Knock knock. Who’s there? A comedy fest in Belfast

BELFAST – Folks will be laughing in the streets when the five-day Comedy Arts Laugh Festival gets under way in the city next month.

That was the promise made by organizer Michael Hurley, the city’s former mayor and co-owner of the Colonial Theatre. Hurley said the comedy festival should have enough diversified entertainment to make even a sourpuss chuckle. The festival will feature live performances, films, poets, humorists, filmmakers, Maine humor and not-so-Maine humor. There also will be workshops on filmmaking and YouTube shorts, as well as the always popular “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

The festival will be held April 9-13 at the Colonial and other city venues.

“We said we wanted to do something that would pump up the city but we didn’t know what,” Hurley said of the discussions he had with his wife and Colonial co-owner, Terese Bagnardi, about holding a spring event. “We knew there already were documentary and international film festivals in the state and somehow we just hit on comedy. We said we don’t want to do just films, we want to do lots of other stuff. So we got a huge selection of films and on top of that a lot of live stuff.”

Hurley got on the phone and it didn’t take long to line up a varied playbill of performers and classic films.

Headlining the festival will be legendary Maine humorist Tim Sample, who will perform at the Belfast Area High School at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 11. Belfast raconteur Jennifer Armstrong will open the show. Admission is $16 for adults, $8 for children.

Also on Friday, Probot Productions of Los Angeles will screen a 10-year retrospective of its short and full-length animated films featuring a bevy of dolls, action figures, toys and films that parody, skewer and adore the “Star Wars” and “Alien” features. Also on tap will be Probot’s popular serial “The Cellblock Life” that highlights the misdeeds of celebrity Paris Hilton and her friends. Filmmakers Damon Wellner and Carla Remy Norton, a Belfast native, will introduce, narrate and answer questions about their work. That show will take place at 7 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre. Admission is $6.

The festival will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, with films based in comedy or humor including “The King of Comedy,” “Air Guitar Nation,” Richard Pryor and “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show.” At 7 p.m. film historian Baird Whitlock will introduce two films from the American Film Institute’s top 100 comic films.

Thursday also will have a matinee beginning at 1 p.m. followed at 7 p.m. by an all-night slate of independent short and long films from all over the country as well as Maine and Belfast.

At 9 p.m. Friday there will be a “Mystery Science Theater 3000” treatment by a troupe of wisecrack Belfast comedians who will comment on a selection of scenes from famous Belfast films including Stephen King’s “Thinner,” Mel Gibson’s “Man Without a Face” and “Peyton Place.” The film clips are packed with Belfast, Camden, Bayside and Lincolnville scenery. An after party will be held in the Colonial lobby at 10:30 p.m.

Saturday will kick off at 10:30 a.m. with “Cartoon Madness,” 21/2 hours of cartoons for children and adults of all ages. The toons will be followed by feature comedy films at noon.

Wellner and Remy Norton will hold a filmmaking workshop at 1:30 p.m. at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center with a YouTube workshop at 3:30 p.m.

The Colonial’s Dreamland stage will feature physical comedian Jackson Gilman at 2 p.m., and Ken Eisen of Waterville’s Railroad Square Cinema will introduce the classic comedies “The Lady Eve” and “Sherlock Jr.” at 7 p.m.

At 7:30 p.m. the Colonial will offer “Night of the Living Comedians” featuring three comics from the Boston area followed by a showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at 10 p.m.

Sunday will begin with a 10:30 a.m. brunch at Zoe’s followed by films at noon and the Maine Organization of Storytelling Enthusiasts at 2 p.m. with host Robert “humble Farmer” Skoglund. At 3:30 p.m. local cable access zanies Mark and Tim will conduct “red carpet” interviews of festival-goers. The Belfast Maskers and Friends will perform at 4:30 p.m. followed by a repeat performances of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and Probot Productions films that evening.

“We’re tying to start something that we can grow every year,” Hurley said. “This is not just for Belfast. This is really for our area. If you live within an hour of Belfast, we’ve got some really fine entertainment. We think it’s going to be an interesting week. We’ve got three goals: not to lose our shirt, have a good time and set the stage for next year.”

Each show is priced individually or a pass to the entire festival may be purchased for $50. For information, call 338-1975 or visit comicartsfest.com.

wgriffin@bangordailynews.net

338-9546

Comedy Arts Laugh Festival

When: Wednesday through Sunday, April 9-13

Where: Colonial Theatre and other Belfast locations

Fee: $50 for festival pass; otherwise shows priced individually

Information: 338-1975 or comicartsfest.com