The Palm Springs International Comedy Festival Continues This Weekend

The first annual Palm Springs International Comedy Festival continues on November 17-18 at Hotel Zoso, with two days of nonstop comedy featuring over 100 comedians from around the world in The Stand Up competition, who will compete in front of a panel of celebrity and entertainment industry experts for a thousand dollar prize and their own half-hour comedy special on Step 1 TV www.step1TV.com (KTVA channel 35.10).

The festival will also feature a special celebrity Q&A event at 12:30 PM on November 17, hosted by Geoffrey Mark and featuring Alison Arngrim, Ruta Lee, Dawn Wells and Joyce Bulifant. Headliner shows will feature Steve Bluestein and Cathy Ladman on November 17 and Tony Tripoli and Judy Tenuta on November 18. The robust schedule also features feature and short film screenings (comedy shorts, TV pilots, Web series, music videos, sketch comedy videos) that were submitted and selected as finalists, as well as daily after parties. https://palmspringscomedyfest.com/tickets/

On November 10, the festival celebrated the top names in comedy at a special awards gala held at the Hotel Zoso & Spa in downtown Palm Springs. The star studded, black tie event honored the best comedic celebrity talents in stand-up, film and television. Comedian Kathy Griffin was presented with the "Comedian of the Year" Award, while Illeana Douglas received the "Pioneer in Comedy Award" for the first ever branded Web series "Easy To Assemble." The award-winning cast and production team of Paramount's summer blockbuster "Book Club" were presented with the "Stanley Kramer Mad World Comedy Award."

Celebrities in attendance included Kathy Griffin, Illeana Douglas, Ed Begley Jr., KAREN SHARPE KRAMER, Kat Kramer, Geoffrey Mark, 'Book Club' Director/Producer Bill Holderman, Writer/Producer Erin Simms, Wayne Federman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Festival Director/Founder Paul Cruz. Veteran performer Tommi Rose hosted the gala.

Photo Credit: Danielle Mathias