JEANNETTE VILLARREAL: Riot LA Festival

Three days of comedy: it CAN be done. When my boyfriend first told me about the LA Alternative Comedy Riot Fest, I have to admit, three days of comedy sounded a bit daunting. I figured doing one day of the festival would be enough. Then, the schedule came out. Then, my calendar quickly got filled up with shows and comics I wanted to see. So, I went ahead and purchased a pass for all three days. Starting Friday night, all the way up to Sunday. Purchasing a weekend pass got you in to all shows (minus one big event hosted by NPR, which was an additional $45) as well as free Jarritos drinks, free beer, access to the lounge area which had food trucks and a variety of vendors. They were also promoting a new alcoholic beverage, Air, which was light, refreshing and most importantly, free of charge.

Friday night was Maria Bamford and Friends. Her friends included:
Erin Foley, Matt Braunger, Ron Lynch, Chelsea Peretti... hosted by Jimmy Pardo. We had plans to attend the show following that, The Best of Riot LA (more stand-up), but, since I had gone straight to the festival after a long work day, we decided to make it a short night.

First in line!

After a solid night's sleep, we were ready to give Saturday all we got. Since we knew free beer would be a'flowin, we jumped on the Redline and took the train to Downtown LA. (drink responsibly!).

We were a bit early to the comedy shows we wanted to see, so we hung out in the 'lounge' and took it all in. The lounge was actually a big parking lot. We walked over to the beer garden to sample some local brews. I was curious about the Air drink.

Not too shabby... if you can get used to the taste of sparkling water.

We browsed some art and explored around a bit. The Jarritos truck was colorful and inviting.

Lots of people watching and I was intrigued by the retail store on wheels. I was a little shy going in as I felt I was trespassing. In the truck was a variety of trinkets and vintage clothes. Vintage clothes usually = overpriced clothes. But nonetheless, it was an adventure.

Met some animals, drank more beer, and headed out to stand in line for the show. Since I'm posting this a little after-the-fact, I'll skip the (forgotten) details and just list the highlights. More Maria Bamford, Brent Weinbach (dude! so hilarious!), Steve Agee, Andy Dick (sober! wft?!), Ron Lynch, got to sit in on a live recording of WTF w/Marc Maron, more Andy Dick, Eddie Pepitone, Lance Bangs, and so many more.
Here are some photos to recap. (many of the shows didn't allow photography so I was only sneaky for a couple of them).