Long Island-Based Comedy Show Comes to South County
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Every summer, thousands of Gothamites escape the New York City Metropolitan area to come to the Berkshires for entertainment.
On Saturday, a group of comics from Long Island are chasing their audience north.
The Long Island Comedy Festival will do a one-night performance at the Mahawie Theatre on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m.
Branded the Berkshire Comedy Festival, it will feature five comedians -- including one duo -- in a format replicating the shows that have kept the festival going for nine years in its native environs.
Paul Anthony is the executive producer of the festival and its official host. He will serve as the ringleader at the Great Barrington show, which will feature Tom Gilmore, Maria Walsh and the team of Al Isaacs and Scott Baker.
Gilmore is a Massachusetts resident who got his first big break at the Boston Comedy Festival, according to his website. He describes his act as having "clean, family-oriented material."
Walsh, the self-styled "Naughty Mommy" won a national competition sponsored by Las Vegas' Riviera Hotel last year when she was crowned the "Next Comic Headliner."
Isaacs and Baker feature improvisational humor with an emphasis on audience participation.
They won the title "Best of Long Island" from the Long Island Press and earned the following rave from the Village Voice:
"It's a live show that walks the high-energy tightrope of unscripted comedy. The result is an adrenaline pumping performance where anything goes, and usually does."
Tickets are $35, and the show is recommended for audiences 18 and over. To order tickets, visit www.mahaiwe.org.
