Catch The Out of Bounds Comedy Festival Labor Day Weekend!

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The 13th Annual Out of Bounds Festival is taking place over labor day weekend this year.  Seven days of great improv comedy, sketch comedy, and stand up kicks off Tuesday August 26th, culminating with the big finale night on Sunday August 31st. Parks & Recreation and Mad TV star ,  SNL-alum  and  of the hit Netflix series Orange Is The New Black are some of the featured performers scheduled to appear at Out of Bounds.

oobWith so many festivals taking place across the country this year, it’s hard to decide which ones to attend.  But “Out of Bounds” has its own vibe.  Being a non-profit changes up the way the organizers put the week together.  They have to rock a lot of person-to-person contacts to handpick performers.  They have to, they don’t have the budget to go through the routes the corporate festivals use.  But  the result is a totally unique and fresh roster of comedians who are as excited to be at the festival as you are.

Co-founder Jeremy Sweetlamb says their focus in putting together the festival is “taking care of the performers, and sacrificing the bottom line to build a good house.  We’ve all been to other festivals; we know what we like, and what we don’t,” he said.  “We do things our own way, how we would want it to be done, as both performers, and audience members.”  And it pays off for everyone involved.

Some of the highlights of this years festival:

  • Jon Gnarr, who is the former mayor of Reykjavik, Iceland is performing stand up.  Gnarr was a comedian who ran for mayor as a joke, and won! And now he’s excited to come to Austin to perform stand up for Out of Bounders.
  • Live Nude Improv, an interactive long form narrative improv show will take the stage.  IN LNI, the artists are stripping down the process in creating the story, as they strip down themselves.
  • A roast of twenty year veteran Austin improv comic Andy Crouch.  Andy is basically responsible for the success of the Austin Improv scene. He created the Austin Improv Collective, but rumor has it that he mostly did that to get out of doing his day job, so…you won’t want to miss this Austin keystone getting beat up by his friends and fellow performers.
  • The reunion of The Idiot Kings: a Burn Manhattan Tribute will take place at Out of Bounds.  Burn Manhattan was a troop that pioneered organic long form improv in New York.  Their members have gone on to great things, and this will be their first time performing together again in ten years– a true improv nerd moment to witness this group that was so influential to the development of improv in NYC.
  • SNL alum Paul Brittain will be performing the actual solo sketch show, that according to legend, got him the job with Saturday Night Live.  Anyone interested in the game, and wanting to know what worked for at least one performer, will be excited to see this one.

That’s only 5 of the 140 shows you can see throughout the week-long festival, with over 500 performers hitting the various stages.  Improv workshops take place all weekend, making Out of Bounds particularly a great draw for budding performers to attend.  The festival takes submissions for performers from February to April each year, so go watch the festival and send in your submission for 2015.

Out of Bounds Festival uses the badge system (individual tickets are also available)  but their unique system means you won’t be waiting on-line only to find out the show filled up before you got in.  Once you’re signed up, you fill out a form online specifying what shows you want to attend.  You aren’t guaranteed admission to every show, but at least you won’t be waiting on line for a show that’s already full.

web_promo-300x213 (1)The badges are only $109 , making OOB  one of the most reasonably priced festivals all year–  that’s where you really see the advantages of a not-for-profit run festival.  There is one upgrade to the package worth grabbing– for an extra $10 you get a t-shirt and a set of Out of Bound trading cards– an Out of Bounds tradition.  Use em to get autographs instead of that damn scrap of napkin you found lying around.

There is one final reason you need to go to Out of Bounds– it’s in Austin. Headliner Jon Gnarr can’t wait to see Austin with good reason.  First of all, it’s a lot warmer than Iceland.  But there’s also the best BBQ to  stuff your face with, great bars, a great music scene and while you’re in town, Sweetlamb recommends a visit to “Barton’s Springs” a natural spring fed pool that stays 66 degrees in the water.

Sketch, Improv, Standup and Springs– a perfect way to spend Labor Day Weekend.

Get all the information you need at outofboundscomedy.com.

 

 

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