Comedy Comes To The Turnage | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    Washington, NC - The Beaufort County Arts Council will present its first stand-up comedy act at the Turnage Theater on Saturday, June 21 at 8:00pm. Working with producer Matthew White of Seriously Clowning Stand-Up Comedy, this will be BCAC's first foray into this type of programming.

    The show will present three different comics, all professionals and each with their own distinct style of comedy.

    Headliner Jarrod Harris' work is best described as "an oddly comfortable mix of trailer-park filth, comic angst and hipster irony. While his style may fit into several categories along the comedy spectrum, his clever writing only fits into one: funny," according to Noah Gardenswartz of Creative Loafing. Jarrod is best known for his former character work on Action Figure Therapy, lending his voice and writing for the Jungle and Snow characters which were featured in LA Weekly's "Top Comic To Watch in 2012″ as well as the front page of the Huffington Post Comedy section in 2011. Jarrod's stand-up has been seen on TBS' Lopez Tonight and Comedy Central's Live at Gotham. Campus Activities Magazine named him as one of the Hot Comics of 2009 and Top Comics to Watch in 2010. In 2009 Jarrod was final 4 at the San Francisco Comedy Competition and in 2010 was invited back for Detroit Comedy Festival's "Best of Fest" as well as host of 2010/2011 Laughing Skull Festival.

    Featured guest comic will be comedian Andy Forrester. Forrester's brand of off-the-wall humor has made him one of the fastest rising comedians in the Southeast. His high energy and animated comedy have landed him spots opening for such headliners as Rob Schneider, Dave Coulier, Kevin Pollak, and Greg Giraldo. His likeable, self-deprecating, fun, easy going style is friendly to everyone as he walks you through the mind and life of the man many call BiG"A". Family, movies, and love of food, and traveling and living with his two little girls is a treat for everyone as they hear about the funny life of this family man.

    The evening's host will be Matthew White himself. White is a Comedian/Actor/ Writer, from North Carolina. He performs and produces stand-up comedy, improv comedy, and sketch comedy shows. He is the Creator/Artistic Director of the Seriously Clowning Comedy Group, which he founded in 2005 at East Carolina University. Matt won the Lazy Pirate's "2013 Last Comic Standing Contest" (Carolina Beach, NC), DSI Comedy's "Carolina's Funniest Comic 2013" (Carrboro, NC), 2012 "Port City's Top Comic " (Wilmington, NC). He was also a semi-finalist in the 2013 American Black Film Festival's "Comedy Wings Competition" (Hollywood CA).

    According to BCAC executive director Joey Toler, this is experimental programming for BCAC and the Turnage Theatre. "We are looking at many ways to utilize the theatre, and reaching a broad and diverse audience. Stand-up comedy is just one of the opportunities that having a venue like the Turnage Theare presents to BCAC. We want to try a lot of different programming, and see what works!"

    Because of language and adult subject matter, the comedy show is recommended for mature audiences only.

    Admission to the comedy show is $10 general admission. Tickets can be purchased at the BCAC box office at the Turnage Theatre at 150 West Main Street in Washington, or by calling 252.946.2504. For more information about this and other upcoming programs, visit www.beaufortcountyartscouncil.org on the web.

    Executive Director Joey Toler