What’s the deal with festivals? The 2011 Milwaukee Comedy Festival begins tonight

Several years before he began appearing regularly in supremely shitty comedies, Robert De Niro starred in perhaps the definitive movie about comedy, 1982’s The King Of Comedy. Directed by Martin Scorsese, The King Of Comedy features De Niro as a hacky and tacky stand-up comic named Rupert Pupkin, who is a guy so desperate for a break in showbiz that he ends up kidnapping a Johnny Carson-esque late-night talk show host played by Jerry Lewis. If there’s a lesson here, it’s that breaking into comedy is anything but a barrel of laughs, even for people who are far more talented than the Rupert Pupkins of the world.

Our point? Well, all of the comedians taking part in the Milwaukee Comedy Festival, which begins tonight, need all the help they can get. ComedySportz plays host to this year’s fest, which will feature nine shows of stand-up, sketch, and improv comedy taking place from Thursday through Sunday. Tickets for each show are $15 in advance or $18 at the door. Check out the entire lineup here.

The A.V. Club is happy to lend its support to the fest, though we can’t vouch for all the comics—comedy is nothing if not an inconsistent trade, except for the consistently terrible. Still, we wish them luck, and hope they never have to resort to a felony in order to get another gig.

Here’s a small taste from last year’s festival.