North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival Kicks Off Today

Still the biggest comedy festival in the South, the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival is going through some changes. The festival is running for 10 straight days this year and while it will feature some of the best rising stand-up, sketch, and improv comedy across the nation, this year the festival will delve into the community in ways it never has previously.

The Festival is set to run from today, February 6-Sunday, February 16 at DSI Comedy Theater, The Arts Center, Open Eye Café, Nightlight and Fly Leaf Books in Chapel Hill, and Motorco in Durham. Tickets costs $5-$20 (prices depend on the event) and are available online at www.nccomedyarts.com. Discounts are available with a valid student ID.

After several years of running the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival over multiple weekends, the event moves to 10 days. The new schedule gives opportunities for performers who do multiple types of comedy a chance to perform multiple times during the festival. This year, the festival is donating 10% of proceeds of ticket sales to Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate and Beat Making Lab.

Along with the schedule change, the festival is very active in the community this year. On Saturday, February 8, the festival hosts a Community Jam and Improv Slam at Flyleaf Books at 3 p.m. Monday, February 10 at 7 p.m. the festival hosts an Adult Spelling Bee and Community Jam at Flyleaf. Then, on Tuesday, February 11, the festival moves to Motorco in Durham and hosts the presents The Great Durham Pun Championship in partnership with The Regulator. Finally, Wednesday, February 12, NCCAF is presenting a comedy-focused production of The Monti featuring local favorites and festival comedians.

This year the festival is also welcoming back Albert Nerenberg, the director of Laughology. DSI Comedy Theater and the NC Comedy Arts Festival is partnering with Nerenberg to hold the third Annual North Carolina Laughter Championship. Competing in a series of Laugh-offs contestants will be awarded the title "2014 NC Laughter Champion" by the crowd and the winner will be entered into the South East regional contest held in Atlanta.

Laughter Competitions are designed to promote healthy, positive contagious laughter. They work by setting off natural positive human triggers. The founders of the competition believe that laughter could in fact be a competitive sport. Although the goal is to produce great laughs, the spirit is to promote the positive aspects of friendly laughter that make inspired laughter contagious, unconditionally joyful and fun.

The festival welcomes back noted solo sketch performer Paul Thomas on Friday, February 14 at 9:30 p.m. Then, Saturday, February 15 at 4 p.m. comedians battle it out for $500 to see if their comedy pitch is picked the winner in Comedy Kingmaker.

This year the festival will host the North Carolina Finals of Carolina's Funniest on Saturday, February 8 at 7 p.m. Then, Sunday, February 16 the top comedians from the North and South Carolina competition will be competing for the 2014 Carolina's Funniest Title. The festival is also welcoming back noted stand-up comedian and Late Show with David Letterman warm-up comic Eddie Brill.

The festival also features a stellar line-up of improvisers from all over the country. Highlight acts include Beatbox (Chicago), NorthCoast (New York City), Magnet Theatre Touring Company (New York City), ImprovBoston (Boston), Billyhawk (Los Angeles), Red Letters (Oklahoma), and more.

"Now 14 years later I've been producing the NC Carolina Comedy Arts Festival for more than 1/3 of my life," explains Founder and Executive Producer Zach Ward. "Not adult life, my entire life. And I am excited to watch it grow up. I'm looking forward the schedule and programming changes this year since, as I returned to North Carolina this year and reconnected with the community here, local acts and programs that fit into the festival were a major focus. The festival has always been an educational tool and outlet and this year expands those opportunities for local artists, fans and students of comedy, as well as some of the best comedy talent in the country."

About NCCAF: In 2001, Dirty South Improv (DSI) produced the first North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival to give audiences and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the chance to experience workshops in the art of Chicago-style improvisation. Now, 13 years later the festival has rapidly become one of the largest comedy festivals in the nation. As it continues to grow, the festival now features talent that has been seen on the small screen on Saturday Night Live, MTV, Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central, and on stages at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and Second City. The NCCAF has increased the population of Carrboro by 4% during its annual run. As the festival grew, DSI presented professional performances in Chicago and New York and created a college touring company. In 2005, the festival saw the opening of the DSI Comedy Theater, an 80-seat venue in North Carolina and the new home for shows and the DSI Comedy School. The festival has attracted high level instructors in improv, sketch and stand-up comedy including: Eddie Brill, Asaf Ronen, Jeff Griggs, Dan Izzo, Eric Hunicutt, Kevin Patrick Robbins, Anthony King and Jill Bernard. >From the DSI Comedy School and DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro, NC to its productions in Chicago, and professional Touring Company, the Dirty South name has spread around the country, drawing both participants and quality teaching staff to its annual comedy festival year after year.