In four short years, the Memphis Comedy Festival has grown from a relatively small and makeshift event into a full-blown three-day extravaganza, featuring multiple live comedy showcases, workshops, podcast tapings, and a short-film presentation across multiple venues. This year’s festival boasts its strongest lineup to date, with a strong mix of underground comics from around the country coming to town to mix it up with Memphis’ best and brightest. But the highlight of the event is probably the headliner, Penny Wiggins.
Wiggins, who performs this Sunday night at TheatreWorks, is a Los Angeles-based comedian/actress perhaps best known as the character “Psychic Tonya,” the zany sidekick to the now-retired comedy-magician the Amazing Johnathan. But she’s also a skilled and experienced performer in her own right, having appeared on TV shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Premium Blend, and Evening at the Improv.
“Penny Wiggins may be what I’m most excited about, and [I] will be hiding from all responsibility to watch. She’s just so very, very funny,” says local comedian and Memphis Comedy Festival founder Katrina Coleman. “It’s the right time for Penny as she’s just begun touring again, and for us to have a chance to see her before she comes back through and has to play the Orpheum.”
The Memphis Comedy Festival runs this Thursday through Sunday at (get ready for this): TheatreWorks, the P&H Café, Studio on the Square, the Brass Door, Dru’s Place, the Hi-Tone, Rockhouse Live, Kudzu’s, Co-Motion Studio, Chase the Vape, and Rocket Science Audio. For a full schedule and ticket information, visit www.memphiscomedyfestival.com.