Free comedy variety show presents 30 acts on six downtown stages on January 10th

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/9/08 – In case you need a laugh fix during the Writers Strike, Los Angeles comedians and gag writers are there to give you one — live. Thirty comics will be appearing for free on a cluster of stages in Downtown Los Angeles this Thursday Jan. 10.

Comedian Rick Overton, who’s appeared in episodes of Seinfeld and won an Emmy writing for Dennis Miller Live, says, “Comedy Walk is the healthiest thing comics have done in years.” Comedians walk between adjacent venues at Comedy Walk to perform in multiple shows. Comedy Walk presents six simultaneous 90-minute variety comedy shows. With breaks at the half-hour, audience members can stretch their legs to walk to see a show at another nearby venue or stay where they are. Each act is up to ten minutes long. Six Comedy Walk hosts, who’ve appeared in such television shows as Carpoolers and Pushing Daisies, introduce the comedy acts and banter with the comedians.

Garrett Morris, one of the original Saturday Night Live cast, kicks off Comedy Walk at his 500-seat Downtown Comedy Club. Rick Overton closes the show at the nearby 1,100-seat Palace Theatre. Comedy Walk performers have appeared on ABC, BET, Carpoolers, Comedy Central Live at Gotham, Comedy Central Premium Blend, Comedy Central Stage, Comic Groove, Comedy Store, Comic View, Comic’s Unleashed, E! Entertainment Network, HBO Def Jam, The Ice House, The Improv, Laugh Factory, National Lampoon Radio, The Playboy Morning Show, MTV, Pushing Daisies, Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, Sirius, XM Radio, and elsewhere.

Comedy Walk Venue include Downtown Comedy Club at 501 S. Spring, Palace Theatre at 630 S. Broadway, Palace Lounge downstairs at 630 S. Broadway, The New LATC (Los Angeles Theater Center) at 514 S. Spring, Long Space at 530 S. Main and Canadian Room in the Canadian Building at 436 S. Main Street.

Comedy Walk Hosts inlcude Garrett Morris of Saturday Night Live, Wendy Carrillo of Power 106 FM,Taji Coleman of Pushing Daisies and Carpoolers, Kimberly Douglas of Entourage, Claudine Guerrero and Jim McCaffree of Carpoolers.

Comedy Walk Performers

1. Joe Bartnick, stand-up, Dave Atell Insomniac Tour, Sirius The Playboy Morning Show, XM National Lampoon Radio

2. Cocoa Brown, stand-up, Comedy Central Comic Groove, nine seasons on BET Comic View

3. Competitive Awesome, sketch, The Newest New News

4. Fakesweet, solo sketch, Comedy Central Stage

5. Chris Fairbanks, stand-up, Fuel TV, toured with Patton Oswalt

6. Retha Jones, stand-up, Comic View, HBO Def Jam, Comedy Central Premium Blend, Comic’s Unleashed

7. Good Neighbor, sketch, recent USC grads, Pregnant Jamie Lynn Speaks Out with 2 million hits on YouTube

8. K-Von, stand-up, hosts the Wednesday night show at Laugh Factory

9. Erik Lundy, stand-up, XM National Lampoon Radio, January 15th Comedy Central Live at Gotham at Irvine Improv

10. Jodi Miller, stand-up, performing every Monday night at Comedy Store

11. Garrett Morris, original Saturday Night Live cast member, The Jamie Foxx Show, Car Wash, Cooley High

12. The Mutiny, short-form improv

13. Alex Nussbaum, stand-up, nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award as Best Male Stand-up

14. OPM, multicultural sketch comedy group, Best of the Fest at San Francisco Fringe Fest, Vancouver Sketchoff Competition Top Prize

15. Rick Overton, Seinfeld appearances and won an Emmy writing for Dennis Miller Live

16. Point Break Live, interactive reenactment of movie Point Break every Friday and Saturday night at Charley O’s Downtown

17. Poetri, Tony Award-winning spoken word artist, hosts the Da’ Poetry Lounge Tuesday nights

18. Melanie Reno, stand-up, Comedy Central Premium Blend, comedy CD on sale at Amoeba Music

19. Riegel & Blatt, socially awkward folk rock, Austin Film Festival Television Comedy Writing Award, JibJab Great Sketch Experiment finalist.

20. Jay Jay Robb, stand-up, Comedy Store, Laugh Factory, see on Feb. 11th at The Improv Spiked Monday

21. D’Sean Ross, stand-up, hosts every other Sunday at the Laugh Factory, next show January 13th, 8pm

22. Nick Rutherford, stand-up, MTV, The CW, and E! Entertainment Network

23. Skillz, stand-up, new to the L.A. comedy scene from Chicago

24. Willis Turner, stand-up, Comic View, Comics Unleashed, HBO Def Jam, opens for Kat Williams

25. Neeley Ward, stand-up, Comedy Store main stage

26. Rich Williams, stand-up, head writer Fox Super Bowl special, head writer-producer for MyBlueCollar.com

27. Joe Wilson, stand-up, co-host Dork Forest Radio, co-host Road Stories

Comedy Walk is held in cooperation with the Los Angeles Downtown Art Walk, a monthly event that draws a crowd of 3,000 people to the streets of Los Angeles. Art Walk is from noon to 9pm at thirty participating downtown Los Angeles art galleries. Comedy Walk is from 8pm to 9:30pm at six participating downtown venues. Art Walk and Comedy Walk are on the second Thursday of each month. Both events are FREE, part of an effort to revitalize downtown Los Angeles.

URL: www.comedywalk.com