March Comedy Madness: Fast and Funny! Live Comedy

By Jeff MacKinnon in Examiner Online March 10, 2011

Every March, anyone who knows a former athlete or is acquainted with someone who’s life is so limited that they have chosen to be sports-obsessed, will inevitably be approached to “get down on the March Madness pool!” Go mad! It’s a bunch of basketball in one month! March! Pull out your twenty-dollar bills, y’all! Madness! Guess on your picks because you have no prior knowledge! March Madness! Yes, if it’s March then that means Madness! Right, people who don’t care about basketball?

Well, don’t feel like just because you don’t watch or understand sports and why they are such a big deal that you can’t have a little Madness this March…The Comedy Store in Hollywood will be host for the first Los Angeles edition of MARCH COMEDY MADNESS! 64 of Los Angeles’ best up-and-coming comedians will face off tournament-style in four rapid fire shows over the next month to determine one supreme joke-slinger.

Created and hosted by Josh Filipowski (LA) and Bryan Kennedy (NYC), the show has run for four wildly successful years in New York City. Myq Kaplan (Last Comic Standing), Reese Waters (VS Network), Julian McCullough (Comedy Central Presents), and Sam Morril all came out on top in previous tournaments, taking down their opponent in short and long sets.

Here’s the rundown: two comedians take the stage at the same time and perform their set while the other takes the stool. Round one (March 13) is a mere minute. 60 seconds of funny to get the audience on their side. “What the hell am I going to do in one-minute?” one anonymous competitor commented. Better shoot a couple of threes (whatever the hell that would be in joke-terms…a big closer? A killer opener? Some audacious crowd-riffs?).

From there, the number of comedians is cut in half and the sets go up to 2-minutes. Round three has 16 comedians doing 3 minutes. Round four, eight comedians, 4-minutes. You know how this goes.

Unlike other comedy shows where audiences are only empowered to laugh (and nothing else, you Droid-obsessed idiot), the Madness asks the audience to determine each winner. Ref. Filipowski will be using a “decibel reader” to measure the audience applause and determine who will get their big shot at TWO-MINUTES and beyond! Fates and emotions being determined by a machine…behold the future.

Don’t audiences love enduring a gazillion comedians on one show? Nope. Don’t comedians love contests? Not in the least. Fortunately, the Madness has proven fast-paced, loose and fun for comedians and audience alike. It’s not a contest – it’s Madness…just like the meatheads do. Meatheads, like blondes, shouldn’t get all the fun. And probably won’t get all the jokes.

Filipowski has posted the brackets, juiced up the “decibel meter” and is ready to rock. “We are thrilled to bring the madness to LA.” So get with the Madness, suit up, and get out there!