ImprovBoston to Present 12th Annual College Comedy Festival

In this comedy battle for the beanpot, the funniest team wins. From February 16-18, 14 New England-area college improv teams flood ImprovBoston to dish out laughs, connect, and push the boundaries of funny in the 12th Annual College Comedy Festival (CCF).

This year's festival brings over 150 students to ImprovBoston's two stages, uniting them for team-building, networking, and performance growth. The festival includes student competition rounds in a variety of comedy formats and offers workshops for creative development and a panel discussion featuring professional comedians with an emphasis on comedy after college. Teams scores are tallied in the Thursday and Friday night competition rounds, and one team is crowned Beanpot Champion at the Finals on Saturday, September 18 at 10pm. The fun is sponsored by Boston Burger Company, David's Tea, and Vice Cream, who will offer goodies to participating students and visiting patrons.

CCF Executive Producer and ImprovBoston Lead Producer Mac Gostow started his comedy career as a student in this festival. "It's the most fun weekend of the year at our theater," Gostow says. "The energy, passion, and charisma these students bring is awe-inspiring. And we want them to know they can continue the fun after school as well."

Featuring these New England teams:
Boston College's The CCE
Clark University's The Peapod Squad
Clark University's Shenanigans!
Emerson College's Stroopwafel
Gordon College's The Sweaty Toothed Madmen
MIT's Roadkill Buffet
Olin College of Engineering's OPIUM
Northeastern University's NU & Improv'd
Suffolk University's Seriously Bent
UMass Amherst's Mission:IMPROVable
Western New England University's Improv on the Rocks
Westfield State University's WHIP Comedy Improv
Wheaton College's The Dimple Divers
WPI's Guerilla Improv

SCHEDULE:

Thursday, February 16

7:00PM Longform Competition
Emerson College's Stroopwafel
Gordon College's The Sweaty Toothed Madmen
Olin College of Engineering's OPIUM
UMass Amherst's Mission:IMPROVable

7:30PM Shortform Competition
Clark University's The Peapod Squad
Clark University's Shenanigans!
Northeastern University's NU & Improv'd
WPI's Guerilla Improv

8:30PM Longform Competition
MIT's Roadkill Buffet
Suffolk University's Seriously Bent
Wheaton College's The Dimple Divers

9:30PM Shortform Competition
Boston College's The CCE
Western New England University's Improv on the Rocks
Westfield State University's WHIP Comedy Improv

11:00PM Line Game Competition
Boston College's The CCE
Clark University's Shenanigans!
Gordon College's The Sweaty Toothed Madmen
Suffolk University's Seriously Bent
Western New England University's Improv on the Rocks
Westfield State University's WHIP Comedy Improv
WPI's Guerilla Improv

Friday, February 17

7:00PM Longform Competition
Clark University's The Peapod Squad
Clark University's Shenanigans!
Western New England University's Improv on the Rocks
Westfield State University's WHIP Comedy Improv

7:30PM Shortform Competition
Gordon College's The Sweaty Toothed Madmen
MIT's Roadkill Buffet
Olin College of Engineering's OPIUM
Suffolk University's Seriously Bent

8:30PM Longform Competition
Boston College's The CCE
Northeastern University's NU & Improv'd
WPI's Guerilla Improv

9:30PM Shortform Competition
Emerson College's Stroopwafel
UMass Amherst's Mission:IMPROVable
Wheaton College's The Dimple Divers

11:00 PM Line Game Competition
Clark University's The Peapod Squad
Emerson College's Stroopwafel
MIT's Roadkill Buffet
Northeastern University's NU & Improv'd
Olin College of Engineering's OPIUM
UMass Amherst's Mission:IMPROVable
Wheaton College's The Dimple Divers

Saturday, February 18

3:15PM FREE Screening of "Dying Laughing" standup comedy documentary

5:30PM StandUp/Sketch Comedy Showcase

Standup Comedy:
Nora Panahi (BU)
Sabrina Wu (Harvard)
Harry Newman-Plotnick (Harvard)
Joe Palana (Harvard)
Kelly Vernon (Emerson)
Colin Donaldson (Suffolk)
Erica Gelfand (Tufts)
BranDon Lee (Tufts)

Sketch Comedy:
Major Undecided (Tufts)
Derbyn (Emerson)

10:00 PM Finals The Top 2 teams in each category (Short Form, Long Form, Line Games) (Teams announced by Friday, Feb. 17 @ midnight)

The College Comedy Festival runs February 16th-18th at ImprovBoston. Tickets are available at ImprovBoston.com/ccf.

Follow IB College Comedy on Twitter @IBCollegeComedy. Like the IB College Comedy Page on Facebook /IBCollegeComedy.

For over 30 years, ImprovBoston has been New England's leading theater and school dedicated to the art of comedy in all its forms. Voted "Best of Boston" by The Phoenix, The Improper Bostonian, and The Weekly Dig, ImprovBoston performers, teachers and students have included film stars, Emmy Award-winning comedians, and acclaimed producers, directors, musicians and writers. ImprovBoston alumni are featured on Conan, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, America's Got Talent, Funniest Wins, Playboy, Last Comic Standing and John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, to name a few. In 2014, the Independent Reviewers of New England honored ImprovBoston with an award recognizing its longstanding contributions to the Boston theater community. As a nonprofit arts organization, ImprovBoston serves the community through laughter with youth outreach programs, workshops for businesses, scholarships, a national touring company and, of course, performances at its theater complex in Central Square, Cambridge.