We still have not quite gotten over Aspen. This is demonstrated with us talking to now Rooftop Award winning comics, Matt Braunger and Auggie Smith, Braunger winning the Best of Fest award, and Smith winning the clubs comic award.

Matt and Auggie were kind enough to lend some time to be asked the hard hitting, probing questions about Aspen.

Compiled interviews, after the jump!

Posted: June 18th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: 2

Robert Hawkins, the 2008 Rooftop Comic’s Comic stopped by Rooftop HQ, and I was granted exclusive access to talk to the comic that other comics thought was awesome enough to win an award. The hot and sweaty video is below! Check out that hat hair while you’re at it.

Posted: June 12th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition, Cool stuff from RooftopComedy.
Comments: 5

This year’s first Aspen RooftopComedy Festival was one of those experiences that made being a comedian fun again. It was everything most comedy-caravans are not: relaxed, funny, and catered. There were no “actor / comedians” or huge egos. It was just a bunch of really funny people there to have a good time.

I have to admit, I had my doubts. It’s hard to entertain entertainers, especially really sarcastic ones. I had imagined comedians throwing themselves off balconies out of boredom but instead the balcony was full of comedians watching every show. Laughing.

Robert Hawkins had the whole house in tears. Matt Braunger’s hate-filled owl thing was definitely a highlight. Chris Porter and Auggie Smith were huge crowd pleasers and Robert Buscemi was just fun to watch.

Even the college competition was a great surprise. I originally was against the whole idea of it. “College kids? They aren’t real comedians.” But again, I was not only proven wrong but left impressed with how much talent and unique perspectives there really were. Check out Reid Faylor… he was my favorite.

So again, good job Rooftop. Nice set.

Posted: June 5th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: 3

The thing that I’ve always loved about a great comedy performance is that you leave feeling like you know the comedian a little more. I’m typically drawn towards comics that focus on autobiographical material, rather than setup/punch kinda stuff. I love when comics make you feel like they’re talking directly to you instead of an entire room full of people.

For me comedy is a very personal thing, so getting a chance to actually chat with a comic is always an amazing experience. Fortunately, being in Aspen for the festival provided me with an fantastic opportunity to chat and hang out with a ton of comedians that I love and respect.

My memorable comic encounters at Aspen, after the jump!

Posted: June 4th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: 2

In addition to the National College Comedy Competition finals, the first ever Rooftop Awards were given out in Aspen this past weekend.

The list of those who won, after the jump!

Posted: June 2nd, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: none

America, you can sleep soundly again. Three months and thirty-two schools later, culminating in a showdown at the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival, two have emerged from the rubble of college stand-up comedy and short form film making to achieve the title of funniest college stand-up and short filmmaker in America. Not to mention the addition of fifteen hundred George Washington bills to their bank account.

Without further ado, America, it is my privilege to present to you, your winners for the first annual RooftopComedy National College Comedy Competition:

Stand-Up:
Tim Ball, Duke University (I should also mention that Tim Ball was the runner-up voted back into the competition)

Short Film:
Dan Perrault, Carphone, Emerson College

Congratulations to Tim and Dan, history has been made. Congratulations to our other stand-up and short film finalists as well, for making it this far, because it was no easy feat, by any stretch of the imagination. Check out the other finalists sets and short films, at our college page, why don’t you?

Posted: June 2nd, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: none

Today is the last in our series spotlighting the finalists from our National College Competition. Did I mention that even if you won’t be in Aspen to see the finals to the College Competition, you, yes i mean YOU are going to be able to watch the finals from the comfort of your internet browser!

Yes dear, the finals to the National College Comedy Competition will be streamed live on RooftopComedy.com, tomorrow, Saturday May 31st at 6:45pm MT.

Without further ado, I present to you Kathleen O’Brien, from University of Virginia!

Thomas Jefferson, polar bears, and bobcats, oh my! Kathleen’s question and answer, after the jump!

Posted: May 30th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: 3

Today, we will be featuring one of our short film finalists, on our countdown to Aspen singularity. Mark Potts, who hails from the Himalayas, is better known as, ICESCRAPER.

Because all that ice won’t scrap itself. More Mark Potts after the jump!

Posted: May 29th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: none

We are officially two days out from the inaugural Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival, in well, Aspen, CO. I would like to take this time out to also remind faithful readers that not only addition to the comics we have coming up for the event, this will be the final showdown between the top four stand-up comedians and short filmmakers for our first ever National College Comedy Competition. To start charging up the Internet Hype Machine, Briana and me sent a questionnaire to our four finalists in the stand-up and short film categories. the first four who got back to us, made it here. And here the first questionnaire out of four!

Reid Faylor, from Xavier!

Reid’s views on Neil Young, dogs, and genetics tests, after the jump.

Posted: May 28th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: none

So I thought I would get a break after being thrown into the National College Comedy Competition in February and doing a whirlwind tour of such stimulating mid-western college hamlets as Normal, IL and Eau Claire, WI. There were three of us covering 48 events nationwide in 9 weeks, searching for the funniest college kids in the US. It was like being a part of the Rolling Stones without all the, um, glory and booze.

Not so much with the break. Events Marketing is now ramping up for some serious awesomeness in Aspen, CO at the end of the month. Say what?

Yeah, so HBO used to host this weekend comedy affair, inviting all the Hollywood mucky-mucks out to Aspen for some serious schmoozing. But since they dropped out last year, we’re picking up where they left off and bringing the fest underground and online. Seeing as how we’re all about getting comedians who wouldn’t typically be given the opportunity for mass distribution via that old TV screen - the theme of the sparkly new Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival is Comedy meets Interactive Media.

The rest, after the jump.

Posted: May 19th, 2008 under Aspen and the National College Comedy Competition, Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: none