by Congratulations to The Valleyfolk, a group of online comedians who formed a sketch group together last year, and last night won the $250,000 grand prize and a slot in the 2020 Just For Laughs festival in Montreal for winning the inaugural season of NBC’s Bring The Funny!
The Valleyfolk were the only act among the five finalists not chosen to make the finals by judges Kenan Thompson, Chrissy Teigen and Jeff Foxworthy. Instead, their fans voted them in. And the final decision came to just fan votes. So, not a complete surprise then?
After all, this quartet includes the former creative director of YouTube stars SMOSH, as well as folks from SourceFed and The Groundlings.
They already had accumulated 4,522 patrons via Patreon., where they described themselves thusly:
Joe Bereta, Elliott Morgan, Steve Zaragoza, & Lee Newton have reunited to form The Valleyfolk, because the world could use some friends right now. At the beginning of 2018, the original hosts of SourceFed decided to take the plunge and start a new production company heck-bent on comedy domination and total independence from #themachine. Hashtags don’t work here, we don’t even care.
After the proven success of SourceFed, we all grew independently in various areas. Joe Bereta, who has played major roles in YouTube mainstays since 2008, left his position as the Creative Director of SMOSH to be the CEO of The Valleyfolk. Elliott Morgan left SourceFed to become a prominent digital and traditional host, while honing his stand-up comedy skills with sold-out shows across the country, ultimately culminating in two stand-up comedy specials. Steve Zaragoza has grown into a successful digital influencer and actor, hosted his own talk show, and is a recurring character on the Disney Channel. Lee Newton brought her gifts to The Groundlings, where she taught youngins the art of sketch comedy and rescuing adorable dogs, probably.
Check out their finale performance below:
