Building a Comedy Empire in Traverse City, Michigan!

How Ann Duke and Bob Phillips wrangle hundreds of touring comedians into northern Michigan every single spring.

Organising a massive comedy festival requires the logistical precision of a military campaign and the psychological fortitude of a hostage negotiator.

You actively wrangle hundreds of the most highly neurotic people on earth. You convince them to fly to northern Michigan. You put a live microphone in their hands, and pray the audio equipment works and that people show up to watch ‘em!

Tomorrow at noon, we pull back the curtain on this brand of beautiful chaos. I’m going live for a FREE Draw Me Anything with Bob Phillips and Ann Duke. They are the founders and the absolute driving forces behind the Traverse City Comedy Festival.

Bob operates as the Chief Marketing Officer and spends his life as a nationally touring comedian. Ann is the Chief Executive Officer, a brilliant comic, and a powerhouse event producer. Together, they turn a wild idea into one of the best independent comedy festivals in the entire country.

The festival officially takes over Traverse City from April 16th to the 18th. The lineup is completely ridiculous. They bring in heavyweights like Roy Wood Jr., Gary Gulman, and Meg Stalter. They run improv showcases at The Alluvion. They host rapid fire ninety second joke battles. They do all of this while raising money for the local Women’s Resource Centre.

We’ll discuss the raw logistics of comedy. We talk about the sheer willpower required to keep a massive event like this running for four consecutive years. We figure out exactly how to stand in front of a microphone and command a room without having a panic attack.

Grab a ridiculously large coffee and tune in tomorrow (Thursday) at noon Eastern time. I will actively try not to bomb in front of two professional joke writers.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go violently edit my tight five.

‘til next time!
Your pal,