Murray State alumnus Ben Wilson has loved comedy since childhood. This love became the fuel behind starting the Kentucky Comedy Festival.
Wilson, a real estate lawyer based in Florida, started planning this event a few years ago after attending the South Beach Comedy Festival in Miami.
“It brought people in from out of town, and I thought it would be kind of cool to do something like that in Kentucky,” Wilson said.
Wilson said Murray State is a great place to host the festival, as it brings in people from all over the region.
“You’ve got the student base here, and I think the college student vibe is a good vibe to have,” Wilson said. “Murray is centrally located…it’s also close to Marshall County, Paducah and is still a convenient drive for people from Nashville or Paris, Tennessee.”
Wilson put together a diverse group of comedians to perform at the inaugural event and reflect the diversity of the audience.
Comedians appearing Thursday night include Mark Klein, Jasmine Ellis, Eric O’Shea and Lace Larabee, while Friday night’s line-up includes Kevin Farley, Tammy Pescatelli and Brad Upton and Saturday night showcases Jamaal Gardner, Derrick Stroup, Jeremiah Martin and Henry Cho. The festival will run Thursday through Saturday night at Wrather Auditorium on the Murray State campus.
Florida comedian Brad Upton began his comedy career later in life. He taught fourth grade for seven years before quitting to pursue a career in comedy full-time.
Upton said he felt drawn to comedians at a young age, which sparked his love for comedy.
“I was fascinated that they could entertain us with just a microphone and their words,” Upton said. “When I was in high school, I’d stay up late and watch the ‘Tonight Show’ with Johnny Carson when he’d have a comedian on. When I was a teen, that was the only place you could watch comedians. When I got into college, it became more of a dream, but I still didn’t see a path forward.”
Murray comedian and University alumnus Jamall Gardner also loved comedy from an early age but never thought about pursuing it as a career.
In 2016, Gardner did stand-up for the first time at the Silent Brigade distillery in Paducah, where he won the Battle of Paducah.
Since then, Gardner has been pursuing comedy on the side.
“I work at Kroger here [Murray], so comedy just came out of the blue,” Gardner said. “I’ve loved it. I’ve gained so many friends and had some of the craziest experiences ever.”
Los Angeles comedian Jasmine Ellis comes from a big, fast-talking family in Louisiana. Ellis said her family ignited her love for comedy, but she didn’t pursue a career in comedy until 2013. Ellis majored in communications.
“I wanted to be a serious news journalist like on the front lines, then I just kind of fell into radio through journalism, and then realized I loved hosting a radio show,” Ellis said. “Mostly, what I was doing was making people laugh while talking about today’s top stories, and I just realized that my joy is in laughter and that led me to stand-up.”
Ellis said the audience should expect a mix of observational comedy and storytelling from her set.
“They’re gonna expect a performance that feels like a good time like hanging out with an old friend they forgot they had,” Ellis said. “People are always surprised at how silly and light- hearted I am. I do like to talk about things that are happening in the world and things that are topical, but I love to connect with the audience.”
While tickets for the Friday show are sold out, tickets are still available for the Thursday and Saturday show at kentuckycomedyfestival.com. Students wanting to attend the festival can use the code RACERS for $10 off and should bring their ID to the event.
A portion of sales will go towards the “Mr. Wilson’s Living the Dream with Ben and the Bulldogs Scholarship,” which awards $1,000 to the male and female athletes of the year in intramural sports.
Bill Wharton • Oct 18, 2023 at 11:43 am
Great Story sounds awesome, However there appears to be no information on the venue.