For the first time, Camp Kids 'N Comedy will open their Graduation Shows to the public for three shows, on July 20, August 3 and August 17 (all are Fridays), at 3:00 PM in Gotham Comedy Club, 208 W 23 Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.
During the regular theater season (October through May), Kids ‘N Comedy presents shows featuring a troupe of experienced teenage comics who have been performing with with the company for years. These July 20, August 3 and August 17, 2012 shows, however, are introductory events for new comics, all of whom have studied this summer in Camp Kids 'N Comedy and some of whom will be making their debut performances.The comics appearing in the Graduation shows have trained this summer in Kids 'N Comedy Camp workshops at Gotham Comedy Club, studying in the company of other hilarious teens and mentored by professional writers and comedians from around New York. They have learned to script, workshop and perform their very own stand-up routines, which will now be tested for the first time. On each of the three dates, a group of about ten comedians ages ten to seventeen will be featured.
Camp Kids 'N Comedy is a training program built on sixteen successful years of growing the stand-up comedy skills of children. It is being held this summer for the sixth time. The program is designed for middle-to-high schoolers. Some of the comics in the camp are taking it for the first time; others are returning for their second or third years.In Kids 'N Comedy shows, each comic performs his/her own material, which is screened to be free of profanity and abrasive or cheap "low" humor (like fart jokes). They do, however, venture into edgy comic terrain: politics, getting old, even death. Laura Weiss wrote in Big Apple Parent, "This kid humor is quirky and often slightly mordant, with a sophistication that belies the comedians' youth. Plus, these kids are hilarious."Jo Ann Grossman, who created Kids 'N Comedy in 1996 with her husband Stu Morden, says "Kids ’N Comedy gives ‘class comics’ a stage where they can really perform, and not just carry on in the back of the classroom. In our classes, kids get to learn comedy from the bottom up, and gain the skills to actually create and perform their own personal stand-up comedy routines developed from their own unique experiences."
Tickets to the Graduation Shows are $10 plus a one item minimum. Reservations are necessary for all three performances. Audience members may call 212-877-6115 to reserve. Online ticketing is not available for these Camp Graduation Shows.More information on Kids 'N Comedy is available on its website, www.kidsncomedy.com.