A night of live and projected comedy

With comedy shows continuing to be a growing trend in the area, New Visions, an art studio and gallery located in downtown Scranton, has jumped on the comedy train. Featuring many different local comedians and filmmakers, the studio will be hosting its first Gag Reel Comedy Fest.

The show will be a perfect opportunity for people who have never been to a comedy show before to get an idea of what it’s all about. The night will feature the perfect mixture of stand-up comedy and short, locally made comedy films.

Films by Kevin Vogrin, Candy Lee, and Chad Mellendick, among many others, will be featured on the night of March 2. Following the film showings will be performances from four local comedians: John Walton, Kevin Lepka, Bobby Keller, and Will Robins.

In a recent interview with The Weekender, Kevin Lepka, a urban style comedian from Scranton who jokes about anything from his adventures in dating to naming his children after candy bars to knowing whether or not you’re in a good strip club based on the names of the dancers, talked about the comedy fest.

“For people who have never gone to a comedy show before, this would be a perfect thing. For just five dollars, you’re going to see a lot of neat movies and short films that are funny, and you’re going to get to see four of the area’s funniest people. I think its going to be a great time.”

This is a brand new type of event for the studio, which has featured films before, but never of the comedy genre; the stand-up comedians are also a new feature.

“We do a bunch of music shows, we show different local artists work every month, and just all kinds of the arts. Now with people getting into films and performance art, we’re trying to do it all,” said New Visions owner Adam Weitzenkorn. “We’ve done film shows in the past, but this is the first comedy one. We figured we would add some stand-up with it. It’s worth a shot.”

Weitzenkorn talked about how the comedy night has great potential for success. “We always try something once to gauge how it goes, and if it goes well, we will definitely continue it.”

“It’s two hours of funny movies, and then an hour at the end of stand up comedy,” he continued. “It makes it a fun night all around. You can come and get a little bit goofy with everybody and just have a fun time.”

The laughs will start at 8 p.m. with numerous short comedy films. After that, the night will conclude with four comedy acts, lasting until 11 p.m. The following evening, New Visons will offer different kind of “Laughter” when the horror film about a killer clown has its second premiere at the gallery. The movie starts at 7 p.m., and admission is $5.