Fifteen years in the making, the SLO Comedy Festival has been providing a full week of entertainment right here on the Central Coast.
What started as a small-scale operation for SLO Comedy Festival founder Eric Shantz has turned into one of the most reputable comic festivals in the nation, attracting talent from California to Namibia with over 300 submissions a year.
“We sit down for a solid seven days, 12-hour days, just pouring through all the submissions to see who's the best, best 40 out of those submissions," Shantz said.
This year, a longtime partner is now a new venue for the shows with downtown San Luis Obispo’s Woodstock's Pizza set to host a late-night show.
“We're going to be opening it up to have a full entire stage for our comedians and then we're going to be pulling all of our seats back a little bit to allow for a little bit of a more intimate setting,” explained Woodstock's Assistant General Manager Levin Aaronson.
Last year, they added two new venues — the Bunker off Broad Street and Blast 'n Brew in Arroyo Grande — in an effort to maximize the space needed for the comedy shows which culminates in a big finale at the Performing Arts Center.
“When we first started, Creekside was one of our venues and now it's I think it's called Sidecar, but that was 35 seats and we would fill that and be amazed," Shantz recalled. "Now we have the PAC, which is just under 1,400 seats, and we filled that last year and we're absolutely amazed.”
Meanwhile, the other nine venues for this year’s festival are hoping it brings in new customers as well as comedy fans.
“We're hoping that this comedy festival that we're going to be hosting is going to show people that we're not just about pizza and beer here," Aaronson said. "We like having fun. We are trying to start getting into a lot more live entertainment.”
According to Shantz, the list of comedians ranges from newcomers to comedians who have performed in the festival up to six times.
“It's internationally known and it's amazing how well it's been accepted in the comedy industry,” Shantz said.
The festival is Feb. 27 through March 2 at 10 venues throughout San Luis Obispo County. Full schedule here.
