The fun comes back to the beach when the fourth annual
SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL returns Wednesday, January 21
through Saturday, January 24, 2009. For the fourth
consecutive year, COMEDY CENTRAL will be the national media
partner and this year, Live Nation debuts as a Festival
partner for 2009.
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FOURTH ANNUAL SOUTH BEACH
COMEDY FESTIVAL DELIVERS
ANOTHER STELLAR COMEDIC
LINEUP
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Performers Include Lewis
Black, Cheech & Chong, Lisa Lampanelli, Jim Norton, Daniel Tosh,
Among Many Others
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Festival Announces Live
Nation As New Partner
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The Diverse Four-Day Comedy
Festival Will Take Place On January 21 – 24, 2009.
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COMEDY CENTRAL’s Free Stage
On Lincoln Road Will Once Again Feature
Up-And-Coming Talent
Showcases
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To View The Complete
Festival Line-Up And Purchase Tickets Log-On To
www.southbeachcomedyfestival.com.
The fun comes back to the
beach when the fourth annual SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL returns
Wednesday, January 21 through Saturday, January 24, 2009.
For the fourth consecutive year,
COMEDY CENTRAL
will be the national media partner and this year, Live Nation
debuts as a Festival partner for 2009.
Now in its fourth year, the
SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL
delivers a line-up that features some of comedy’s leading
performers including the legendary Cheech &Chong. The
Festival welcomes back the irreverent Lisa Lampanelli,
who returns to play The Fillmore at The Jackie Gleason Theater
after selling out the Colony two years ago. COMEDY CENTRAL’s
Grammy-Award-winning comedian Lewis Black is also
scheduled to perform.
Joining Cheech & Chong,
Lampanelli and Black will be comedian and satellite radio
personality Jim Norton (“Down and Dirty with Jim
Norton”), comedian Daniel Tosh (COMEDY CENTRAL special
“Completely Serious”), “The Soup” host Joel McHale,
playwright and GLAAD award-winner Marga Gomez, Miami’s
own author and acclaimed humorist Dave Barry, Craig
Robinson from NBC’s “The Office,” Nephew Tommy from
the number one syndicated rated radio show, “The Steve Harvey
Morning Show” and, host of Univision’s “Despierta
America”
Fernando Arau, to star in the world premiere of his new
production "Matrimonio.... Una Historia de Ciencia y Friccion"
("Marriage: A Story of Science Friction").
The Festival will break new
ground this year with the world premiere of “Tied in
Knots,” Gloria Calderon Kellett’s new play about newlyweds and
their relationship with their single friends. Kellett, a
Cuban American playwright is also an accomplished television
writer, having written for such shows as CBS’ hit series, “How I
Met Your Mother.”
Also part of the line-up is
COMEDY CENTRAL’s The Hot List, a showcase of up-and-coming
comedians that COMEDY CENTRAL has specially selected to bring to
the SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL. This showcase, which represents
some the best new voices in comedy and presents an opportunity
for everyone to see talented new comers before they break, will
be hosted by Doug Benson, a longtime network favorite.
Additionally, the Festival
will once again feature another strong lineup of up-and-coming
comedians nightly on COMEDY CENTRAL’S free outdoor stage on
Lincoln Road.
“We try to provide the most
diverse lineup possible so that people from all walks of life in
South Florida can find something they like,” said Raul Mateu,
SVP and managing director of the William Morris Agency in Miami
Beach and festival director of the SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL.
“We continue to provide some of the biggest names in comedy
along with some of its brightest prospects. We also believe in
giving back to the community and will continue with our free
stage on Lincoln Road, as well as the E-ware recycling drive,
sponsored by COMEDY CENTRAL.”
"COMEDY CENTRAL is thrilled
to once again be the national media partner. The Festival
has grown into one of the most prestigious comedy festivals in
the nation," said Mitch Fried, senior vice president, COMEDY
CENTRAL Live Entertainment. "This year we have bulked up our
line-up and will once again feature some of the hottest
up-and-coming comedians on the free stage on Lincoln Road as
well as at a special showcase at the Colony Theater. COMEDY
CENTRAL welcomes Live Nation as a partner in the Festival and
would like to extend a big thanks to our national media sponsors
Kia and Taco Bell, who have joined us for the third consecutive
year.
Mateu is also thrilled with
the new partnership with Live Nation and their team of venues,
bookers and marketers in Florida. “Their commitment to
providing quality entertainment in South Florida matches well
with the mandate of the SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL. We are
excited to be working with them,” he said. “They will provide
the production and booking expertise as the major comedy
promoter in the country.”
"With Live Nation booking
the Festival, we will expand the Festival’s portfolio of artists
and continue to break new ground at the SOUTH BEACH COMEDY
FESTIVAL while increasing the utilization of our landmark South
Beach venue, The Fillmore at The Jackie Gleason Theater, to
showcase some today’s top comedic talent,” says Neil Jacobsen,
Live Nation’s President of Florida Music.
Once again this year, the
SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL, COMEDY CENTRAL and Channel 7/Deco
Drive will be on the hunt for hot new talent. An open
casting call will take place on Monday, January 5 from 1-6pm at
the Improv Comedy Club in Coconut Grove, with semi-finalists
performing on Wednesday January 7. Video clips from the top
five finalists will then air on January 12t–19t on WSVN-7’s Deco
Drive. Fans will have the opportunity to send a text message to
vote for their favorite. The winner will be announced on
Tuesday, January 20 on-air and will subsequently have the
opportunity to perform live on the COMEDY CENTRAL’s Lincoln Road
Stage during the Festival.
Performances take place at
The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater, Lincoln Theatre,
Colony Theater and at Lincoln Road Stage – which is home to the
Festival’s outdoor, nightly, free comedy stage. Sponsors of the
fourth annual SOUTH BEACH COMEDY FESTIVAL include WSVN 7/Deco
Drive, The Improv, The Miami Herald and Miami Beach Visitor's
and Convention Authority and the City of Miami Beach.
Tickets can be purchases
through ticketmaster.com. For additional ticketing information,
please visit the Festival’s Web site at
www.southbeachcomedyfestival.com.
About the William Morris
Agency
The William Morris Agency is
at the forefront of the entertainment, media, and marketing
industries, with principal offices in New York, Beverly Hills,
Nashville, London, Miami Beach and Shanghai, China. The
Agency represents clients from all artistic disciplines,
including motion pictures, television, music, theatre,
publishing, commercial endorsements, sports, digital media, and
video games. In addition, William Morris Consulting, the
Agency’s corporate advisory group, works with some of the
world’s most recognized consumer brands to create
entertainment-based marketing strategies. The
William Morris Agency can be found at
http://www.wma.com.
About Live Nation
Live Nation's mission is to
maximize the live concert experience for artists, fans and
sponsors. Our core business is buying and producing artist
rights and monetizing those rights via our global distribution
pipe. Live Nation is the largest producer of live music concerts
in the world, annually producing over 16,000 concerts for 1,500
artists in 57 countries. The company sells over 45 million
concert tickets a year and expects to drive over 60 million
unique visitors to livenation.com in 2008. Live Nation is
transforming the concert business by expanding its concert
platform into direct concert ticketing and building the
industry's only artist-to-fan vertically integrated concert
platform. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Live Nation
is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the
symbol "LYV." Additional Information about the company can be
found at www.livenation.com/investors.
About Comedy Central
COMEDY CENTRAL,
the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 95
million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and
is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned
division of
Viacom
Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks. COMEDY
CENTRAL's Internet address is
www.comedycentral.com.
For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and
photographs visit
Press Central,
COMEDY CENTRAL’s press Web site at
www.comedycentral.com/press.
