The North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival's foundation has always been improv and this year, the Improv Block of the festival maintains that tradition. The 11th North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival will close with its annual Improv Block running from Wednesday, February 16-Sunday, February 20 on five different stages throughout Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The Improv Block features some of the best improv teams from around the country and will have a headlining stand-up comedy set from Emo Philips, who may also appear as a special guest at a few improv performances during the week.
Philips will play a headlining slot, performing an hour of standup comedy, on Friday, February 18th at the Cat's Cradle. The show starts at 9 p.m. and tickets cost $14. Opening the show is Chicago's Funniest Hip-Hop Improv Comedy Crew, BEATBOX. Scenes are cut, mixed and transformed by a human beatbox and some of the most acclaimed improvisers in the country.Wednesday Feb. 16, 2011
7:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $10
Armageddon' It (Carrboro, NC)
DoubleD20s (Carrboro, NC)
Houdini (Carrboro, NC)
Pound for Pound (Carrboro, NC)
9:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $10
Kid Lincoln (Carrboro, NC)
AU JUS (Carrboro, NC)
The 708 (Carrboro, NC)
Thursday Feb. 17, 2011
7:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
DOPPELGANGER (New York, NY)
The Immediate Gratification Players (Cambridge, MA)
Gangs of Recess (Fort Worth, TX)
Jessica Tandy (Philadelphia, PA)
7:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $10
Rintersplit (Philadelphia, PA)
Blue Suede (New York, NY)
Evil Skivvers (Alexandria, VA)
CSO (New York, NY)
8:00 pm @ ArtsCenter Main $10
Adrift (Philadelphia, PA)
pHrenzy (Chicago, IL)
Fritter Kings (Chicago, IL)
9:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
The Swish Improv (Greenville, NC)
Toast (Columbia, SC)
Biological Necessities (Raleigh, NC)
Death By Improv (Sayreville, NJ)
Easy Baked Improv! (Mt. Berry, GA)
9:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $10
The HITMEN (Chicago, IL)
The Ones Your Moms Warned You About (Philadelphia, PA)
Maxitor Presents: Harold to the Max (Boston, MA)
10:00 pm @ ArtsCenter Main $10
Plan B (Cambridge, MA)
The New Deal (New York, NY)
Banana Breakup (Carrboro, NC)
11:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $10
4DDI (Carrboro/Chicago)
Friday Feb. 18, 2011
7:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
NouN (Boone, NC)
Kid Lincoln (Carrboro, NC)
New & Improv'd (Harrisonburg, VA)
Mythical Newsroom (NYC/LA/DC)
7:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $14
North Coast (New York, NY)
The N Crowd (Philadelphia, PA)
Neutrino Boston (Cambridge, MA)
8:00 pm @ ArtsCenter Main $14
SENIOR PGA (Carrboro, NC)
Griggs, Robbins & Thom (Toronto, ON)
Junior Varsity (New York, NY)
9:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
The Whethermen (Charlottesville, VA)
Nobody's Token (New York, NY)
CUBED (Philadelphia, PA)
AU JUS (Carrboro, NC)
9:00 pm @ Cats Cradle $14
BEATBOX (Chicago, IL)
Emo Philips (Los Angeles, CA)
9:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $14
** DSI Super CageMatch **
Einstein Meets Elvis (Atlanta, GA)
ImprovBoston Mainstage (Cambridge, MA)
DHARMA (Toronto, ON)
Sparky Anderzander (Carrboro, NC)
10:00 pm @ ArtsCenter Main $14
Festival All-Stars
MISTER DIPLOMAT (Carrboro, NC)
11:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
Red Letters (Tahlequah, OK)
Mock Turtle Soup (Clemson, SC)
The Space Cadettes: Everything Must Go! (New York, NY)
Madame Senator (Chicago, IL)
11:30 pm @ DSI Comedy $14
rom-com (Chicago, IL)
The Swash Improv (Greenville, NC)
Let's Try This! (Atlanta, GA)
Saturday Feb. 19, 2011
7:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
underage sugar addicts (Chicago, IL)
The Arsenal (Boston, MA)
DMG (Washington, DC)
Ay Diego! (Cambridge, MA)
8:00 pm @ ArtsCenter Main $14
Festival All-Stars
PT Scarborough Is A Movie (Carrboro, NC)
The Josh and Tamra Show (Los Angeles, CA)
8:00 pm @ UNC $10, $5 Students
Amuse Bouche (Charlottesville, VA)
Festival All-Stars
CHiPs (Chapel Hill, NC)
9:00 pm @ ArtsCenter West $10
Rookie Card (Philadelphia, PA)
Middle Management (Richmond, VA)
The Cascade (New York, NY)
Marjean (Cambridge, MA)
9:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $14
Doctor Ballroom (Boston, MA)
3 Men and a Little Lady (Charleston, SC)
BillyHawk (Los Angeles, CA)
Date Night (Baltimore, MD)
10:00 pm @ ArtsCenter Main $14
The 708 (Carrboro, NC)
Festival All-Stars
The Bat
Sunday Feb. 20, 2011
7:30 pm @ DSI Comedy Theater $10
Comedia Fresca (Hillsborough, NC)
GIUSEPPE (Carrboro, NC)
About NCCAF
DSI Comedy Theater (DSI) produced the first North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival (NCCAF) in 2001 to give North Carolina audiences and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the chance to experience a professional improv showcase and workshops in the art of improv comedy. The festival has rapidly become one of the largest comedy festivals in the nation now incorporating film, sketch and standup comedy. In the past, the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival increased the population of Carrboro for a week by 4%. With professional performances in Chicago and New York and its college touring company, NCCAF started to receive national attention. The 2006 festival celebrated the opening of the DSI Comedy Theater, an 80-seat venue in North Carolina and the new home for shows and the DSI Training Center. In honor of the festival, February 2010 was declared DSI Comedy Arts Month by both the Town of Chapel Hill and the Town of Carrboro and the Mayor of Carrboro declared February 5th Zach Ward Day in the Town of Carrboro. The festival has attracted high level instructors in improvisation including: Asaf Ronen, Jeff Griggs, Dan Izzo, Eric Hunicutt, Kevin Patrick Robbins, Anthony King and Jill Bernard. From the DSI Comedy Training Center and DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro, NC to its productions in Chicago, and professional Touring Company, the Dirty South name has spread around the country, drawing both participants and quality teaching staff to its annual comedy festival year after year.
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