For the first time ever, Roaring Fork Valley locals performed at the Aspen Laugh Festival.
Out of a partnership with The Collective Snowmass, the Valley Comedy Showcase brought five local comics to the Wheeler Opera House for this week’s first show.
When new Wheeler Executive Director Mike Herrington started the position in September, he wanted to get a pulse on the local comedy scene.
Sarah Sanders, director of plaza and event venues at The Collective Snowmass, offered up a potential collaboration.
“We said we’ve been dying to get back into the Wheeler since we left the Wheeler, and he was like, ‘cool why don’t we partner with you guys,’” she said.
The Collective used to operate in the opera house before making a move to Snowmass Village in 2019.
Sanders, who co-hosted the event, fell in love with comedy when she was working at the Wheeler Opera House years ago and helped at the laugh festival.
When she moved to The Collective, she discovered comfort through comedy.
“I think outside of anything, laughter is absolutely the best medicine in a world that is so divided right now,” she said. “If we can come together for an hour and laugh about our lives, I think that is beautiful and the most healing thing we can do.”
Her co-host Julie Gillespie was excited to be on the same poster as Jerry Seinfeld and Saturday Night Live’s Chloe Troast.
For Gillespie, her dream is to be on SNL one day and says comedy is a natural way to connect with people.
“Whenever Sarah or myself are developing it on our own, it feels empowering to be in front of people and have them laugh at the jokes that you might think are funny,” she said. “And when they laugh it's a rush.”
The Collective is also putting on more comedy events, including about ten shows per season and an annual comedy competition.
“We've been building the comedy scene for the last four and a half years, and it has been evolving,” Sanders said. “We sell out almost every show we do.”
Garrett Hall, Miller Ford and Ryan Honey are some of the locals who performed last night at the showcase.
Hall was the winner of the 2023 Colorado Comedy Competition and has been performing across the U.S. for the last seven years.
Ford is a founding member of Consensual Improv, as well as the co-founder of valley comedy series Patio Night Live.
Honey currently runs The Arts Campus at Willits, but before that spent 20 years in Los Angeles as an actor, writer, producer and comedian.
The Aspen Laugh Festival continues until Saturday at the Wheeler and includes shows from Michael Cruz Kayne on Thursday and Nurse John on Friday.
