Mountains of laughter at Vail Comedy Festival on Memorial Day weekend

It will be a full weekend of entertainment in Vail as the 5th Annual Vail Comedy Festival comes back to town. 22 comedians from as far as New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Georgia, Chicago and Dallas will fill several different venues in Vail Village May 22-24. Get ready for stand-up comedy routines, magic shows, films and more.

“It’s very exciting. It gets bigger every year and I love bringing a lot of comedians from around the country here to see how awesome Vail is,” said Mark Masters, a comedian who founded and has hosted the Vail Comedy Show for years and added the multi-day Vail Comedy Festival in 2022. “Word has gotten around on the comedian circuit that this is a fun event, so we have many comedians who want to perform here.”

Comedian Casey Balsham from New York City will headline the Vail Comedy Festival on Saturday night. Her viral online clips, “A Message to Gen Z” and “Childbirth = Women’s Super Bowl,” have both been viewed over 20 million times.

“Casey is a phenomenal comedian and I can’t wait for our audiences to see her. She tapes a comedy special the very next weekend, so we are going to get a peak performance,” Masters said.

Balsham will be traveling to Vail with her children.

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“It’s always funny to me when I am traveling with my small children and people ask me if it’s their first flight and I respond back with ‘No it’s their 50th.’ We took our older daughter to Italy for shows when she was about 18 months and there’s this really fun photo of her in the green room in Bologna with me and there’s a burlesque dancer getting ready, and all these posters on the wall, and big mirrors … I can’t wait to show her when she’s older,” Balsham said.

When we asked about memorable experiences in comedy, Balsham talked about being a mother.

“I think just being a woman and mother in comedy itself is an accomplishment. The fact that I was on stage two months after having my daughter and doing an hour of material blows my mind. I still feel like my brain is in pieces and I can’t remember basic words, but I was able to perform a whole show while postpartum. Women are amazing and have amazing things to say. Listen to them,” Balsham said.

Balsham’s husband, comedian Robby Slowik, is also a headliner at this year’s comedy festival.

“I’ve never been to Vail, but I’m a big skier and always want to do winter gigs in Colorado, so thanks for having me … in summer,” Slowik joked.

Also headlining at the festival on Sunday night is comedian Nick Vatterott from Los Angeles. He is an Andy Kaufman Award-winning comedian, writer, actor and producer whose credits include HBO, Comedy Central, “CONAN” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

“Nick came out of Chicago and I loved his stuff online and finally got to see him in person last year in New Orleans and I’m thrilled to have him in Vail this year,” Masters said.

“I haven’t performed in Vail, but I’ve performed in Pueblo, which is Spanish for ‘town.’ They named their town ‘town,’ pretty cool! I’ve also performed in the giant doom bunker underneath the Denver airport. They’re a tough crowd because they’re lizards, and if you don’t do well, they eat you,” Vatterott said.

Vatterott used to tour internationally with the famous Chicago sketch group Second City.

“A highlight of my career is getting to do sets on late-night television. Something I always watched growing up. I got to do a really weird bit on Jimmy Fallon that, to this day, I still wonder how they allowed it on national television. Conan was a big highlight. I watched him religiously growing up. Hearing him laugh behind me at my first bit, I just was like, ‘Whelp, no need to keep doing comedy after this, not going to get any better than that moment.’ Except maybe doing the Vail Comedy Festival!” Vatterott said.

This year marks the second year of FILM@Vail Comedy Festival, which highlights cinema in the comedy and mental health spaces and includes movies that have won awards at prestigious events such as the Tribeca Film Festival. Vatterott will be showing one of his films there.

“I made a film in my apartment during the pandemic. I’d been writing a movie called ‘Tommy Hoarder and the Search for Missing Keys.’ Then, during COVID, I made the whole film myself, filmed it, acted in it and catered it. In the film, I start seeing creatures made out of the clutter, puppets of sorts, and I interact with them. It’s been a long road, but it’s been really exciting to finally get this into festivals like Vail, and I’m really looking forward to finally getting this film out into the world,” Vatterott said.

“Vail Comedy Festival has always felt like a big family, and Nick’s sister Abby will be at the festival for a screening of her short film ‘Mashy Potatoes,’ so this year it will have even more family vibes,” Masters said.

To view the schedule, learn more about the comedians and to buy tickets and passes, go to vailcomedyfestival.com.