Aspen Laff Fest: A quick and dirty guide
From Wednesday, March 16 through Saturday, March 19, Aspen’s Wheeler Opera House is setting aside the Viking helmets and fat ladies singing to turn into a comedy club for the Aspen Laff Festival. The four-day festival is bringing in up-and-coming comics such as Christopher Titus, Caroline Rhea, Roy Wood Jr., Christina Pazsitzky, Jamie Kilstein, Jackie Kashian, and Auggie Smith alongside showcases of local Aspen talent (expect lots of jokes about cocaine and skiing) and “new faces,” plus two special programs featuring comics riffing on the evergreen comedy sources of drinking and religion. (Those are separate programs, by the way, but we suspect there’ll be a fair amount of crossover in material and performers.)
To help you decide whether a trek to Aspen is in your future (pro tip—at 7,890 feet, you will save money, since each drink gets you roughly twice as blitzed), The A.V. Club presents this quick and dirty guide to some of the intriguing talent on display.
Christopher Titus—Wednesday, March 16 headlining set
Specialty: Black humor, tales from a dysfunctional family, taboo-testing riffs
Darryl Lenox—Thursday, March 17 set
Specialty: Folksy, homespun, and profanity-laced observational humor touching on family, politics, and race
Christina Pazsitsky—Friday, March 18 set
Specialty: Foul-mouthed, borderline shocking tirades about modern life, marriage, and more—like a much more attractive, modern take on Roseanne Barr
Caroline Rhea—Saturday, March 19 headlining set
Specialty: Abrasive riffs on whatever catches her fancy, from her audience to her home life; used to be on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, but don’t hold that against her
Four-day festival passes run $135, with day passes starting at $43.50; and there are even a handful of free shows throughout the fest. For more info, including a full schedule, visit www.wheeleroperahouse.com/laff.
