A conversation with two-thirds of the team putting together the inaugural Madison Comedy Week, which runs May 27 through June 3.
Madison Comedy Week’s organizers are, from left to right, Peter Rambo, Cynthia Marie, and Jake Snell.
The Madison comedy scene is incredibly tight, with dozens of performers hustling for stage time week in and week out at open mics and showcases in bars, clubs, coffee shops, galleries, and anywhere else someone’s got a microphone plugged in. If you haven’t been paying attention to any of that, or have maybe just dabbled in the Wednesday night Big Deuce mic at the Comedy Club On State, you can get brought up to with the inaugural Madison Comedy Week, a very locally focused new comedy festival running May 27 through 3 at venues around town. The week-long slate of shows is organized by local comics Cynthia Marie and Jake Snell, and their co-producer Peter Rambo, who is a writer for a local webseries called Staydream.
Eagle-eyed readers may remember Snell from the time he put on a comedy show in a train last year, called The Laugh Track, and our Alan Talaga interviewed him about it, but only asked questions pertaining to trains. It ranks as one of our favorite moments on the site, so check that out too.
Tone Madison‘s Chris Lay sat down recently with Marie and Snell to discuss the offerings at Madison Comedy Week, which includes everything from burlesque dancers to an adult D.A.R.E. presentation to a showcase in someone’s backyard, plus a few surprises. It kicks off with the the Madison Area Comedy Awards ceremony on Sunday and runs all the way to the Twin Cities duo of Mary Mack and Tim Harmston’s performance as part of a Central Park Sessions show (in the recently renamed McPike Park) on June 3. The conversation ranged from the unexpected challenges of putting something this big together, a fantastic made-up drinking club, and which local comic is a front runner for the “oldest closing bit” honors at the M.A.C.A.s.
Give the conversation a listen here, or subscribe to the Tone Madison podcast on Apple Podcasts. If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and consider supporting us financially with a one-time or recurring donation.
