National College Comedy Festival upcoming

Click here to read Megan Angelo's story in the Feb. 3 online edition of The New York Times, and click here to read Doug Gruse's story from the Feb. 4 issue of The Post-Star.

A total of 18 collegiate comedy groups from throughout the Northeast are on board to participate in the23rd annual National College Comedy Festival (NCCF) Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10 and 11, on campus. Professional groups TJ & Dave, BriTANick and Bleak! Comedy will also attend.

Established in 1990 by David Miner, Emmy Award-winning producer of "30 Rock" and "Parks and Recreation," NCCF is an annual gathering of professional and college groups focused on the collaborative process of sketch and improvised comedy. Past participants include Olde English, Derrick Comedy, Bleak! Comedy, Upright Citizens Brigade, Harvard Sailing Team, Tim Meadows, and Kevin McDonald.

College performances perform at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater; professional performances will follow at 10 p.m. Please see the schedule that follows for more details.

On Saturday, festival participants are invited to workshops led by Armando Diaz of Magnet Theaterand Bleak! Comedy for improvised and sketch comedy, respectively. These events will be closed to the public.

Additionally, NCCF will host a panel discussion on "Women in Comedy" at 12:15 p.m. Saturday in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. The panel discussion will be open to the public and free of charge; the producers will select questions from festival participants, as well as Skidmore student groups such as Skidmore Pride Alliance, Feminist Action Network, BARE, and the Center for Sex and Gender Relations, to address a wide range of woman- and queer-related issues related to the creation, production, and performance of professional comedy.

Saturday's panelists are Peggy O'Leary, member of Bleak! Comedy, Grace Helbig, Daily Grace web series and Attack of the Show! correspondent, Megan Gray, artistic director of Magnet Theater, and Rebecca Krefting, professor in American Studies, specializing in humor.

NCCF ticket prices are as follows ? General Admission:$5 college, $10 professional, $20 weekend;Skidmore Community:$3 college, $7 professional, $15 weekend.Tickets will be sold in Skidmore's Case Center from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Feb. 6 through 10. There will be a wait list.

NCCF 2012 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb. 10

College Groups - 7 p.m.

Purple Crayon- Improv - Yale University

Slow Children at Play- Sketch - Boston University

Happily Ever Laughter- Sketch - Vassar College

Major: Undecided- Improv - Tufts University

Skidomedy- Sketch - Skidmore College

INTERMISSION

receSs - Sketch - George Washington University

Sons of Liberty- Improv - Boston University

Strange Bedfellows- Improv - Bates College

The Sketchies- Sketch - Skidmore College

Professional Group - 10 p.m.

TJ & Dave

Saturday, Feb. 11

College Groups - 7 p.m.

Hammerkatz- Sketch - NYU

Starla and Sons- Improv - Brown University

The Limit- Sketch - Vassar College

Captain Soldier- Improv - NYU

Red Hot Poker- Sketch - Yale University

INTERMISSION

This is Pathetic -Improv - Emerson College

Dangerbox- Improv - NYU

Lighted Fools- Sketch - Haverford and Bryn Mawr

Ad-Libs- Improv - Skidmore College

Professional Groups - 10 p.m.

BriTANick

Bleak! Comedy

For further updates and media samples, please visit NCCF's Web site.