Magners Comedy Festival kicks off Thursday with contest, showcases

The Magners Comedy Festival kicks off three days of comedy at Tommy’s Comedy Lounge and Nick’s Comedy Stop Thursday, starting with the backbone of the Festival, the Comic Stand Off. Ten comics will compete for a chance to be a headliner at the Bulmer’s Comedy Festival in Dublin this fall (plus a trip for two to Dublin).

There will also be a few showcase shows, like Friday’s “New York vs Boston” at Tommy’s, hosted by Sean Sullivan and featuring Tom Dustin, Lamont Price, Graig Murphy, and Carolyn Plummer for the hometown team, and Tom McCaffrey, Kenny Zimlinghaus, Jesse Popp, and Sara Shaefer for NYC. Friday at Nick’s is the Best of Boston with Jimmy Dunn, Mike McDonald, and Juston McKinney.

Saturday is the Stand Off Final hosted by Jim Colliton, and a late night “Comedy Confessions” show at 11PM hosted by Tom Dustin and featuring Dave Russo, Sean Sullivan, Robby Roadsteamer, Mehran, Lamont Price, and Ken Reid. Plus, as reported early, Gary Gulman has sold out his 8:30 show Saturday at Nick’s, and has added a second show at 6:30.

Magners chose Boston to host the Festival not only because they are based here, but, according to U.S. Trade Marketing Manager Kevin Murphy, “because we felt it was hot bed of comic talent. With a number of famous comedians past and present coming from the area it was a natural choice.”

They chose Tommy’s and Nick’s so they could host simultaneous events in the adjoining clubs and give it a true festival feel, and they expect to make this an annual event. “It would have been easy to jump on an existing festival as a sponsor,” says Murphy, “but we really wanted to take grow a grassroots comedy festival that we could call our own, year after year. Given the success of the Magners/Bulmers Comedy festivals overseas we are poised to grow our festival to their status and make a name for own festival.”