Moontower and Just for Laughs Announce Joint 2022 Festival in Austin
Austin, Texas is about to become a world-wide Mecca for comedy and the Austin Theatre Alliance CEO & ED, Jim Ritts and Just For Laughs President, Bruce Hills are making sure it happens! Moontower and Just Laughs are joining forces.The two revered comedy institutions are partnering to launch Moontower Just For Laughs Austin, slated to take place April 2022 in Austin, Texas.
Just For Laughs is continuing to grow their internationally recognized comedy brand by partnering with Austin’s treasured Moontower Comedy Festival to create an inimitable comedy experience that combines the forces of leading global comedy curators Just For Laughs with the intimate comedy feel of Moontower. Together, this will be one of the best experiences for comedy fans and comedians in the United States, in one of the best cultural cities in North America.
I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Ritts and Bruce Hills about their partnership and what the future holds for comedy and comedians in Austin.
During the press conference Bruce Hills shared that Austin had a special place in his heart because of the time he spent visiting his grandmother who lived here when he was a kid. This made me wonder what Jim Ritts’s first experience and impression of Just For Laughs in Montreal was. He said, “ten years ago, Lietza Brass, who is now our chief programming officer, said you have to go to Montreal with me. You have to see this festival. So, I went and from the very moment we hit the ground in Montreal, what we found was that their resources, their sense of understanding of their brand and who they are and their outreach to the industry was extraordinary. And, most importantly for us was that they epitomized exactly what we hoped to do, which was, take really good care of the comics, take really good care of the fans and everything else would take care of itself.”
I knew the relationship Bruce Hills had with Austin Texas through his grandmother but I wondered how and when Moontower left it’s mark on his heart. Bruce said, “There’s two things. First, sitting in the Paramount Theater where I saw George Carlin 25 years earlier and Foreigner perform during their first tour when I was at boys camp when I was a kid was impactful. This venue is one of the most special venues in the world to me. This theater has had an impact on me personally since I was 16 years old, but what I really liked about Moontower was the vibe. I liked Colleen Mcgarr’s point of view with her booking. It just felt like Austin. You had the Austin comics that obviously had an impact, but then you also had the national bookings that complemented them. You had a bit of both. There’s not many cities in the world that have the talent that Austin has because remember, when you’re in L.A. and New York, they’re not L.A. and New York comics. But, when you’re going to shows here, it’s with homegrown talent and they’re from Austin. Hopefully, now there will be a larger chance for that talent to benefit from this festival and that has always been Colleen’s goal. The good thing for comics is they know Colleen is in their corner and we’re looking forward to helping Colleen and these comics even more.”
Austin has definitely shown itself to be a major force in the world of comedy and Jim Ritts shared with us how this partnership came to be and what they’re real goal is. Jim said, “The growth that Austin has had over the past 10 years as a recognized hot bed of comedy talent has been rather extraordinary. I think the incredible growth of fans of comedy that live in the greater Austin area who are willing to to come out and support club shows and large venue shows has been eye-opening for the comedy industry. They knew we were known for our music and other things but I don’t think there was a full understanding of the pent up demand among comics for having the best and the brightest comedians come here and that is what allowed us to do this festival. Moontower Comedy Festival created opportunities for the local talent we have here because when people come out to see Dave Attell, or someone else, they’re also seeing many of our local folks and more and more people continue to come here. Our real goal is to make Austin the world-wide Mecca for comedy fans and comics to come here for as many as ten to fourteen days every April.”
Expanding the Moontower Comedy Festival from four to ten days is so exciting! Bruce Hills shared how he felt Just For Laughs would make a mark and leave its footprint on the Moontower Comedy Festival. He said, “just because something is a hit in Montreal does not mean it has anyplace in Austin. We’re not going to do anything that doesn’t fit. This event has to be Moontower first. It has to have that vibe. There’s a handful of things that work for Just For Laughs that fit with Moontower. A lot of it will be announced when we reveal our programming, but first and foremost, there’s a great base of venues in Austin and we are going to put shows in larger venues. So, if it’s Austin City Limits Live, the areas or the amphitheaters, we are going to add larger venues to be able to book bigger talent. There’s a lot of talent that requires more seats to be able to afford them and that’s something we do all day long, so we’ll complement their footprint with that. We are here to help. We’re here to partner and add things behind the scenes to grow this event but the key is maintaining the differentiation that Moontower has which is great, cool, smart comics, be artist friendly and keep a commitment to local talent. This is a great thing for us because we love Austin. If you look at our history of booking Austin comics, it’s vast. Largely because of Colleen Mcgarr but also because Austin talent is different. It’s not generic. I book so many cool, fun people here and we’re very excited to get going!”
The idea of Moontower using larger venues to book bigger names is beyond exciting! I can foresee this having a major impact on solidifying Austin’s place not just in the comedy industry but in the entertainment business overall. I asked Bruce and Jim if they felt this partnership would help put Austin in the same light as New York and Los Angeles for comedians and the world of comedy and was very encouraged by their answers. Bruce Hills said, “100%! Look at Tom Segura, Joe Rogan and all the other comedians moving here for the quality of life. We couldn’t have picked a better time to do this and for me to have more opportunities to come to Austin, personally, it’s a huge win-win.” Jim Ritts shared his vision for the future of comedy in Austin. He said, “I think comics will increasingly enjoy coming and living here. Those of us who have the good fortune to live here know what a great place this is. Culturally, there’s an openness to the people who live here. They’re willing to try new things and listen to new ideas and that is essential for comedy. Comics know they can come here, try anything and they are going to get a fair shake from our audiences. Our fans don’t come in with a predisposition and I think that’s really, really helpful. What I think is going to happen is we will have an increasing number of homegrown comics and comedians who move here and hopefully what happens next is the industry will follow close behind and we’ll see great representation in this area.”
The timing of this partnership between Moontower and Just For Laughs could not be better! The future of comedy is bright and things just got a little bit bigger in the great state of Texas!
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Sara Dahms
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