After some pretty tumultuous past few weeks in the world, it time for some good laughs, brews, and new friends at the Brooklyn Comedy Festival. With venues ranging from local favorites like Bushwick’s Cobra Club and Pine Box Rock Shop to Williamsburg-famed hotspots The Knitting Factory and Baby’s All Right, an entire week was spent celebrating the thriving comedy community in Brooklyn. The festival was upbeat and hilarious, at some points even reminded of the annual Del Close Marathon at the Upright Citizens Brigade theaters every year. Shows featured a slew of current star comedians, including big names that you can see on on primetime TV shows or web series, while also spotlighting some up-and-coming faces that are going to be blowing up real soon, including some of our faves in no particular order: Michelle Buteau, Matteo Lane, Sasheer Zamata, John Early & Reid Faylor. All photographs courtesy of the comics unless listed otherwise.
#5 Michelle Buteau
A New Jersey native to Caribbean parents, Michelle has a fiery stage presence unlike any we’ve encountered before. When she took the stage, the crowd at Baby’s All Right livened to the snap of her fingers as she tore into jokes dealing with crowd observation, quirky life happenstance, and buttering up any commentary the audience threw her way. A natural-born comedian, she slays crowds with a smile, upbeat laugh, and easily the happiest disposition of any comedian at the festival. She’s been featured on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Lopez Tonight, Comedy Central and Last Comic Standing. She is also a series regular on the VH1 show Best Week Ever and is Jenny McCarthy’s sidekick on her late night talk show Jenny. Michelle’s Twitter can be found here!
