Spanning 11 days in May, the Netflix is a Joke Festival brought more than 400 comedy shows to 35-plus sites in Los Angeles. And though canceled this year, Montreal’s monthlong Just for Laughs is the largest international comedy festival in the world.
Columbus may not be L.A. or Montreal, but it is the 14 th largest city in the U.S. and Walker Evans said he believes its abundance of untapped talent make it prime real estate for a multiday, multivenue comedy fest of its own.
Evans, co-founder of Columbus Underground with wife and business partner Anne, launched the Columbus Coffee Festival in 2018 and the popularity of that event spawned an idea for another entertainment venture.
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“The coffee festival has been growing and (is) very successful, and we’re always looking for new ideas,” Evans said. “We’ve been comedy fans for a long time. We enjoy the local scene and seeing big headliners when they’re at the Funny Bone.”