Sheridan Arts Foundation & Jeb Berrier Present Telluride Comedy Fest, 2/16 – 2/19!

11 Feb Sheridan Arts Foundation & Jeb Berrier Present Telluride Comedy Fest, 2/16 – 2/19!

Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation (SAF) and Jeb Berrier present the 23rd annual Telluride Comedy Fest. The event takes place over President’s Weekend, Thursday, February 16 – Sunday, February 19, 2023, 8 p.m. nightly.

Tickets: $40/$75- Thursday; $50/$60/$145 – Friday-Sunday. (A $5 ticket fee applies at all sales outlets.) Purchase tickets here or  970.728.6363 ext. 4.

In addition to reserved theater seating, eight (8) VIP Tables are available for $600 for Friday through Sunday. These tables offer prime cabaret seating on the main floor for four (4) individuals plus wine or champagne. Also, if you enjoy being the brunt of a joke or a potential candidate to be brought up on stage, these tables are for you!

Sponsor Comedy Fest here.

Go here for more about the Telluride Comedy Fest.

Telluride’s favorite Presidents’ weekend tradition is back for the 23rd year, an hilarious four-day weekend of laughter with the most talented performers in the world of comedy.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation welcomes established stars and new faces to the Sheridan Opera House stage for a unique mix of stand-up, sketch and improv.

Regulars include Jason Mantzoukas, returning after a year off, Seth Morris, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Brian Huskey. Former Telluride local Lily Sullivan returns along with Tim Baltz, back for the first time since 2019. Beth Stelling returns for her second year after lighting up the stage in 2022.

New this year is stand-up Aristotle Athari who just completed a year on “Saturday Night Live.”

2023 Telluride Comedy Festival comedians, more:

Aristotle Athari — After starting his career in stand-up, Athari began collaborating with comedians Hasan Minhaj, Asif Ali, and Fahim Anwar on sketches under the group name Goatface. An hour-long special of their sketch work aired on Comedy Central in 2018. He had a recurring role on the final two seasons of HBO’s Silicon Valley as Gabe.

Athari also cohosts the improvised podcast “This Is Americans Live,” a parody of the radio show “This American Life.”

Athari was a featured player on Saturday Night Live for its 47th season. He was the first Middle-Eastern male on the show and the second cast member of Iranian descent in the show’s history (following Nasim Pedrad).

Tim Baltz — While currently starring as BJ on “The Righteous Gemstones,” Baltz began his training as a comedian at The Second City in Chicago, where he first met Jordan Klepper.

In 2011, Baltz performed in the Second City e.t.c.’s 35th revue: “Sky’s The Limit Weather” (Weather Permitting), for which he earned a Joseph Jefferson Award. He also trained at the iO Theater in Chicago.

Baltz was a regular on the Comedy Central series “Drunk History.” He also made appearances on “Veep,” “Better Call Saul,” and “Parks and Recreation” and played a realtor on the Seeso series “Bajillion Dollar Propertie$.”

With Ted Tremper, Baltz co-created “Shrink,” a comedy TV series for which the pilot originally premiered at the New York Television Festival, where it won “Best Comedy Pilot” and the “Critics Award.” In 2016, the program was ordered to be made into a full series by NBC. It premiered on Seeso in March 2017. Baltz stars in the series as David Tracey, a recent medical school graduate who, after failing to obtain a residency, decides to become a therapist instead.

Baltz has also appeared on the podcast “Comedy Bang! Bang!” many times as an improviser.

Rob Huebel — Rob Huebel can be seen on HBOMax’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and just signed on to star in the Disney+ show “Goosebumps.”

Huebel is a former student of and frequent performer at the UCB Theatre. It was at the New York City UCB Theatre that Rob met Paul Scheer and Aziz Ansari, the guys with whom he would create “Human Giant” for MTV.

Following the success of “Human Giant,” Huebel fleshed out his resume with roles on “Transparent,” “The Descendants,” “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Modern Family” and “Children’s Hospital.” He most recently starred in the “Medical Police” series on Netflix.

You can still find Huebel at the UCB in Los Angeles performing in the shows “Facebook’ and “Crash Test.”

Brian Huskey — Brian Huskey is a former musician and photographer turned comic actor/writer with over 175 industry credits to date.

He earned status as a “That Guy” character actor appearing in numerous cutting-edge and popular comedies, including Adult Swim’s “Children’s Hospital,” HBO’s “Veep,” Comedy Central’s “Another Period,” Fox’s “New Girl” and as a voice actor for “Bob’s Burgers” and Apple TV+’s “Central Park.”

On screen Huskey has been paired with the likes of Seth Rogen in “This is the End,” “Neighbors,” “Neighbors 2,” and “The Disaster Artist” and, with Will Ferrell, in “Stepbrothers,” “Land of the Lost,” and “Semi Pro.”

Huskey has written two feature films for Paramount Pictures’ “Children’s Hospital” and Comedy Central’s “Kroll Show.”

He starred in and co-wrote the fully improvised film “A Better You” and created, wrote, and starred in two darkly comic television specials for Adult Swim, “Mr. Neighbor’s House,” a 2016 New York Times Best of Television pick, and “Mr. Neighbor’s House 2.”

Huskey also earned an Emmy nomination for his writing on Comedy Central’s 2010 “Night of Too Many Stars.”

Most recently, Huskey added podcasting to his repertoire on “iHeart Radio” with Bald Talk, a release in which he co-hosts with Charlie Sanders on the subjects of vanity, self-worth and being bald.

Jason Mantzoukas — Jason Mantzoukas can next be seen in Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” and the “Olympians” series on Disney+ and Mel Brooks’ “History of the World: Part II” sequel series on Hulu.

You might recognize Mantzoukas from films and television shows like “The League,” “The Dictator,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Sleeping with Other People,” “No Activity,” and “The Good Place.”

On the animated side, he is known for voicing Jay in Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” Rex Splode in Amazon’s “Invincible,” The Gray One in Fox’s “Housebroken,” and Jankom Pog in Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Prodigy.”

Mantzoukas’ voice might also sound familiar as one of the co-hosts for the wildly popular, award-winning podcast “How Did This Get Made?” alongside June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer, in which the trio hilariously analyze bad movies.

Seth Morris — Seth Morris is an actor and writer. He’s had recurring roles on “Veep,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Parks And Rec,” “The Good Place” and “The League.”

Morris has also appeared on “Modern Family,” “Broad City” and “Kroll Show” among others.

Writing credits include “Funny Or Die,’ “Children’s Hospital,” “Kroll Show,” the “Eric Andre Show” and The MTV Movie Awards.

June Diane Raphael — June Diane Raphael is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter.

She has starred in shows “Grace and Frankie,” “Burning Love,” “New Girl” and Adult Swim’s “NTSF:SD:SUV.”

Notable film work includes supporting roles in “Year One” and “Unfinished Business,” as well as her 2013 Sundance film Ass Backwards,” which she co-wrote and starred in with her creative partner Casey Wilson.

Raphael also co-hosts the movie discussion podcast “How Did This Get Made?” alongside Jason Mantzoukas and husband Paul Scheer.

Paul Scheer — Paul Scheer is a SAG Award-winning actor, writer, director and podcaster.

Scheer just wrapped a three-season run on the Emmy-Nominated Showtime series “Black Monday” opposite Don Cheadle. His documentary on Marvel is now airing on Disney+.

Scheer is also a prodigious podcaster who co-hosts two massive shows: the multiple award-winning “How Did This Get Made?” and critically acclaimed “Unspooled,” both of which weekly top the charts on iTunes’ Top 100 Podcasts.

Scheer was recently seen in the R-rated holiday film “Binge 2” for Hulu and can next be seen in the Jennifer Garner comedy, “Family Leave.”

Scheer’s TV credits include the Emmy-winning HBO series “Veep” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” as well as ABC’s “Fresh off the Boat,” NBC’s “The Good Place,” Hulu’s “Future Man,” NBC’s “30 Rock” and seven seasons as Andre on FX’s “The League.”

Scheer also co-created and starred in the cult MTV sketch comedy show “Human Giant” and Adult Swim’s “NTSF:SD:SUV::”

He currently appears as a voice actor on the Emmy-Nominated “Star Trek: Lower Decks” on Paramount+, Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” as well as the hit Disney Show “Big City Greens” and the Nickelodeon’s “Loud House.”

Scheer is a “Wheel of Fortune” champion and also writes comics for Marvel and DC, including an upcoming Brite Force revival and a Harley Quinn anthology tale.

Beth Stelling — Beth Stelling’s hour stand-up special “Girl Daddy” on HBOMax was reviewed by the New York Times as “The Best Debut Special of the year,” adding, “It’s a virtuosic performance, conversational while dense with jokes.”

Stelling’s half-hour special is on Netflix in Season 1 of “The Standups” (episode 5).

Stelling has another half-hour special on Comedy Central and has mad many appearances on late=night television (“Conan,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Chelsea Lately,” “Lights Out with David Spade”).

Stelling is writer on shows such as “Rick and Morty,” Apple’s upcoming animated series “Strange Planet,” “The Last O.G.,” “I Love You America” with Sarah Silverman and HBO’s “Crashing.”

Stelling was an on-set writer and associate producer for “Good Boys,” a feature film produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
She has since been a go-to hire for punch-up.

As an actress Stelling most recently played “Ms. Fish” on Peacock’s comedy “Rutherford Falls.”

Lily Sullivan — Lily Sullivan is an actor, writer and improviser whose credits include “Spirited,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” “Killing It,” “I Think You Should Leave,” and “Glow.”

Sullivan hosts two podcasts: “Going Deep” on Earwolf and “This Book Changed My Life” on the CBBWorld.com.

She is also a regular on the podcast “Comedy Bang Bang.”

Previously, Sullivan created, wrote and starred in three seasons of the digital series “Project Sammy’s Way,” a spinoff of “Project Runway’ for Lifetime.

She grew up in Telluride and is happy to be home!

Hosted by Jeb Berrier — Former Telluride thespian now based in Portland, comedian, former Shakespeare in the Park director and SOH Second Stage Theater director and actor.

Comedy Fest schedule:

Thursday Locals’ Night:

Comedy Fest kicks off with Locals’ Night, an evening of hilarious, irreverent humor about the quirks of Telluride and the people who give it that certain “je ne sais quoi.”

The night ends with a set of improv from all the performers. In person: Aristotle Athari, Tim Baltz, Rob Huebel, Brian Huskey, Jason Mantzoukas, Seth Morris, June Diane Raphael, Paul Scheer, Beth Stelling, Lily Sullivan.

Free Comedy Fest AfterSHOW with The Fig: Following Thursday’s ticketed event in the theater, The Fig hosts a FREE AfterSHOW. The event honors Silas Berrier, a long time Comedy Fest family member who passed away in 2021, with this night of laughter and locals performing original stand-up in the Sheridan’s SHOW Bar. Performers include Alissa Ahlberg, Miranda Beck, Kiley Borchers, Catherine Cypher, Devo, Ethan Hale, Sarah Schwab, Someguy, Colleen Thompson and Dave Ziegler.

The Fig Telluride was freshly established in August of 2022. At its core, founders Jacque Garcia and Miranda Beck want to bring people together to perform art in a variety of ways. They strive to support local emerging artists with workshops (always free) and event-planning-logistics.

This show is free and open to the public, but priority entrance is given to Telluride Comedy Fest ticket holders.

Stand-Up Friday:

Friday is a night of stand-up comedy featuring Beth Stelling and Aristotle Athari.

Stelling currently has stand-up specials on Netflix, HBOMax and Comedy Central.

Athari began his comedy career in stand-up before expanding to sketch.

Ski School: A Night at the Movies & Improv Saturday:

Saturday takes attendees to the movies with Jason Mantzoukas, Paul Scheer and June Diane Raphael.

Prep for the night by watching the 1990 classic film “Ski School” as the trio will discuss in-depth as to why this piece of cinema exists.

Following the intro class, enjoy improv featuring Tim Baltz, Rob Huebel, Brian Huskey, Jason Mantzoukas, Seth Morris, June Diane Raphael, Paul Scheer and Lily Sullivan.

Stand-Up and Improv Sunday:

Sunday finishes with stand-up from Stelling and Athari followed by an epic send-off with long-form improv from pros Tim Baltz, Jason Mantzoukas, Seth Morris and Lily Sullivan.

The 23rd annual Telluride Comedy Festival is sponsored in part by Accommodations in Telluride, Element 52, CO West Transport, Bootdoctors, The Fry Family and Polly Leach-Lychee of Telluride Properties.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the CCAASE, Colorado Creative Industries, the Johnson Family Foundation, the Telluride Foundation, and an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.