Demise of competitor may boost comedy fest

HBO giveth, Las Vegas fight night taketh away and HBO giveth even more.

Such is the strange saga of The Comedy Festival, a lesson in corporate synergy.

When the festival was first announced for Las Vegas in 2005, the names above the title -- HBO and AEG Live -- left no doubt this was the real deal and that a fledgling event called the Las Vegas Comedy Festival was going bye-bye.

AEG (part of Anschutz Entertainment Group) operates the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and produces Celine Dion's "A New Day."

The company since has announced two new theaters at Boyd Gaming's Echelon Place and a co-venture with Harrah's Entertainment to build a 20,000-seat arena adjacent to Bally's.

It's going to need talent to fill these venues.

HBO can provide it.

The cable network's power over comedians is immeasurable.

When press tent reporters asked Bill Maher why he was taking part in the "Comic Relief" last year, he replied, "This one was easy. If I didn't, I'd get fired by HBO."

That was a joke. Right?

Despite its corporate clout, the comedy festival faced a couple of major hurdles.

First, big comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld already work Las Vegas. To stand out, the festival needs programming -- tributes, themed showcases, etc. -- that go beyond a flurry of concerts.

And HBO was channeling much of that special programming to the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen each March.

Could the two festivals co-exist two months apart?

They won't have to now. HBO canceled the Aspen festival last May.

The news came soon after HBO chief executive Chris Albrecht resigned in the wake of a publicized arrest on the night of the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, after an altercation with his girlfriend at the MGM Grand.

Other reports have suggested Aspen already was hanging on the thin support of Albrecht, an avid skier.

The March festival competed with skiers for $800 hotel rooms and winter weather hampered air travel.

Festival chairman Bob Crestani says Albrecht's departure and the Aspen cancellation did not go hand in hand, but agrees "it became incredibly expensive to have this small event" that was more "a gift to the industry" from HBO.

The end of Aspen "has no bearing on this," Crestani says of the Las Vegas festival.

But it makes some decisions easier.

Crestani notes that along with a "Lucky 21" contest for aspiring stand-ups, the festival will have a new competition for alternative comedians, something previously more in line with Aspen's focus on new talent.

"We're very bullish on Las Vegas," Crestani says. And how could he not be? A well-funded festival certainly has room to grow here.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Sundays and Thursdays. Contact him at 383-0288 or mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com.