Barbara Grey, Tess Barker and Brandie Posey of the podcast "Lady to Lady," headliners for the 2019 Second Best Comedy Fest (Photo by Megan Thompson)
Coalition Theater turns a whopping decade old this month, and for its annual nativity celebration hosts this weekend the fifth annual 2nd Best Comedy Fest, June 6-8 at its home for the past six years, 8 W. Broad St.
And a birthday party requires guests. In this case, the assorted troupes and performers are arriving from New York City; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles. The robust event features more than 45 acts in three venues: the Coalition’s stage, the nearby Basement of TheatreLab and the venerable Canal Club, at 1545 E. Cary St. This year’s event is headlined by the Los Angeles female podcasting trio “Lady to Lady.”
“It’s 16 or 17 shows, three different venues, and our first time at the Canal Club,” explains Coalition co-founder Matt Newman. “We focused on presenting a bunch of different kinds of live comedy, not just improv, but stand-up, some improvised, written sketch, podcasting stuff. We’re presenting as wide a range of comedy as you can.” Not only that, if you’re either inspired or curious, you can register for a comedy workshop.
This fest is the largest and most varied yet. “Richmond’s acquired respect for its performing scene, and the comedy coming out of here is getting more and more known,” Newman says.
A couple of performers have come through the Richmond comedy ranks, moved to New York City and are bringing it home for the fest. They’ll both perform in a Saturday evening showcase at the Canal Club. Natasha Vaynblat, among her other gigs, is on the team of Comedy Central’s “Every Damn Day,” and you may remember stand-up comedian Steve Howze from the local show “RVA Tonight With Beau Cribbs"; he's currently a part of New York's Magnet Theater in the Souvenir group.
The biggest get for the fifth comedy fest is the group from the weekly podcast "Lady to Lady," Barbara Gray (Comedy Central, Hulu, MTV, TruTV), Brandie Posey (MTV, E!, Comedy Central) and Tess Barker (TV Land, Vice, MTV News, Jezebel). Each episode ends with the honest and fairly serious advice segment “Lady Problems.”
For all this gut busting, you can pull out the coinage for each program, or get the $40 festival pass. “It’s basically Kings Dominion pricing,” Newman notes. “I mean, how I remember [the price] from going there as a kid. The pass pays for itself after one or two individual shows.”
And that’s no joke.
