The funniest men and women from within a two mile radius from Toledo were all in one place last Wednesday night when Connxtions Comedy Club held it’s second “Be the Emcee” contest.
Connxtions, located on Heatherdowns behind Southwyck Bowling Lanes, is well known in Toledo for its wide variety of comedians that entertain there.
The club recently hosted Dustin Diamond, Screech from Saved By The Bell, and Tim Cavanagh, who is frequently a guest on the Bob and Tom Show. It has also hosted Damon Wayans, Kevin Pollack and Bobcat Goldthwait.
In addition to the feature acts, the shows also include an emcee who does some stand up of his own as well as introduces the feature.
For the past eight weeks, Connxtions has let aspiring comedians take the stage and compete for the chance to see who is the funniest.
“We’ve had three to five people audition a week for eight weeks,” general manager, Sheila Gomez, said. “In the end we narrowed it down to eight final contestants. The first competition was very successful so we decided to try it again.”
To do the judging there are tree comedians who narrow the final eight down to the final three. The judges are Ray Devito, Kate Brindle, and Demetria Nicodemus.
“We held the first competition in the spring and let the audience decide by applause who won. Unfortunately, it was a bit close so this time we’ve brought in judges,” Gomez said. The audience does have a say in the winner, however.
After the three judges narrow it down to the final three contestants, they will all appear on the stage so the audience can get one last look at them and vote who they think is the funniest on a card that is handed out.
“We have a certain amount of talent that we like to circulate. We started this competition because we thought it’d be good to have some new faces in the crowd. Then hopefully we can make the good ones feature acts in the future,” Gomez said.
The winner will be rewarded with one week’s paid emcee work at Connxtions. If the Toledo audience likes them, then they will move on to other cities and clubs that are booked by the same people Connxtions uses. If they are liked at the new places, they may move on and become well known.
“The winner last year, Faye, is now on a three month tour in Texas. She is a very funny woman, one of my favorites of the bunch,” Gomez said.
Most acts at the club have two shows, one starting at eight and the other starting at ten pm. “Next week we have an unusual show,” Gomez said. “Chuck King will be performing. He’s a hypnotist.”
You can find out more about the comedians, who will be performing at Connxtions by visiting their website at www.connxtionscomedyclub.com or calling the club itself.
