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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