Boulder Comedy Festival preview

The June issue of Caribou Current hit the racks yesterday, so we've got another sneak peak at all of this months content today. In honor of our cover story about Boulder Comedy Festival, coming to venues across The People's Republic June 16-21, we compiled a few snippets of standup from comedians performing at the festival for today's show - along with our regular round up of concerts, events and stories you won't want to miss.

Content warning: This episode contains strong language.

Watch Ren Q. Dawe's full set here: youtube.com/watch?v=Hx8fXqi-Bis&t=43s

Watch Sami Beason's full set here: youtube.com/watch?v=tJ_VEsbPg94&t=12s

Watch Zoe Roger's full set here: youtube.com/watch?v=d9oyLi115vM&t=7s

Head to bouldercomedyfestival.com to purchase tickets and see the full lineup of this year's comedians.

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Folks, it is Friday, the first Friday of the month, so you know what that means. Caribou Current is in print again with our June issue, which hit news racks all across the Peak to Peak and in Boulder yesterday. It's another packed issue with comedian Ren Q Daw gracing the cover who just might be the funniest man on the Front Range. The Boulder Comedy Fest is back this month, so we've got a nice splashy feature on the inside. And in honor of that, our feature segment today will be a teaser of all the side-splitting stand-up you can expect from local and national comics coming to the People's Republic in just a few weeks. Before we dive in, a quick word from our show's sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by the Regional Air Quality Council. This summer, go wild for front-range air quality. Take simple steps for better air to help reduce ground level ozone pollution and to protect your health. Taking public transit, carpooling and combining trips, riding your bike, working from home, and going electric all help us breathe easier in the warm and sunny summer months. Know when it matters most by signing up for ozone alerts from the RAQC. Learn more at SimpleStepsbetterAir.org. Today's show is also brought to you by the Central City Opera. The 94th Central City Opera Festival opens June 27th. Since 1932, Central City Opera has been one of Colorado's favorite arts traditions, bringing world-class talent to a 19th-century opera house in historic Central City. This summer, CCO is celebrating the 70th anniversary of our world premiere of the Ballad of Baby Doe. The show tells the scandalous historical love story of silver baron Horace Tabor, who left his wife Augusta for Baby Doe, a performance which rocked Denver society, and today remains a staple of Colorado history. You can also catch the Mirage of Figaro, Masterclass, and CCO in concert this season, with a cast featuring talent from the Met, San Francisco Opera, and beyond. Tickets start at $32, and seats are going fast, so don't miss out. The festival runs June 27th through August 2nd. Visit centralcitopera.org to learn more. As always, I'm here with our editor, Jesse Gray, to flip through the pages. Welcome back, Jesse. So good to be back. So I don't mean to put you on the spot here, but in the spirit of the comedy issue, I wanted to put the question to you. What's the last thing you laughed at?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

The last thing I laughed at was the HBO series Hacks, which just ran its series finale last week. This is a comedy series that's been running since 2021, starring Gene Smart and Hannah Einbender. Um, but I'm in it for the hilarious Meg Stalter, who plays sort of a tertiary character, but she's the funniest part of the show. If you haven't checked that out, you really should. And pay special attention to Meg because she is on the way up.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, definitely gonna have to give that a watch. I think the last thing that I laughed at was a comment on a reel on Instagram. So it's kind of sad, but that's where I spend most of my time these days. Uh, it's a problem. I'm trying to work on it. Not the funniest thing in the world. So um in this issue, there is plenty to laugh at, uh, especially in the piece that you wrote about Comedy Fest. But per usual, we've also got a really, really great mix of art, culture, you name it. And uh I was wondering if you could give us a little sneak peek at what's inside this month.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Absolutely. We've mentioned the Boulder Comedy Festival cover story, but we've also got stuff like a guide to summer concerts across the state. And then we've got a piece on a play called Thirteen Fires, which is about uh black history, black displacement. Um, and that's gonna be premiering in Longmont on Juneteenth with other productions scheduled throughout the summer. We've also got a piece on the Central City Opera, which is a part retrospective, part season preview. Uh we've got your fabulous uh scene report on the world of parkour. We've also got the debut of our resident advice columnist Whole Foods Daddy, um, who Boulder Weekly readers might remember from our previous publication, um, as well as all the stuff that you get every month, like our Friday night weird film showcase preview, top ten best-selling new vinyl releases in Boulder at Paradise Found, and then of course all the events and concerts that will make you a human this month.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, and now that summer is finally here, we also have plenty to look forward to on the music and events front. What's the one local show this month that we cannot miss?

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Oh that one's easy. Precocious Neophyte at Trident and Boulder on June 21st. They're gonna be opening for a band called Mind Parade from Portland, Oregon. But you gotta get there early to see this homegrown band. They sort of blend what you might call dream pop or shoe gaze, which is to say loud guitars, beautiful melodies. That that's really quite special. If you ever thought that a band like Beach House needed to be uh so loud that it makes your stomach hurt, uh this is the band for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Such a good comparison. I mean, so spot on. And uh Big Friends of the Program as well. They've been in a couple issues before and um they've come to some of our events, so definitely go check them out at Trident. On the event side, the calendar is packed with Pride events across Boulder County. But for my money, I think the best one is in Longmont. It's a bit out of the way, but they know how to throw a party out in East County, and it beats dealing with the traffic and tourists in Boulder. Longmont Pride runs this Saturday, June 6th, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. So cancel all your plans this weekend and head out to Roosevelt Park to celebrate Pride. I'll also give a little shout out to Founders Day in Blackhawk happening this month. Tons of food, drinks, music, and like gold rush era costumes everybody's gonna be showing up in to celebrate the city's gold rush origins. That'll be popping up on Gregory Street Plaza Saturday, June 27th. So make that summer pilgrimage down the Peak to Peak for this one. That's what we have on the music and events side for our feature segment. We're gonna do something a little bit different this week. Boulder Comedy Fest is coming to town June 16th to the 21st, and there's genuinely too many comics to run through them all with you. So we went through and picked out some of the stand-ups that you should definitely keep your eye on. These people are obviously a whole lot funnier than we are, so we're just gonna play some segments from a few of their stand-up tapings. If you're a comedy nut, you might be able to predict what I'm about to say. Most of these comedians are not clean comics, meaning they swear. Some of them swear a lot. So a bit of a content warning. If you have little ones around, you might want to tune out for this next segment. Without further ado, here's our cover boy, Ren Q Daw, telling some jokes.

SPEAKER_05 7:33

My name is Ren, and uh I am trans, right? Which means, you know, I was like born a woman, right? And now we're a self-made man with the Dunster Bills to prove it, fam. Okay, well that was like a $14,000 joke. That's great, amazing. It's like permanent, oh my god. What it actually means is that people like to um ask me if I have a penis like all the time, right? Uh which is fabulous. People I do indeed have a penis in fact, right? We have a couple of space. You can think of me as a very um sexually active Mr. Potato, right? Customizable. You know, I was uh I was like a little girl and um I was like asking what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I really didn't expect to be a sweetie. I've also depth in my left ear. Um yeah, it's like purely there for like decoration, right? And I used to be you know really embarrassed about it until I realize it's actually a really like gender, you know, early experience, right? Because you have like the same listening power as like, you know, any other dude. I think it's so interesting that people always say that like trans people don't really have like a sense of humor.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

And I'm like, I just don't really think that that's true, right?

SPEAKER_05 9:48

Like it's not like you know, global humor, right? Just you know, just kind of a global humor. I'll give you an example. So I recently was um hiking through a home, which may I remind you as the biggest abbreviation of any state, okay? I really had to be so. I run into the classroom and I forget that I have a hacker in. Now, for those of you that don't know, a hacker is a like hyper-realistic penis that's like not a penis, right? If you put in your pants to make it look like you have a really good I really quickly and he says, hey man, I think you dropped your dick.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

You can see Wren, who was a Ned local back in the day, by the way, perform at Boulder's Junkyard Social Club on June 17th and on June 19th at the Dairy Arts Center. Our next comic is the absolutely hilarious Sammy Beeson. She's Denver based, by the way, of Florida, and she's rising fast. Here she is telling jokes at her first open bar comedy special.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

When my mom sees it, it's gonna be the first time she hears that I am bisexual. Um, just a fun coming out story for her. It's a really fun coming out story for her. Before I tell you, I'm gonna tell all of Facebook. There's no chance. Oh my goodness. But I'm kind of scared, I'm kind of scared. I had to weigh the options, you know? I was like, do I be true and authentic to myself? Or do I start paying for my own car insurance? So I'm trying to take care of myself. I'm trying to take care of myself now. Did anybody? Anybody work out?

unknown 13:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

You're wooing, but you hate it every minute, don't you? Yep, yeah. Mental health, what the fuck is that? Oh my goodness. I am working out now. I am working out, and it's just a vicious cycle, okay? I'm just like hating my body, trying to get enough protein and hating my body again. It's sick. Nah, it's sick. Like, I think I'm developing an eating disorder or something. No, it's crazy. They and the whole thing is like, oh, you have to be on a calorie deficit. You have to eat 1200 calories a day. 1200 calories? 1200 calories. 1200 ain't even enough for a studio apartment in Denver. Okay. What the fuck do you mean, 1200 calories? I think my body deserves at least 400 square feet in a window. Alrighty. Like, oh my gosh. Like, my fitness pal is my fitness enemy, all right? If I have to count one more calorie, the only thing I'm cutting is somebody, alrighty? Oh my goodness. I used to be like a chumpier kid, you know, and you don't know you're chumpy until people tell you. You just think you're round and round and good. Oh my god. But my dad, he used to comment on my back rolls, you know, comment on my back rolls, like, you gotta be, you gotta get healthy. You can't have that. And I'm like, all right, all right, okay. But no one ever seemed to be concerned with his, you know? Like, I'm over here in my tankini, and he's looking like a busted can of Pillsbury's biscuits. I'm like, let me live my life. Let me eat this cinnamon roll. Oh goodness. I'm away, I'm away from my family. I am new new to Denver, um, and I still can't drive, so I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm also from Florida, so I'm really sorry. Okay, if you see my car, feel free to hit it. Uh, I also don't know why I'm in that lane, you know what I mean? Oh my goodness. But Deborah's been teaching me a lot about my self-worth and how little I have. It's been great. Like, I was on the street the other day, and there was this woman, and she was like, Do you have any spare change? And she said it like that because she sounded like the receptionist for Monsters Inc. My Griselski. And I was like, of course, of course. So I got two dollars out of my wallet, and I was like, here. And when I tell you, she looked at me, looked at the money, looked at me again, and then handed the money back to me.

SPEAKER_06 16:04

I said, What?

SPEAKER_02 16:07

She said, none and no. So, okay, said okay, bitch, what's enough? She said, twenty dollars. She does the dance when she talks too. Twenty dollars. And all I had to respond with was, damn, I ain't got twenty dollars. But at least she knows how much she's worth, okay? At least that. Because if it was me, if it was me, I would have taken the two, okay? That's a stickers bar right there. You're not you when you hungry, girl.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Sammy told us to expect some weird voices, physicality, and a little bit of nerdiness at her set on June 17th at the Junkyard Social Club. Definitely check her out before she blows up so you can be that annoying friend who rants about seeing Sammy Beeson before she got famous. Our last comic is the one the only Zoe Rogers. She's the organizer of Boulder Comedy Festival, a regular at the traveling comedy show, mom's unhinged, and a hilarious person who tells a lot of jokes about being a parent. Here's a bit of her 2024 set at the comedy for it.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

Like, knowing none of you personally, there are some things I can safely assume. Right? Like I can I can safely assume that you've all gone potty. And I didn't have to read to you when you did it. And I'm just gonna go ahead and put money on it. I'm gonna guess you all know where your shoes are. So that is a win for me. A little quick procreational math for you guys. Uh three is way more than one. Like a lot. Like having three kids is a lot like feeling constantly hung over from a party that you never got to go to. Like the parents of more than one kid. We tend to view the parents of only children. The way the Navy seals, look at the reserves. We appreciate what it is you do. That's cute. But we have seen shit that will change you. Things you can't come back from. I uh I was talking to my oldest about being a little more socially outgoing. And I said, I notice that you don't have anyone you want to hang out with. Maybe there's no one you're connecting with. And he looked over his comic book at me, and he said, You mean friends? And I was like, Yeah, those. Let's get each one of those. But then he said, But I don't have any enemies either. That's a little creepy. That is a very Game of Thrones way to look at the world. Ninth grade is coming.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Zoe will be anchoring the festival at the Dairy Arts Center Sunday, June 21st at 7 p.m. So make sure you go pay your respects to Boulder's Funniest Mom. There are tons more comics at the festival, but we just can't cover them all here. You can check out the full lineup with dates, times, and locations at Boulder ComedyFestival.com. And we'll drop the links to the full performances from today's show in our description. And that's all we've got for today. Special thanks to all the comedians who spoke to us for this story, to Jesse for jumping on the pod, and to the whole team at Caribou Current and the Mountaineer for helping us put together another incredible issue. If you had a few belly laughs during today's show, do us a favor and share it around. It's the best thing you can do to help us grow. As always, you can like and subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts, so you can hear our episodes the moment they hit the airwaves. Make sure to pick up a copy of Caribou Current today, too. They're in coffee shops, storefronts, and newsstands across Boulder County and up and down the Peak to Peak. So keep your eyes appealed. Once again, this is the Mountaineer Podcast. I'm Tyler Hickman. Thanks for listening.