One of the most notable comedy experiences that I have had in awhile was when I reviewed the comedy show at the Comedy Barn in Pigeon Forge, TN during a recent excursion to find comedy outside the traditional comedy club scene.

For those who don’t know, Pigeon Forge is the home of Dollywood—Dolly Parton’s theme park. But I didn’t go there for amusement rides. I went there specifically to explore shows known or recognized by their comedy.

The Comedy Barn offers a “family friendly” show. The show is a comedy variety show that incorporates aspects of stand-up comedy, music and variety performances as well as audience participation segments.

Well, the show was hilarious and very well done. Certainly not your typical stand-up comedy club fair. And the place was packed.

Side Note:  The Comedy Barn provided 10% discount coupons for the Happy Days Diner right next door—fantastic burgers and friendly staff!

I would highly recommend that anyone who plans to visit the Pigeon Forge area — make sure that you don’t miss the show at the Comedy Barn. You won’t be disappointed.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.

After rave reviews at a number of the major film festivals, the stand-up comedy documentary “I Am Comic” directed by Jordan Brady will air for the first time on Friday June 11, 2010 at 11 pm on the Showtime cable network.

One thing I will tell you about this film — it’s funny and highly entertaining, which simply cannot be said about most documentary films. So, don’t let the fact that this film is a documentary keep you from being thoroughly captivated for 90 minutes.

And it doesn’t matter if you are simply a fan of stand-up comedy or you are a professional funny person yourself, you will have a blast watching the film. At the very least, you will have something interesting to talk about around the water cooler at work.

Once I can record “I Am Comic” on my DVR and can review it more than once, I plan to expand upon specific aspects of stand-up that are presented in the film in future blog articles.

I have only seen “I Am Comic” once myself – that was at the world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in Jan.

My part in the film continues to polarize audiences — especially comedians. Those who are smart understand that my Comedy Evaluator Pro software objectively measures the laugh time to talk time ratio for any given comedy performance.

Yet, there are still others who, along side those who still believe the Earth is flat and that the moon landing really happened in Arizona, are adamant that my software and evaluation process is not really viable.

The real issue that many comedians have with Comedy Evaluator Pro is that they DON’T want a tool that tells them objectively how poorly they are doing when it comes to generating laughter, cheering or applause on stage. I guess the persistent notion is that you can somehow have a lame stand-up comedy act, yet still be considered a great comedian…

But check it out for yourself on June 11, at 11 pm when “I Am Comic” premieres on the Showtime cable network.

Then come back and leave a comment on this blog. Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny For Money

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.