The Orlando Comedy scene has become quite expansive. As locals begin to realize that Orlando has one of the strongest live stand up comedy scenes in the South, more and more people are coming out to see live and hyper-local acts.The Orlando Comedy Festival at Sleuths had a healthy start with a lot of great local and some national acts.
Over the next few weeks, I will discuss in detail the slew of new comedy show venues on the scene. For starters, however, I would like to thank a great location for Comedy Shows In Orlando, Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows located at 8267 International Drive (the heart of tourist central for Orlando). This comedy venue is committed to bringing local talent to the forefront with Kevin White’s Stand up Spotlight featuring Central Florida’ brightest up and coming stand up comedians. There is also Orlando Longest Running Improv Show, Todd Feren’s Mama’s Comedy Show.
Stand Up Spotlight is every Saturday Night at 10pm and its only $5.
The dinner shows happen every night at 7:30pm and they have 11 currently in rotation.
The event space at Sleuths is also incredible and available to rent for a variety of events. In the past they have held blogger and city development conferences.
This is why they were the ideal venue to produce and host the 1st Orlando Comedy Festival this past September 29th – October 2nd, 2011. They are gearing up for their second Orlando Comedy Festival in the Fall of 2012. Details will be on this blog soon.
If you have any questions about Sleuths regarding their array of comedy and magic shows in Orlando or to plan an event of your own in one of their beautiful spaces, call them at (407) 363-1985 or (800) 393-1985
email Sales Manager Ben Wavell at info@sleuths.com Like Sleuths on facebook Follow Sleuths on Twitter
If you are an older artist (Comedian, Writer, Actor, Director, Painter, Musician, etc) or businessman (or both) and feel you are past your prime without all of the success you want. It is all still possible as long as there is oxygen being pumped through your beating heart.
(From Author and Monologuist Dennis Leroy Kangalee
with some help from his friend Chris Romero)
Let this be an inspiration and comfort:
1. Author FX Toole didn’t “make it” until 69, when he was finally published by a literary magazine, eventually getting an editor to help promote and support his work. One of his stories Clint Eastwood adapted years after the author died and made into “Million Dollar Baby.” Born as Jerry Boyd, he was a veteran Los Angeles boxing trainer and ringside “cut man” who battled rejection slips for 40 years before becoming a literary sensation at age 70 with a collection of boxing short stories titled “Rope Burns.”
2. Bukowski didn’t actually start formally and seriously writing poetry until he was 35. He retired from the post office in his fifties when he wrote his first novel, Post Office, and was published by a large press. By his sixties he was finally deemed “successful.”
3. Melissa Leo didn’t gain any kind of economic success as an actress until “Frozen River” and she was catapulted into the limelight, at the age of 50.
4. BAFTA winning British actress Liz Smith
did not become a professional actress until the age of 50
5. Kathryn Joosten
(Desperate Housewives) started acting professionally at the age of 42. She worked as a nurse before that.
6. Judd Hirsch started acting at the age of 36.
7. Zelda Rubinstein was 48 before she had her first starring role, and is more known for her “debut” in
Poltergeist in 1983.
8. Brian Dennehy started acting at the age of 38.
9. Grandma Moses starting painting in her 70′s.
10. Bill Traylor started drawing at age 83.
11. Van Gogh was around 40 when he started to seriously consider being a painter.
12. Colonel Sanders began Kentucky Fried Chicken while in his 60s, finally earning success as a businessman…
13. Taikichiro Mori was in his mid-50′s when he finally founded a business that earned him great financial rewards, in fact one of the richest men for a year or two in the world.
14. Japanese Dancer Kazhuo Ohno was 43 before he gave his first professional dance recital in 1949. Ten years later later he formed the Butoh Dance movement with his partner, becoming one of the most innovate contemporary arts dancers in the world…
15. Many notable directors started even later: Robert Bresson, Jacques Tati and Takeshi Kitano directed their first features at 42.
16. Eric Rohmer did not become a full time director until his late 40s.
17. Mary Wesley might be a classic example. She wrote two children’s books in her late fifties, but her writing career did not gain note until her first novel at 70, written after the death of her husband.[59]
Harriet Doerr published her first novel at age 74, and went on to great praise.[60]
A possibly more well known example might be Laura Ingalls Wilder. She became a columnist in her forties, but did not publish her first novel in the Little House series of children’s books until her sixties.[61]
18. Charles Bukowski published his first novel at age 49 after a lengthy career working odd jobs and then at a post office.[64]
Richard Adams’s first novel, the bestseller Watership Down, was published when he was in his fifties. Anthony Burgess, the novelist best known for A Clockwork Orange, published his first novel at age 39. William S. Burroughs was also 39 when he published his first novel, Junky. The Marquis de Sade published his first novel, Justine, after turning 51. Henry Miller published his novel Tropic of Cancer at 44. Raymond Chandler published his first short story at 45, and his first novel, The Big Sleep at 51.
19. Comedian Rodney Dangerfield (aka Jack Roy) was nearly 40 years old when he had his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Come and see some of the country’s best comedic talent in one of the best comedy towns in the nation at The Orlando Comedy Festival
Wednesday Nights have a life of their own. Get out and work on your sets or come out and enjoy some of Florida’s Funniest Comedians at not one but 2 open mics in Orlando: Bonkerz Comedy Club at Boardwalk Bowling (This can lead to possible Hosting gigs with Bonkerz!)
10749 East Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL
407-629-2665 www.BonkerzComedy.com
Show up, sign up at 8pm, show at 9pm 7-10 minutes
Hosted by Carmen Vallone & Friends
Then Head to the
COCO LOCO CANTINA
in Winter Park right next door to Spatz for an Open Mic that starts at 10:30pm
@1051 West Fairbanks Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
1. Decide which Mega Mart to go to and get a Water Purifier because Orlando has the poorest water quality in the state.
2. Slow down, MEDITATE and pay more attention to the children around you. Stop waiting for them to end up dead and on TV. When I was growing up — all the nosy people in our building were actually considered to be great resources and even disciplinarians. They talked trash, but they looked out for the kids and everybody’s general well being. If you don’t have someone like this around your apartment complex or on your suburban block then…consider becoming this person yourself or shut up because the criminal justice system in this state has long been a running joke.
3. Have sex but don’t have any more kids. Would you just wrap it up already. And if you decide to have a child whether by choice or circumstance get your shit together!!
4. Take care of your children. Teach them and if you don’t know how to live LEARN AS YOU GO.
5. Mourn all the other injustice around you — take your pick: a government that has no ability to govern, Schools closing while we spend 2 million bucks to fix a fucking fountain in Lake Eola, Children starving like its a 3rd world country as Orlando arrests people for giving out food, everyone wants to cut you off in traffic…..be upset for a full day that we even live in a world that chooses to have politicians as opposed to free cures for cancer, AIDS, and anything else that destroys your immune system and your capacity to live to your fullest!
6. Get a drink and sing your favorite song. If you can’t drink, improvise with something else. If you can’t sing, hum.
7. Make it safer to walk in the Orlando-Kissimmee Metro Area because its too damn expensive to drive.
8. Stop Watching the fucking News and get off your fat ass, go for a walk and Support groups like Food Not Bombs and the Vegan Mafia in Orlando, Florida! These are volunteers who give great food and try to combat poverty by sharing and imbuing health while NOT spending a dime on a store front that requires rent and would take away from the food budget
9. think about your life and how much you should be grateful for instead of bitching, treating your loved ones like shit and plopping in front of the the TV to watch “America’s Got Talent” because guess what? America’s Got Problems.
10. Be happy someone’s feeding the hungry. Maybe they won’t come knocking on your door.
10a – Oh and Build a fucking Speed rail and catch up to the rest of civilization.
****Understand that it is NOT against the law for giving food to the hungry. I don’t care what you think you know about ordinance or this code or that law — remember it is NOT against the law to feed the hungry. All you right-wing working class stiffs listen up: you’re in the same boat as your impoverished brethren, be they right or left wing. Please, can we grow up for one minute. Put down the remote, put down the blackberry, put down the joystick…You taxpaying law abiding citizens hear me now: “On April 13, 2011 the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal upheld Orlando’s Large Group Feeding Ordinance, finding that it does not violate either the First Amendment of the United States Constitution nor the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act as some accused.”
Hello Irish Folk!
So here we are on St. Patty’s Day 2011. It is a Thursday Night! There is one place that I know of this evening where you can laugh till you jig and that is at Mojo’s Bar and Grill where you get to see 8 comedians have a good ole fashioned “Joke Off”. Completely unscripted, 8 comics will riff on topics chosen in front of a live audience. There is a 10 dollar cover but you will get in for free if you wear green. Shawn Banks will Headline the evening and Carmen Vallone will Host. Come and Check it out!
After you get up with a hangover on Friday the 18th, chug the rest of your green beer and head over to see one of the best comics in the country at Boardwalk Entertainment on Colonial with Orlando native Tom Rhodes
Or perhaps you would like to see who the best new comic coming out of Central Florida is and support a great cause ( Standing up against Domestic Violence ) while doing so. Then Head to Osceola Heritage Square Park and see Stand Up Against Domestic Violence – Become Central Florida’s Best Comic with national headliner Henry Cho.
You want to laugh some more, well then on Saturday the 19th head over to the Stand Up Spotlight as they present the “In Your Face Tour” at Sleuth’s Dinner Theater at 10pm with special host Michael Bach, a guest spot by Tim Murphy (keep showing the Irish love), Charlie Bowie and Allison Johnson.
Bonkerz may have a show closer to you this weekend so check them out!
Sunday Evening, JMR productions puts on a show unlike any other featuring the Improv Comedy Group The 3 Cabanegroes
We would like to take this time to honor the memory of a great comedian based out of Clearwater, Florida who passed away earlier this week. James Vernon was a great comedian who overcame extreme amounts of diversity to make people laugh while making sense of his personal life. Thank you for your time on this planet James. You will be missed.
Please like us on FACEBOOK and tell us what you would like to see more of.
Also follow us on TWITTER for details on shows and even free tix….
If you would like to promote an event or podcast, email us at floridacomedy@yahoo.com
Thank you all and drink your ASS off this weekend while seeing some great comedy.
There is a LOT happening in the world of Central Florida Comedy this weekend so lets get to it:
This Thursday 3/10, Friday 3/11, Saturday 3/12 and Sunday 3/13 Al Jackson will be at the Orlando Improv! http://theimprovorlando.com/
This Thursday 3/10 Carmen Vallone Hosts his show “The Joke Off” at club Mojo in Downtown Orlando which offers a chance for comedians to riff on various topics with a chance to win an opening spot for Louie Anderson at his Bonkerz Room in Las Vegas! Bonkerz Comedy Clubs
Bonkerz Comedy Clubs will also have a slew of great shows this happening this weekend.
http://bonkerzcomedyclub.com/ including Al Yountz and James Vernon.
…And A Very Special Mention to RAW DOG COMEDY and their awesome show POOLSIDE COMEDY
@ Captain’s Cove Restaurant
4380 Carraway Place
Sanford, FL 32771
Fri & Sat – March 11th & 12th @ 8pm
$5 in advance, $8 at the door. FULL BAR & FULL MENU
with HEADLINER and co host of the El Chupa Podcast on RAMPANT RADIO — – PEDRO LIMA from NBC and Rooftop Comedy. Hosted by Pete Van and put together by Raw Dog Comedy and your boy Vince Taylor!!
Go like them @ facebook.com/rawdawgcomedy for free passes!!
In West Kissimmee, there is a show with the “3 Cabanegroes” (Tylernol, Jared Blake and a guy I ave never heard speak) from JMR Comic Productions that starts at 7pm at The Stage Door Pub on 192 (close to US 27) . Comics are welcomed to come down and so time before the main act takes the stage.
Feel free to post any edits, updates or questions. Email us at floridacomedy@yahoo.com to promote your event or get some more info.
Also, there is a need for comedy workshops so if you know of any or want to get one going, please let us know so we can promote it. Thank you Central Florida Comedy Lovers!!
Welcome to our new family over at http://whats2hot.com! This is where you can find out everything that’s worth checking out in Central Florida.
Please like us on FACEBOOK and tell us what you would like to see more of.
Also follow us on TWITTER for details on shows and even free tix….
Thank you all and laugh your ASS off this weekend.
The Orlando Improv is offering 4 free tickets on a first reserve – first serve basis for this Thursday, Friday and Sunday. If you are interested please email us at Floridacomedy@yahoo.com and we will get you the details.
The Orlando Improv started a new open mic every Sunday night at 9pm. The Fox and Hounds Pub now has an open mic every wednesday evening at 9pm. Jersey Hotcomic aka “The Haitian Sensation” hosts an open mic in downtown Orlando at Vain and Carmen Vallone runs an open mic for Bonkerz on East Colonial Drive at Boardwalk Bowling also on Wednesday so there is no excuse not to get out to one of them. Why not make your mistakes in Kissimmee and then bring a more polished set to Bonkerz and Vain?
The Tampa Area Comedy Scene is coming to Orlando a lot more frequently. We now have a show the last Sunday of every month at the DAV Outpost in Kissimmee.
This Friday and Saturday (1-14 – 1-15 ) Dean Napolitano headlines at the new Bonkerz room in downtown Orlando at Mojo’s Bar and Grill. After wrapping up Transformers 3 on the Space Coast, he is coming to town for 2 nights. Check out http://bonkerzcomedy.com/index.cfm.
It’s a nice new site and you can also check out their new room at Metro West which is doing really well.
Amy Shumer is bringing the funny to http://theimprovorlando.com/ with host Darren Moore from Today – Sunday….
The show at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater on Saturday is going to be great with Duncan Jay, Frank Alfano Jr. hosted by Lisa Applegate with a special guest spot by co host and co producer of The Buckethead Show on Real Radio 104.1fm (11am -3pm) “Bull” aka Bryan Sklover.
http://www.sleuths.com/spotlight
reserve your tickets for one of these fine shows.
Also please support the new initiative started by The BS on Real Radio to legalize gambling in Orlando. We need the money and the jobs (Hard Rock in Tampa brings in 150 million in Taxes for the state and provides thousands of jobs). Central Florida Stand Up will soon be airing on http://IzonOrlando.com and we are getting ready to do raise money for some great causes and charities with the help of some great Central Florida Comedians, organizations and people.
