Larry Wilmore, Pamela Adlon and More Slated for NY Comedy Festival Friars Club Panel

As part of the upcoming New York Comedy Festival, the Friars Club, the New York Comedy Festival and Producer Rick Newman will present a Comedy Writers Round Table III on Wednesday, November 3rd at 8:30pm at The Friars Club (57 E. 55th St.). Featuring five acclaimed comedy writers, this is one of the rare times that events at the Friars Club have been open to the public. Tickets are $40 (for reservations call the Friars Club at 212-751-7272).

Moderating the panel will be original Saturday Night Live writer and five-time Emmy Award-winner Alan Zweibel. Alan's other credits include It's Garry Shandling's Show (which he co-created and produced) and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He also collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning play 700 Sundays, Martin Short's Broadway hit Fame Becomes Me and Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner: A Sort of Romantic Comedy, adapted from his best-selling book. Other books by Alan include the Thurber Prize winning novel The Other Shulman, the popular children's book Our Tree Named Steve and Lu-natics, which he co-wrote with Dave Barry.

Five of the most brilliant comedy minds in the world-all Emmy winning writers-will appear on the Roundtable to discuss such topics as how to break into the business of comedy writing to a sneak peek behind the doors of the writers' room to what it's like being a writer in The Big Apple. The Comedy Writers Round Table III will be a lively and entertaining panel discussion filled with terrific insight, great stories and a lot of laughs.

The highly distinguished panel includes Emmy Award-winner Larry Wilmore (The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Black-ish, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and host of the 2016 White House Correspondents Dinner); Emmy Award-winner Pamela Adlon (FX's Better Things, King of the Hill, Louie and Californication); four-time Emmy Award-winner Mike Reiss (The Simpsons, It's Garry Shandling's Show, The Critic, Alf); and Emmy & Peabody Award winner Phil Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond, I'll Have What Phil's Having).

The Friars Club was founded in 1904 as a meeting place for entertainers and over the years has achieved legendary status. Its membership includes a Who's Who of current and former Hollywood superstars along with high-profile entertainment executives and personalities. The mission of its Foundation is to help performing arts groups create superior, innovative and af-fordable programs for the enrichment, education and enjoyment of diverse audiences and par-ticipants. The Foundation also helps prepare the next generation of performers and musical artists through scholarship programs for students studying the performing arts. In addition, it has created the Gift of Laughter Program, which enables the Foundation to bring laughter and comedy to members of the armed forces injured during service. The Friars Club "Monastery" is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan in a classic townhouse and is a haven for entertainers young and old.

The 2016 NYCF is presented in association with Comedy Central. Launched in 2004, the fes-tival is produced by Carolines on Broadway. Past festivals have included Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Billy Crystal, Whitney Cummings, Larry David, Jim Gaffigan, Ricky Gervais, Kathy Griffin, Kevin Hart, Joel McHale, Andy Samberg, Amy Schumer and Sa-rah Silverman among others. The NYCF has also focused on highlighting the behind-the-scenes creative process by producing informative and entertaining panels, some including "Id Isn't Always Pretty: An Evening with Broad City," "A Sit-Down with The Tonight Show Writers," "Clown Panties and Other Unpleasant Truths: An Evening with Inside Amy Schumer," and "Keepin' It 100: An Evening with Larry Wilmore & the Creative Team of The Nightly Show."