Make ’em laugh: Scenes from a comedy competition
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Heidi Hoffman / The Herald
Top: Cy Amundson of Minneapolis takes the stage. Comics who placed in the top five advanced to the semifinal round. A champion will be crowned tonight at the Moore Theatre in Seattle.
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The audience reacts during the show, but laughs aren’t all that count. A panel of three judges attends each show, rating the comedians on stage presence, technique, delivery, audience rapport, audience response and material. A bonus is awarded if the audience cheers the comedian back to the stage.
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Heidi Hoffman / The Herald 16 comedians took the stage for 5-7 minutes each during week one of the 30th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition at the Historic Everett Theatre Saturday, November 7, 2009. 32 comedians in all compete over the time frame of one month. The top 5 make it to the finals in Seattle where they will perform for 15-20 minutes each with a chance to win $5000.
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Heidi Hoffman / The Herald Ahmed Bharoocha of Boston performs during week one of the 30th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition at the Historic Everett Theatre Saturday, November 7, 2009. This year´s comedians came from as far as New York, Toronto, Boston, Austin, Charlotte, Miami, Montreal, Chicago and even Sydney, Australia.
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Above: Stand-up comedian Tony Daniel of Seattle takes his turn during week one of the Seattle International Comedy Competition at the Historic Everett Theatre on Nov. 7. The first group of 16 comics was competing to advance to the semifinals.
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Heidi Hoffman / The Herald Host Paul Myrehaug introduces Comedian Ahmed Bharoocha during week one of the 30th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition at the Historic Everett Theatre Saturday, November 7, 2009.
More than 30 comedians stood up and went down during the past month of preliminaries for the 30th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition in venues all over the region, including the Historic Everett Theatre on Nov. 7.
Five finalists vie for a $5,000 prize at 8 tonight at Seattle’s Moore Theatre.
The preliminaries only required five- to seven-minute routines, but the funniest five have to ramp it up to 15 to 20 minutes for stand-up stardom.
Tickets, good for guaranteed laughs, are $18.
The winner will headline a show with Seattle’s Comedy Underground from 9 p.m. to midnight on New Year’s Eve at the Historic Everett Theatre. Tickets, $45 including snacks and sparkling beverages, go on sale next week.
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