PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles will get an international dose of comedy on Friday.
Last winter Jon Fox, founder of the San Francisco and Seattle international comedy competitions, found himself without a venue to hold the latter’s final round. The Kirkland Performance Center had for two decades been the place for the Seattle contest on the night after Thanksgiving.
Back in March, however, Fox learned the venue would no longer host shows on the holiday weekend. Then he got word about Port Angeles’ new performing arts center.
“I heard great things about the venue,” Fox said of Field Arts & Events Hall, 201 W. Front St. — the new setting for the competition finals at 7:30 p.m. More information can be found at www.fieldhall events.org.
It was one of those times when everything fell into place.
A field of 32 comedians performed Nov. 5 at Club Comedy in Seattle.
They were winnowed to 16 for the next round on Nov. 12. Then came the semifinals, which finished up at the Kirkland Performance Center this past Sunday.
Now five finalists from across the continent are poised to deliver 15-minute standup sets — “they have to make every second count,” Fox said — at Field Hall.
The comedians are:
• Brent Ayton of Edmonton, Alberta, whose material can include “hunting accidents” and his unusual approach to gym workouts.
• Paul Goodwin of Columbus, Miss., who shares his viewpoints about the duality of southern living.
• David Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., who plays harmonica and loves mustard, corduroy and pets.
• Jordan Policicchio of Toronto, who describes his work as hilarious takes on everyday life, with sharp wit and personal stories.
• Tyrik Woods from Atlanta, who describes himself as “nice, funny, smart and honest.”
Also on competition night, comic Jaci Terjeson from Tacoma will do what’s called a “stall set” while the contestants are judged.
“She is fantastic,” Fox said, adding Terjeson brings a female perspective to the proceedings. Standup comedy is still “a disproportionately male game,” he said.
“We do everything we can” to urge women to enter, Fox added.
This year, the 32 chosen competitors included six women, one nonbinary comic and 25 men. They came from all over: New Orleans, Omaha, Neb., Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and two Canadian provinces.
“We’re so excited to have been chosen as one of the venues for the Seattle Comedy Competition and that PA folks get to judge,” said Steve Raider-Ginsburg, Field Hall artistic director.
The local judges are Peninsula College president Suzy Ames, Dan Morrison of the Extreme Sports Park and Steve Methner of Methner Insurance and a comic actor himself.
The five finalists also will perform at the Mount Baker Theatre on Saturday night and, for the competition’s concluding show Sunday, at Laughs Comedy Club in Seattle. The five still standing will vie for the championship and some $15,000 in prizes.
Fox, who has been orchestrating the competition since 1980, still finds himself invigorated by giving people a laugh — or several — and a healthy dose of escapism.
Fox added that he enjoys how the Pacific Northwest differs from the comedy scene in San Francisco, where he first started.
“Here we are in the dead of winter. It’s pitch dark,” he said — yet the comedians seem to have a better time up here. Each community has its own character, Fox said, and “the audience is more activated in expressing their opinion.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Port Townsend.
Brent Ayton.
Paul Goodwin.
Jordan Policicchio.
Tyrik Woods.
