Here are the first performers for the second annual Janelle James Comedy Festival

While the New York Comedy Festival may see the biggest celebration of comedians in the nation’s biggest city each November, the following month will see the second coming of the Janelle James Comedy Festival in Brooklyn.

The Janelle James Comedy Festival announces its first wave of performers who’ll participate this Dec. 5-7, 2019, at The Bell House.

Among them:

  • Marie Faustin (Comedy Central, VICELAND, MTV’s Girl Code), 
  • Kevin Iso (Comedy Central’s Adam Devine’s House Party, AXS TV’s Gotham Comedy Live)
  • Yassir Lester (Girls, The Carmicheal Show, Showtime’s Black Monday), 
  • Sam Morril (The Late Show with Stephen ColbertConan), 
  • Hadiyha Robinson (Comedy Central, BET, AXS TV), 
  • Kristen Toomey (NBC, WGN, Kevin Hart’s LOL Network),
  • and Sydnee Washington (The UnOfficial Expert Podcast, Comedy Central). 

Taking over for Eugene Mirman, who’d run an annual comedy fest with his name on it in Park Slope and Gowanus for a decade, James kicked off her version last year with a banger, with performances by Amy Schumer, David Cross, Nore Davis, Liza Treyger, Judah Friedlander, Matteo Lane, Catherine Cohen and more.

Big names and up-and-comers meeting under the banners of funny themes such as “Comedians Who Live Nearby” and “Comedians Who Said ‘Well, Who All Goin Be There?'” remain a fixture of the fest.

James is coming back to the East Coast to preside over it all, having gone Hollywood this past year, writing and performing on Showtime’s Black Monday.

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.

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