WOOtenanny comedy series looking at busy 2023
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the WOOtenanny comedy series regularly packed comic-friendly venues such as Nick's Bar and Restaurant and the Woohaha Comedy Club. In more recent times, with many of the series' go-to venues shuttered, WOOtenanny has taken to putting on shows at Ralph's Rock Diner instead.
"It's been slow coming back from a lot of different changes in the last few years. I don't know if you heard, but there was a pandemic," WOOtenanny co-founder Bryan O'Donnell joked. "Ralph's has been a good vessel for us."
Laugh-filled lineup
The partnership between series and venue is set to continue this February and March, with a series of up-and-coming New York comics taking the stage at Ralph's. WOOtenanny’s slate of events for the winter includes Matt Ruby on Feb. 2, Comedy Central regular Dan St. Germain on Feb. 9, and on Feb. 26, Isabel Hagen, who incorporates her Juilliard violin training into her comedy sets.
"What we're trying to do is bring comics in that normally, people might not know about yet, they're just starting to become big," O'Donnell said. "They're well-known in New York, but they aren't necessarily national names, and people in Worcester might sort of recognize them, but in five years, comedy fans will be saying, 'I was at that show. I saw them right before they blew up.'"
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Emerging, established talents
According to co-founder and Worcester comic Shaun Connolly, WOOtenanny often books comics from out of town after connecting backstage between sets, and a number of this winter's upcoming shows came about the same way.
"We're both working comics ourselves, so a lot of the time, it's the people we work under. They're the headliners at other shows in Boston or somewhere else, and we'll feature them. No one knows them yet, but will soon," said Connolly, who Worcester Magazine readers might also know as a humor columnist and purveyor of bad advice.
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In March, WOOtenanny has two more comics lined up to perform at Ralph's: Staten Island native Peter Revello on March 9, and Comedy Cellar regular David Drake on March 11. According to Connolly, Revello has a previous connection to the series, having performed at one of WOOtenanny's pre-pandemic comedy festivals.
The online factor
In recent months, WOOtenanny has been seeking out performers who have already developed a large online following on the strength of their humor, as opposed to those who broke in through a more traditional route.
"We're seeing that more and more with comics that maybe haven't been on Comedy Central yet, maybe haven't been on a late night show yet, but have a lot of really funny stuff online and people become fans of them through that," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell said,"Isabel [Hagen is] a perfect example. We weren't even aware of how quickly tickets would sell before her show, and we're seeing a lot of tickets before even promoting it because her fans are really excited to come see her."
Seeking broader audiences
With the rise of online comedy, O'Donnell said, WOOtenanny events have generally been drawing younger crowds. However, both of the series’ founders said they have yet to find the college audience they want.
"[Colleges are] a tough nut to crack because the event planners change every year, so you don't have a steady contact with them, but we advertise with them and you do see kids coming to Ralph's. WPI and MCPHS are right there, so they can walk over most of the time," Connolly said. "I think everyone in this city has tried to figure out how to crack the nut of getting college students to come downtown."
Connolly lamented the lack of variety he saw among the faces in the crowd at some WOOtenanny events, saying he believed much of the city’s entertainment scene had difficulty bringing different demographics together.
"I'd like audiences to be more diverse. I think Worcester has a problem with that in general, and we try every which way to do that, but I think that's a municipal problem," Connolly said.
'More things exciting, weird, dumb'
One event that Connolly and O'Donnell hope will draw crowds from all corners of the city is the WOOtenanny Comedy Festival, which is projected to return this summer, although in a smaller capacity than before the pandemic. The two founders are also looking forward to holding another event along the lines of last year's "If You Know You Know" show, which was held at a secret venue.
"We're trying to do more of that, we're trying to find more fun places to do shows like that. We're trying to find more things that are exciting, weird, and dumb," O'Donnell said.
To learn more, visit wootenanny.com.