City is about to get even funnier

By Jerry Fink

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Comedians are converging on Caesars Palace this week for the fourth annual Comedy Festival in Las Vegas.

Fans will pay to see big-name comics — including Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld and Dane Cook — performing in the 4,000-seat Colosseum and other big halls at Caesars. They also can see up-and-coming comedians for free in the Laugh Out Loud Lounge.

“We want this thing to grow every year. We want it to be the Olympics of comedy,” says Steven Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. TBS became primary sponsor of the festival this year after HBO dropped out.

TBS is taping several shows for broadcast next week, including “Ellen’s Even Bigger Really Big Show,” “Cheech & Chong: Roasted” and “Laffapalooza!” hosted by Tracy Morgan.

The festival’s biggest competition comes from Las Vegas itself.

Resident Vegas comedians include George Wallace, Wayne Brady, Rita Rudner, Bobby Slayton, Louie Anderson and Kevin Burke. There’s a roster of comedians who perform at local comedy clubs. Bill Maher and Jay Leno are performing in town this weekend — although they aren’t part of the Comedy Festival.

“So many comedians play Vegas,” Koonin says. “We tried to find people who weren’t playing on a regular basis.

“We have something for everyone. We’re celebrating everything from Cheech & Chong to the ‘Last Comic Standing.’ We tried for great diversity — from Kat Williams to David Alan Grier to Tracy Morgan. We have cultural diversity and age diversity.”

Caesars has been the festival’s home since it moved to Las Vegas from Aspen, Colo., where it began in 1985. The casino is a good partner, Koonin says, but the festival may move when the contract is up after this year.

“We are looking across Vegas for other opportunities,” he says. “We’re looking and talking with several of the hotel chains to grow with us in the future.”

His goal is to turn the festival into a one- or two-week event, patterned somewhat after the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, one of the top comedy events in the world.

“Our long-term goal is to become part of the fabric of the community of Las Vegas. I went to Montreal this summer and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The festival was the essence of the city. My aspiration is that we become the essence of Las Vegas.”