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LIC to laugh it up at its first Comedy Festival

The Laughing Devil Comedy Festival runs May 12-20
The Laughing Devil Comedy Festival runs May 12-20
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The Laughing Devil Comedy Festival

LONG ISLAND CITY — The Laughing Devil Comedy Club in Long Island City will try to crack  you up starting this weekend during the neighborhood's first comedy festival.

The festival, which runs May 12-20 at various venues in Long Island City, will bring together 100 comedians from the U.S. and Canada, organizers say.

Steve Hofstetter, the Laughing Devil Comedy Festival’s director, says the event  will present a variety of artists. “Any good festival should have some celebrity shows, but also should be a showcase for emerging artists,” he noted. 

Each show, he said, will include special guest performers and a number of celebrity headliners, including Gary Gulman, from Last Comic Standing.

The comedians will compete for a cash prize, as well as paid work from various comedy clubs.

The organizers say that previous festivals, held in Atlanta, had brought representatives from Comedy Central, IFC, TruTV, the David Letterman show, Chelsea Lately, Gersh, 3 Arts and the Montreal Comedy Festival.

Hofstetter says he aims for “quality entertainment.” 

“During our festival, comedians are not allowed to repeat anything, so they have to have a lot of material,” he said.

The Laughing Devil Comedy Festival is part of LIC Arts Open.