Fairbanks Wins 18th Annual “Funniest Person In Austin” Contest

2003 FPIA Chris Fairbanks flanked by past winners

The 18th annual “Funniest Person In Austin” competition came to a rousing, wonderful, entertaining and enormously funny conclusion when the finals were held April 30 at Cap City, featuring eight of Austin’s best and brightest young comics--and Chris Fairbanks was crowned the winner. And we aren’t just talking figuratively here.

When host and last year’s champ Matt Bearden opened the final envelope, revealing Fairbanks as this year’s Funniest person, it was mere seconds before Fairbanks was sporting the FPIA crown--not to mention the flowing red cape (emblazoned with “Austin’s Funniest Person”) that would’ve done Elvis, or at least an Elvis impersonator, proud. Some might suggest this was a vaguely cartoonish ensemble, but Fairbanks wore it well, and we thought he looked damn good.

The finals constituted an exceptionally solid night of comedy that made for an excellent show, with all eight competitors turning in uniformly wonderful sets. And we have it on good authority that the top three finishers--Fairbanks, second-place finalist Brendon Walsh and Jimmy Roulette, who came in third--were ranked very close together by the panel of judges, which included such notable out-of-towners as Dave Rath (who books the comedians on ABC-TV’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live”), Joanne Grigioni (a key Comedy Central talent executive in the network’s New York office), Rich Miller (who books several comedy clubs, including Cap City, of which he’s also one of the new owners), and Austin luminaries Robert Faires (Arts Editor of the Austin Chronicle) and Dale Dudley and Bob Fonseca, longtime hosts of the morning show on KLBJ-FM.

In addition to being seen by these bookers and TV executives who flew in--as well as Ann Maney, Vice-President of Casting at Twentieth Century Fox, who judged an earlier round and has requested tapes of all rounds of the competition--Fairbanks won $1000 in cash,
while Walsh pocketed $500 and Roulette took home $200.

We congratulate Fairbanks, Walsh and Roulette, as well as the other finalists: Michelle Biloon, David Cole, Doug Connolly, Trey Galyon, Jim Hamilton. We also thank all of our judges, as well as Bearden and the other past FPIA winners who hosted previous rounds: Kerry Awn, J.R. Brow, Tom Hester, Martha Kelly, Nancy Reed.

Chris Fairbanks appears at Cap City May 14-18, sharing the bill with headliner Isaac Witty.

Miniature “Mish Mash” Migrates To Tuesdays

OK, yeah, we know: Our terrific, highly-touted (by us, anyway) Monday night “Mish Mash“ show--designed to present and promote younger/newer comedians from the Austin talent pool who who truly working hard and improving--is curiously pre-empted for May and June.

Still, it will return in July, and meanwhile, as yet another measure of our desire to cultivate local talent, we’re importing the “Mish Mash” philosophy and criteria into a new Tuesday night opportunity. As of May, we’re scheduling the feature acts to begin their week’s engagement on Wednesday, as opposed to Tuesday, and each week that Tuesday feature slot will now be given to 2-3 different local comics who are writing diligently, honing their acts and demonstrating growth. This provides those comics the opportunity for additional stage time, and to work with the national headliners we bring into Cap City each week.