I have inadvertently dedicated this semester to the exploration of Austin’s comedy scene. Clearly, everyone is familiar with the music festivals and as a foreigner to the city that is all I ever heard about, not knowing that I was missing out on an interesting alternative to spend some free time. The first show I attended is called Sure Thing and takes place every week, and the second show was a set of live podcasts hosted by Headgum.

Sure Thing is an Austin-born free show created by Duncan Carson and Brendan K. O’Grady hosted at Austin Java on Parkway. Every Saturday, doors open at 7:30pm to entertain at most one hundred people each time with comics from Austin and beyond (as they say). I have gone to the show about four times now and, in my opinion, it is always at least decent. The quality of the people who perform varies from mildly entertaining to outrageously funny given that they never repeat comics other than the hosts. The latter will sometimes seem repetitive, but it would be impressive if they could come up with good new content every week. At the beginning of the show, they expressly state not to use our phones during the show, so my iPhone is not involved directly during my attendance, but I always make sure to check the line-up on Facebook before going (https://www.facebook.com/SureThingATX/). Overall, I would highly recommend the show to anyone who appreciates comedy and is looking for some unusually free entertainment on an Saturday night.

The second event I attended was Headgum’s podcast festival hosted at the North Door on Brushy Street. Headgum is network lead by Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld (famously know as Jake and Amir from College Humor). I saw my Twinnovation and If I Were You, two of my favorite podcasts of all time and later got to personally meet and hangout with all of the people who make those shows and others happen. In this case, I used my phone in a more active manner. At the beginning of the show, I used my iPhone’s Wallet app to get in the show, as I acquired my tickets electronically, and later of course used Snapchat to post a story of Jake and Amir at their usual epitome of hilarity. I also took pictures with them as we were hanging out after the show; I would like to share these but they might not be appropriate for the setting of the class. They are not generally in Austin, but the environment of the city allows comedians like them to put on these shows effectively.

Experiencing an ambit that is usually not mentioned in the Austin scene was definitely worth it. I will continue to look for opportunities to do this and would highly appreciate if anyone has any suggestions!