Trill Comedy Festival Held at Houston's Station Theater This Weekend

Station Theater relaunches its annual Trill Comedy Festival with a bang this weekend, October 8-11, complete with a whole new weekend, three extra shows, and exciting comedy from across the United States.

"You don't have to travel to Chicago, New York or Los Angeles for exceptional improv, sketch and stand-up comedy anymore," says Jessica Brown, Festival Co-Producer and Co-Director of Station Theater. "Trill celebrates outstanding talent from right here in our own backyard and other cities from across the U.S.!"

Houston's only comprehensive comedy festival features more than 75 comedians performing improv, sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, performance art, and more. New this year, Trill has added three Sunday shows for a total of twelve shows and twenty hours of comedy. The festival has also been moved to Columbus Day Weekend from Memorial Day Weekend. Trill is presented by Phase 3 Comedy, Station Theater and local favorite Saint Arnold Brewing Company.

SHOWS

The 3rd Annual Trill Comedy Festival offers three shows a night Thursday through Sunday nights at 7:00pm, 9:00pm and 11:00pm. All shows take place at Station Theater at 1230 Houston Avenue.

Festival planners have secured some of the biggest headliners yet for the Trill Comedy Festival.

Chris Gethard
Friday, October 9 - 11:00pm

Chris Gethard is a writer, actor, and comedian living in New York City. His Comedy Central Half Hour special premiered in June 2014. Chris plays the role of Derek in the Comedy Central series Broad City and had a recurring role on the last season of NBC's The Office. His feature credits include The Heat and The Other Guys. He was named one of Variety's Ten Comics to Watch in 2010, and has told stories on This American Life. He's the author of the book A Bad Idea I'm About to Do, and recently put out My Comedy Album, which debuted on the Heatseekers billboard chart in April 2014.

Chris is the creator and host of The Chris Gethard Show, a variety and talk show that began as a stage show at UCB before becoming a weekly live public access show during the summer of 2011. The AV Club says the Chris Gethard Show "undoubtedly belongs in the conversation with the best of TV" and the New York Times called it "an often riveting experiment in seat of the pants broadcasting."

Here. The Improvised Musical Featuring Tara Defrancisco and Rance Rizzutto Saturday, October 10 - 9:00pm

With more than 1000 shows in nine countries, Tara DeFrancisco and Rance Rizzutto are masters of musical improvisation with the kind of chemistry that can only exist between best friends who have been performing together for over a decade. In Here. The Improvised Musical, they are inspired by an audience suggestion and music as they explore the lives and connections between the characters they create.

Tara is a headlining performer at ComedySportz and iO Chicago (Deltones, Chaos Theory, Armando, DeFrancisCO) and is a three year veteran of the Second City Touring Company. Rance has performed with ComedySportz, Chicago, DSI (The Beatbox), Silent Treatment (award-winning two-person silent improv), seven8nine, and various other improv teams and venues. Both are improv instructors are currently on a European tour with Here.

• Friday, October 9 at 9pm: DeFrancisCo - An improv mash-up featuring Tara, Rance, and other festival performers

Other Trill shows featuring Tara & Rance:

• Saturday, October 10 at 11pm: Rance Rizzutto's Comedy Hypnosis Show

Trill boasts heaps of homegrown talent as well as performers from Austin, Dallas, Kansas City, San Francisco, Minneapolis and more. Trill's more unique offerings include Impro Espan?ol (Chicago, IL) who perform in both Spanish and English, the improvised documentary stylings of The Mockumentalists (Houston, TX), Texas A&M's Freudian Slip, silent improv troupe No More Words (Houston, TX), and clowning-inspired Butter (Austin, TX). The Thursday and Sunday 11pm shows feature stand-up comedy from Houston, Dallas, Austin and Lafayette, LA.

WORKSHOPS

Trill offers workshops for those interested in learning more about comedy performance. Headliners Tara DeFrancisco and Rance Rizzutto will present workshops on Music Improv and Hosting and Emceeing. Additional workshops include Talking Taboo with Nelson Velasquez (Chicago, IL), From the Wings with Kevin Miller (Austin, TX), Group Think and Joy on Stage from Andy Perkins (Kansas City, MO) as well as workshops from veteran Houston improviser Ryan Heine and Station Theater Co-Directors Steve M. Saltsman and Roger Anderson. Chris Gethard will also teach a workshop, though the topic is to be announced.

TICKETS

The Trill Comedy Festival PASS TO THE UNIVERSE OF EVERYTHING offers admission to all twelve (12) shows for $60 ($145 value) as well as a commemorative slap bracelet. This all-show festival pass is only available through September 30. Nightly passes and tickets for individual shows are also available. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to TrillComedy.com.