Stand-Up Week at North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival Starts Today

The 2013 North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival is kicking off its 13th year with a loaded line-up of local and national rising comics. The festival officially kicks off today, Jan 30 at MotorCo.in Durham with an 8 p.m. show featuring a line-up of local comics. Then the festival moves to multiple performances at DSI Comedy Theater and Local 506 in Chapel Hill through Sunday.

Tickets to festival shows cost $10 or $14 and are available online at www.nccomedyarts.com. MotorCo is located at 723 Rigsbee Ave in Durham. DSI Comedy Theater is located at 200 N Greensboro St. in Carrboro and Local 506 is at 506 W. Franklin St, in Chapel Hill.

This year the stand-up comedy line-up features multiple performances by over 50 comedians from all over the Triangle, the country and Canada. Highlights this year include a return appearance from Totally Biased Writer Aparna Nancherla, rising Canadian Star Ted Morris and Chelsea Lately Regular April Richardson.

Nancherla has appeared at several festivals and is returning this year now as a writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on FX. She began her career out of the Washington Improv Theater in Washington D.C. She now splits her time between Los Angeles and New York. Her other credits include Last Comic Standing, NBC Stand Up for Diversity Finalist, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, SF Sketchfest, the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival, the Great American Comedy Festival, NPR, Reader's Digest, The Huffington Post, Timeout NY, and the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron. She performs Friday, February 1 at 7 p.m. at DSI Comedy Theater. She also is set to perform Saturday, February 2 at 8 p.m. at Local 506.

Ted Morris comes to the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival following the 2012 debut of his hour long comedy special on The Comedy Network. He's been called "fresh faced and hilarious" by NOW Magazine. He is a writer, producer and all around super guy. He has performed at the "We're Funny That Way", London and Halifax Comedy Festivals, and can be heard around the world on XM Radio. His TV appearances include two stand-up specials for Pridevision TV, The Toronto Show, The Comedy Network's Canadian Comedy Shorts, MuchMoreMusic's Heat Meter, The Smart Woman's Survival Guide and the Halifax Comedy Festival on CBC. He taped an hour long comedy special for CTV's "Comedy Now!" in the fall of 2011 which aired for the first of an endless number of times in April 2012. He performs Friday, February 1 at 8 p.m. at Local 506 and Saturday, February 2 at 7 p.m. at DSI Comedy Theater.

April Richardson is originally from Atlanta and moved to Los Angeles after graduating from college. She is currently a regular on E!'s hit show Chelsea Lately. She used to work for MTV and regularly contributed pop-culture pieces to the network. She was named one of the 15 Up-and-Coming Comediennes You Should Be Laughing At! by The Frisky. Mary Van Note also listed her as one of the Best Comics of 2009 You Probably Don't Know. She takes the mic Friday, February 1 at 7 p.m. at DSI Comedy Theater and Saturday, February 2 at 9 p.m. at DSI.

The full schedule for stand-up comedy and the rest of the festival is available at www.nccomedyarts.com.

"Stand-up at the festival keeps growing and this year showcases that growth. Last year, we had two All-Star showcases with Late Show with David Letterman warm-up comic Eddie Brill. This year we are thrilled to welcome Aparna Nancherla back to the festival and we are really looking forward giving our audiences a chance to see April Richardson, Ted Morris, and other rising comics. Stand-up is always great way to kick-off the festival," said NCCAF Executive Producer Zach Ward.