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First Annual Transformer Comedy Fest Comes to Pittsfield

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Transformer Comedy Fest will feature three days of comedians from across the nation at Flat Burger Society and Dottie's Coffee Lounge.

The event runs from Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. with headliners Caitlin Cook, Anthony DeVito, and Josh Gondelman.

The festival is independent and homegrown festival with local and regional comics in supporting roles at each show. It is being produced by the Comedy Grotto at Flat Burger Society, a monthly professional comedy production, in cooperation with Dottie's.

Flat Burger Society is located on McKay Street and Dottie's is located at the corner of North Street and Maplewood Avenue.

Thursday, Oct. 13

Caitlin Cook kicks off the festival at the Comedy Grotto. She uses irreverent musical comedy and projected visuals and has taken the stage at top-tier comedy clubs and theaters and has released two musical comedy albums both of which are regularly featured on Sirius XM and other streaming platforms. She is currently touring "The Writing On The Stall," a one-woman bathroom stall graffiti musical that made its official debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in August.

Friday, Oct. 14

Writer and comedian Anthony DeVito takes the stage of Dottie's Coffee Lounge. He's appeared on CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "Comedy Central Stand Up Presents: Anthony DeVito," Comedy Central's "Adam Devine's House Party," NPR's "This American Life," TV Land's "The Jim Gaffigan Show," and AXS TV's "Gotham Comedy Live." His debut album "Dream Occupation" is available from Comedy Central Records. DeVito has created a one-person show about finding out a family secret titled "My Dad Isn't Danny DeVito" that also made its debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Saturday, Oct. 15

On the final night, author, producer, and comedian Josh Gondelman will headline Flat Burger Society's Comedy Grotto. Gondelman is a writer and comedian who incubated in Boston before moving to New York City, where he currently lives, and most recently worked as the head writer and an executive producer for "Desus & Mero" on Showtime. Previously, he spent five years at "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," where he earned four Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and three WGA Awards. His debut standup special "People Pleaser" is available to stream now. In 2016, Josh made his late-night standup debut on "Conan" (TBS), and he has also performed on "Late Night With Seth Meyers" (NBC) and "The Late Late Show with James Corden" (CBS).

Gondelman is also the author of the essay collection "Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results" published in September 2019 by Harper Perennial. As of 2019, he has become a regular panelist on NPR mainstay "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me."

Additionally, on Tuesday, Nov. 15, comedian Eddie Pepitone, subject of the documentary "The Bitter Buddha" and creator of comedy specials for Comedy Central, HBO, and Netflix, with hundreds of entries on his IMDB page, will headline the Comedy Grotto at Flat Burger Society.

Tickets for individual shows are available in advance via www.transformerfest.com.


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Lanesborough OKs Open Space Plan, Short-Term Rental Forms

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday set fees for short-term rentals and adopted an Open Space and Recreation Plan.
 
Town Administrator Gina Dario discussed the draft for STR registration and certificate of inspection since the new bylaws were passed at the annual town meeting.
 
The draft shows the process to file for inspection through Permit Eyes, the town's online permitting system that includes the state building code and safety requirements. Dario said members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and the building commissioner looked at other town models to come up with the best process for registration.
 
Inspections will be annually for non-owner occupied units and five years for owner-occupied. The inspection fee is a flat $50. The last suggestion discussed was the posting requirements for key information.
 
Dario said they looked at about four other communities on how they used non-sensitive information on owner contacts. Chair Deborah Maynard motioned to have the information posted both inside and out to help with law enforcement if needed.
 
"I'm going to make a motion that we put that relevant information not only on the inside of the short-term rental but on the outside, so if the police need to respond, ambulance needs to respond, fire especially needs to respond, all that information is there, nobody has to go searching for it," she said. "If push comes to shove, and it's a matter of minutes, that's going to make a big, a big difference in the outcome of the incident."
 
The board then heard a presentation from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's community planner Andrew McKeever and Open Space and Recreation Committee Vice Chair Mark Hawthorne.
 
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