DSI Comedy Theater Sets Out To Find Carolina’s Funniest Comic

Now in its fourth year, DSI Comedy Theater will once again give audiences a chance to crown the funniest person in North Carolina as it hosts Carolina's Funniest. DSI is changing things up for the fourth year of this competition. Beginning April 14, the comic hot spot will host 36 comedians who will compete for $1500 in cash and prizes. This single elimination competition will run six weeks and will end on May 21. Tickets to each round cost $10. DSI Comedy Theater is located at 200 N. Greensboro Street in the Carr Mill Mall between Elmo's and Southern Rail. More information can be found at www.dsicomedy.com.

DSI has become the venue in The Triangle for Alternative Standup Comedy over the past four years. In addition to running an incredibly successful comedy festival, DSI has presented Louis CK, Eddie Brill and Mike MacRae, Emo Phillips, hostEd Kumail Nanjiani's Christmas Eve Eve Spectacular two years in a row, and the Beards of Comedy CD Release.

The theatre has made some changes for 2011. Previously, 32 comics competed for the title of Carolina's Funniest. This year, four more slots have been added to the roster. For the first time, the competition will run over two months. It begins in April during DSI's weekly Thursday night Stand-Up Comedy Showcase. During each week of the first round, 12 comedians will perform for five minutes. Four comedians will advance to the second round, which will begin Saturday nights in May.

The theatre has also upped the prize pool. The winner will ultimately earn $1000 and a slot in the 2012 North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival. Last year's winner, Tom Keller, performed in a Late Show with David Letterman Showcase headlined by the show's comic talent booker, Eddie Brill. The second place winner will take home $300 and for the first time the third and fourth place winners will also take home prize money.

"The standup community here in North Carolina has just exploded over the last few years and we're proud to help it grow, both in the number and the quality of the comics you see on stage. As the registrations come in, I'm looking forward to the contest myself," said DSI Executive Producer and Artistic Director Zach Ward. "I expect our audiences are going to have a difficult time voting this year, but no difficulty laughing."

2012 CAROLINA'S FUNNIEST SCHEDULE
FIRST ROUND:
Thursday, April 14, 9pm - 12 comics perform 5 minutes, 4 advance
Thursday, April 21, 9pm - 12 comics perform 5 minutes, 4 advance
Thursday, April 28, 9pm - 12 comics perform 5 minutes, 4 advance

SECOND ROUND:
Saturday, May 7, 9:30pm - 6 comics perform 10 minutes, 2 advance
Saturday, May 14, 9:30pm - 6 comics perform 10 minutes, 2 advance

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND:
Saturday, May 21, 930pm - 4 comics perform 15 minutes

About DSI Comedy Theater

DSI Comedy Theater, an 84-seat non-smoking theater located in Carrboro, North Carolina, boasts a local company of 45 active performers and a national network of almost 100 professional comedians. A dedicated member of its community, the theatre continues to reach out to the greater Triangle region with fundraisers, outreach, and educational opportunities for all ages and abilities. It is the home of the DSI Comedy Training Center, which offers new classes every month in the art of improvisation, stand-up and sketch comedy. Zach Ward, Owner and Executive Producer of DSI, has trained improv talent featured on television (Jeff Richards, Saturday Night Live, MADtv), the big screen (Maddy Curley, Disney's Stick it), and students now featured at IO Chicago, IO West, UCBT-NY and UCBT-LA, Second City, Boom (Amsterdam), and ComedySportz®.

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