long-form intensive on September 3.
Festival passes and individual show tickets are already flying out the door at doomsday stockpiling speeds, and you do not want to be left in the midst of the comedy cataclysm without one.