Adrienne Iapalucci, the People’s Choice to perform in the New York Comedy Festival

Adrienne Iapalucci opened last night for Bill Burr at Town Hall as part of the New York Comedy Festival. How'd she do it? By winning the People's Choice "Opening Act" contest, that's how.

Here is the set she uploaded for the contest:

So you can see why she'd be a good match for Burr's audience, right? I heard she was nervous to go up, but killed it. When you can be funny in the Bronx, how is a theater audience in Times Square supposed to be intimidating?

She was beaming when I saw her last night. I also caught up with Iapalucci via the Internets, and here's what else she told me about winning the contest:

"As far as the People's Choice, I get to open for a headliner at the festival, get to stay in a really nice hotel, have transportation provided, get to go to L.A. and receive a People's Choice Award. There have been a lot of things that I have received that weren't part of winning but were a direct result of me doing so, got to meet with Caroline Hirsch and Louis Faranda of Carolines, met with someone from the New York Times and had a featured article, have been asked to do an interview for Stagtetime Magazine, have done some other interviews, and have been exposed to other things that I would have never been exposed to. So it has been a great experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity.

"I actually didn't have a real strategy. My boyfriend had seen the competition posted on your website and he decided to submit me for it. The funny thing is at first I wasn't sure I was going to do it. When I heard that I was a finalist and was selected out of hundreds of people for a nationwide contest I was very happy and from there just posted it to friends and family, asked them to forward to people they thought would like it and let nature take its course."

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →