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Bergamot Comedy Festival shows comedy only gets better when diverse stand-ups have ‘an even playing field'

Bergamot Comedy Festival shows comedy only gets better when diverse stand-ups have ‘an even playing field'

'DEI' may be a verboten term in the current presidential administration, but at Santa Monica's second Bergamot Comedy Festival, it's a mandate. The six-day event's 2025 tagline insists, 'Inclusivity Isn't a Joke.'
The festival reviewed more than 750 submissions viewed by an industry screening panel, says executive producer Nicole Blaine. Fifty-three up-and-comers from across the country will perform at Blaine's nonprofit Crow comedy club March 31 through April 5. The lineup consists of 93% female-identifying, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ acts and other perspectives historically overlooked by gatekeepers in stand-up.
Bergamot's talent includes college-age participants and newbies like Kim Reeder, a 2024 scholar with the National Alliance to End Homelessness who also serves on the advisory board at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Other attendees include Joel Stetler, a third-grade teacher in Fresno who lives with a rare, incurable cancer that has required nine years of surgeries and chemotherapy.
'Comedy has become a way for me to sort it all out,' Stetler says. 'My response has remained one of the few things I can control. Storytelling and stand-up have given me a space to turn something dark into something meaningful, not just for myself but for audiences who know what it means to have life kick the door in.'
Like the festival's inaugural edition, this year's event offers eight stand-up showcases for tickets priced at $30(which includes a free one-year subscription to MasterClass, an event sponsor alongside Santa Monica Travel and Tourism, Santa Monica Brew Works and Comedy Gives Back). The Crow, a female-owned and operated venue, is located in the Bergamot Station Arts Center at the 26th Street/Bergamot stop of the Metro Rail. A free, guarded parking lot is available.
'It's still hard for certain voices to get onstage and be showcased,' says L.A.'s Jeffrey Jay. 'Bergamot is going to lift you up, bring [the] industry to you and allow you to be seen without shame, without the idea of, 'We want you to be more like 'this.' 'We all have different voices, and we've all got an even playing field.'
Jay headlines this year's new Storytelling Showcase, which features eight performers approaching the theme of 'Metamorphosis.' The festival veteran originally from Texas City, Texas, is currently completing a Red State comedy tour with Mary Lynn Rajskub. He praises Bergamot for elevating 'clearly unique voices that we are not typically seeing,' he said.
'When we get to the other side of these stories,' Jay continued, 'they're changed and I'm changed as the person watching it. As a person who's transgender, who's been through a lot, nothing makes me happier than watching someone else's story bring me into their world and change me. We get richer stories from it, and we create community for each other. There is no competition. All of us can succeed, and we're stronger together.'
Saturday, April 5, includes an hour from Cameron Esposito, with new material developed since the comic filmed her 'Four Pills' special, which will be released April 11 via Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor). Bergamot's closing show is the Crow's recurring 'Gay Interrupted!,' a monthly from partners Kelsey Anonsen and Mahtub Zare featuring a lineup of queer comics plus one token straight performer.
Bergamot's 2025 edition introduces offstage activities and networking events for talent, including a 'Boozy Bingo' industry lunch mixer on Wednesday. Along with performing, participants can attend panels dedicated to 'giving underrepresented voices the amplification and professional advancement they need and deserve,' Blaine says. Topics include pitching TV shows, planning a tour, getting booked at comedy clubs and addressing mental health challenges within the entertainment business. Evening and Saturday afternoon panels are free to the public based on capacity.
In private workshops, festival talent can receive mentorship and advice from L.A. performers donating their time and expertise. Jay breaks down storytelling with Laura House on Saturday; Danny Jolles and Irene Tu's session offers steps for comics interested in developing and filming their own stand-up specials. Beth Stelling and Zainab Johnson lead a punch-up group focused on joke structure, punchlines and tags. (Stelling also headlines a showcase Tuesday evening.) During Bergamot 2024, Stelling anchored a showcase lineup including Nina Nguyen, then subsequently booked Nguyen on 'Beth Stelling and Her Pals' at Largo. Sarah Silverman, also on the Largo lineup, then booked Nguyen on a show including Margaret Cho. Cho in turn booked Nguyen on more shows. Nguyen returns to Bergamot to headline a showcase Wednesday evening.
'I learned that some of the biggest professional advancements often come from within your own community,' says Blaine. 'This is the beauty of what can happen when artists at different stages of their careers come together for a week of career support, education and showcases: We can advance each other.'

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2025 Bentonville Film Festival to Open with Kate Beecroft's Sundance Hit ‘East of Wall'
2025 Bentonville Film Festival to Open with Kate Beecroft's Sundance Hit ‘East of Wall'

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

2025 Bentonville Film Festival to Open with Kate Beecroft's Sundance Hit ‘East of Wall'

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Katie Couric Marks 'Sad Day' in Her Personal Life With Emotional Message
Katie Couric Marks 'Sad Day' in Her Personal Life With Emotional Message

Yahoo

time17 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Katie Couric Marks 'Sad Day' in Her Personal Life With Emotional Message

Katie Couric Marks 'Sad Day' in Her Personal Life With Emotional Message originally appeared on Parade. is commemorating a bittersweet anniversary. On Tuesday, June 10, the former Today show host marked what would have been her 36th wedding anniversary with late husband Jay Monahan. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 "Today, June 10th would have been our (gulp!) 36th wedding anniversary," she began the emotional Instagram post, which featured a series of throwback photos from their wedding and their life together. "We were married for 10 years before Jay died." Monahan was 41 when he received a shock diagnosis of colon cancer in 1997. Nine months later, he died in January 1998, just two weeks after his 42nd birthday. "This is a sad day for me but also a day of gratitude," Couric, 68, continued in her post. "Although our time together ended far too soon, our love endures, especially in our remarkable daughters." Prior to his death, Monahan and Couric welcomed two daughters now 33, was 6 years old when her dad died, while Caroline, now 29, was 2. "We miss you Jay—every day, but especially on the important milestones where your absence feels so acute. Happy anniversary to you, wherever you may be," the journalist added in her caption on Tuesday. She went on to give a "special thank you" to her current husband, John Molner, "who understands there is room in my heart for both of them. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️"Katie Couric Marks 'Sad Day' in Her Personal Life With Emotional Message first appeared on Parade on Jun 10, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared.

B2K's 'Bump Bump Bump' performance at BET Awards has Diddy, R. Kelly connections
B2K's 'Bump Bump Bump' performance at BET Awards has Diddy, R. Kelly connections

USA Today

timea day ago

  • USA Today

B2K's 'Bump Bump Bump' performance at BET Awards has Diddy, R. Kelly connections

B2K's 'Bump Bump Bump' performance at BET Awards has Diddy, R. Kelly connections Show Caption Hide Caption SZA, Kendrick Lamar win big at 2025 BET Awards Kendrick Lamar won Album of the Year for his critically acclaimed GNX LP and Mariah Carey performed her hit song 'It's Like That' at the BET Awards. Cover Media Sunday night's BET Awards hit heavy on the nostalgia, bringing back hip-hop and R&B stars from the early aughts to revive a sound not quite like any other. To honor the "TRL"-style music video countdown show "106 & Park," a slate of big-name performers took the stage for a 20-minute beat-pounding medley. Amid mini-sets from Ashanti and Keyshia Cole, boy band B2K treated the audience to a rendition of their 2002 club anthem "Bump Bump Bump." Complete with synchronized dance moves and all white 'fits, the four-man music group leaned heavily into their classic boy band appeal. Jamie Foxx cries in BET Awards speech about health, credits daughters with recovery Eagle-eyed fans were quick to tease out a more sordid history of the track. "Bump Bump Bump" was originally released with a feature from Sean "Diddy" Combs, who is currently on trial for federal sex crimes. Combs' influence on hip-hop, especially in the early 2000s, was so far-reaching that it's hard to hit shuffle without running into one of his projects. The group is composed of J-Boog, Raz-B, Omarion and Lil' Fizz, who, rather than play an audio recording of Combs' part, rapped it in his place. The story goes deeper, though. The track was also originally written by R. Kelly, who, like Combs, faced sex trafficking and racketeering charges, and is now serving time in prison after being convicted on all counts. Several high-profile rappers also remixed the song, including 50 Cent and Jay-Z. Blue Ivy Carter reclaims her title, wins BET YoungStars Award once again amid Beyoncé tour 50 Cent is a longtime rival of Combs and has been making an internet mockery of his ongoing legal challenges. Jay-Z was looped in with Combs in a recent lawsuit that accused both rappers for rape, though the case has since been dropped, with Jay-Z denying all wrongdoing and filing a countersuit against his former accuser. As Combs, once a kingmaker in the genre, faces a reputation forever sullied, B2K's performance is a preview of how difficult it may be to avoid his art.

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