The annual Plano Comedy Festival is taking place this weekend, and it’s returning with more laughs, funnier than ever. The four-day event will feature 30 shows with performances by 130 local and national comedians and sketch and improv groups.
Starting in 2018, in only five years the festival has grown to become the largest comedy festival in North Texas. Now with funding from the city of Plano, the event was able to boost its expansion. "They want us here," Britainy Goss, one of the festival’s founders next to Wes Corwin and Tom Smith, told the Dallas Observer. "They say that we make Plano look cool and Plano is the happiest city in America. Just being there making people laugh is great, and Plano is a big arts city."
And it looks like it’s not just the city that thinks the festival is cool. This year’s lineup includes some big names like Matthew Broussard, Jackie Kashian, Dean Lewis and America’s Got Talent finalist Mike E. Winfield, who’s making a comeback after performing at the very first festival in 2018.
Starting on October 13, the festival will take place at the Plano House of Comedy and in four of the theater spaces at the North Texas Performing Arts theater in The Shops at Willow Bend. The event will feature comedy workshops, musical entertainment by DJ Alexx and a special, free family-friendly comedy show held at 4:00 p.m. Saturday at the Willow Bend Center of Arts.
Closing the festival on October 16 comedians will get the best of the worst out of each other with a relentless Roast Battle at Plano House of Comedy. “If you're only allowed by a court of law to come to one show, please come to the Roast Battle tournament. People are just so mean,” said Corwin in an interview for the Dallas Observer, adding “Imagine a summer camp and everyone's singing 'Kumbaya' and remembering the friendships they have. We're the opposite. It's the opposite of catharsis. It's a beautiful thing."
You can check the full schedule and purchase tickets at Planocomedyfestival.com.
If you are looking for more things to do in Collin County, take a look at Local Profile's October calendar.
