Judah Friedlander World Champion Smashes All Comers at Moontower Ping Pong

judah friedlander ping pong world champ

Images via @SaraCress on Twitter and Amy Hawthorne

Judah Friedlander Ping Pong World Champ

Who Has the Balls to Challenge the World Champion Judah Friedlander at Ping Pong?

The second annual Moontower Ping Pong Smackdown was a pretty great way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon in Austin. It was three hours of fierce ping pong and delicious sliders, ice cream and beer – all free!! In the early rounds it was a sea of comedians like Nate Bargatze, Randy Liedtke, Emo Phillips and Emily Heller squaring off against festival goers who commentators the Sklar Brothers gave nicknames like Austin Christian Bale, Plaid on Plaid and Conspiracy Theory Guy.

The Sklars were the real stars of the event early going, making it actually fun and funny to watch four pairs of people hitting a teeny tiny ball back and forth on stage. And their policy of only interviewing the losers of the matches, who were all good natured good sports, made for some fun even if you were eliminated.

By the quarter finals, only crowd favorite Judah Friedlander was left standing among the comedians as he faced off against 2014 champion Shane Berber. Berber seemed cocky going in, even taking a break mid-match to take a swig of his “sponsor’s” moonshine. But, true to form, Judah prevailed. Judah went on to sweep up the champion’s trophy, all while providing the crowd with a great show – not only with hard fought games, but with additional theatrics like putting on extra layers of warm-ups and having Nate and Randy come out to help him strip down and water up like a ping pong pit crew.

It’s really inspiring that so many competitors chose to face The World Champion without simply turning and running away. But the free beer and ice cream probably softened the blow.


 

Amy E Hawthorne is a New York by way of LA comedy journalist and founder of ComedyGroupie.com.

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Amy E Hawthorne is a New York by way of LA comedy journalist and founder of ComedyGroupie.com. She's also a produced numerous stand-up shows, got a paycheck and a drinking problem from The Comedy Store and is convinced that the Big Avocado lobby are the ones who really pull the strings in this country.
Amy Hawthorne
Amy Hawthorne
Amy E Hawthorne is a New York by way of LA comedy journalist and founder of ComedyGroupie.com. She's also a produced numerous stand-up shows, got a paycheck and a drinking problem from The Comedy Store and is convinced that the Big Avocado lobby are the ones who really pull the strings in this country.