WDVE Comedy Fest looks to bring laughs to Pittsburgh

This week, Pittsburgh classic rock station WDVE will be bringing its Comedy Fest back for another year with three comedy shows to keep the laughs going.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday at Bottlerocket Social Hall, comedy fans can check out the “WDVE Loaded Showcase,” hosted by Bill Crawford, a comedian and radio personality on the ’DVE Morning Show.

The showcase will spotlight eight local comedians selected for an evening of laughs for Pittsburgh and by Pittsburgh. Featured will be Mike Travers, Shannon Norman, Jeff Konkle, Sean Collier, Ed Bailey, Mike Zydel, Marcus Cox, Matt Light and Crawford, himself.

“There are legit national-level talents doing comedy in town, and when you see the top of the class performing together, it’s really impressive,” said Randy Baumann of the ’DVE Morning Show, which presents the Comedy Fest.

Next up is the MainStage event, which will be held at 8 p.m. Friday at the Byham Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. This evening brings a slate of headlining comics to the stage, including Harland Williams, Chris Porter, Greg Fitzsimmons, Sarah Tiana, Bill Crawford and Jeff Konkle.

“The MainStage show is an effort to bring five national headliners together on one stage for one night,” Baumann said. “But unlike showcases you regularly see at The Comedy Store in L.A. or the Comedy Cellar in NYC, where they only do 10-minute sets, the comics at the Byham all do 20-minute sets, and the headliner does a 40-minute set.”

Lastly, at 4:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon, Bottlerocket will again host the Comedy Fest’s final event, a live taping of nationally touring comedian Doug Benson’s popular and long-running podcast “Doug Loves Movies.”

The podcast brings together a panel of funny people onstage to play a series of movie-related games cooked up by Benson. This live show has been part of the Comedy Fest every year.

“(It’s) just a super fun way to wrap things up for the weekend, and usually a few comics from the MainStage show stick around to be a guest on the panel for Doug,” Baumann said. “All the shows are a blast, and it really brings a national comedy scene vibe to town for a few days, which is super exciting.”

He extolled the virtues of local stages like Bottlerocket and the Arcade Comedy Theater, which are doing the work to develop the comedy scene in Pittsburgh, as well.

“I also love that people get to see how great of a standup comic Bill Crawford is when he performs on the main stage at the Byham,” Baumann said. “They get to hear him on the (’DVE Morning) show every day and know how funny he is, but doing stand up is such a different art form and it’s fun to see him show people that he’s in the conversation with some of the best comics in the country.”

Baumann encourages everyone to come out and laugh this week, with friends or even alone.

“Nikki Glaser says this all the time, and I couldn’t agree more,” he said. “Going to comedy shows alone is a blast! If you want to go but don’t have a crew to hang with, don’t let that deter you from buying a single ticket and laughing your butt off.”

To learn more and get tickets for the events, check out trustarts.org for the Friday night MainStage show and hottlerocketpgh.com for the Wednesday and Saturday events.