NCFF Comedy Nights presents Herd Mentality: Stand-Up Showdown

Back by popular demand, the Nevada City Film Festival (NCFF) presents their annual Comedy Nights, April 12-14, at the historic Nevada Theatre in Nevada City.

This year’s event kicks off Friday, April 12, doors 7:00pm, show 8:00pm, with the first ever Herd Mentality: Stand-Up Showdown presented in association with The BVNKR (pronounced Bunker). Come out to see 12-15 of the best local and regional comedians perform their funniest sets. At the end of the night, the audience will vote on which comedian wins the cash prize and the opening slot for Saturday night’s headliner show.

This show will be one of the best opportunities for local audiences to see so many great comedians on one stage.

Saturday – Headlining Live Comedy Show with Irene Tu and Ian Lara

Doors 7pm, Show 8pm

Saturday night’s headlining comedy show features two of the most talked about up-and-coming comedians on the circuit - Irene Tu and Ian Lara.

Irene Tu is an LA-based stand-up comedian, actor and writer who honed her chops in San Francisco. Her first comedy album WE’RE DONE NOW debuted in March of this year at #1 on the iTunes comedy charts. Irene has performed at Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival in the highly coveted “INTRODUCING” showcase. Her STAND-UP FEATURING set is the most watched reel on Comedy Central’s Stand-Up’s Instagram page, with over 2.7 million views. Paste Magazine praised Irene’s “quick wit, relaxed stage presence, and hilariously off-the-wall observations” in this album that “ticks all the boxes of a winning introduction, and then some.” She was named one of Vulture’s “Comedians You Should and Will Know” and singled out in The SF Chronicle as an “artist on the brink of fame.” She’s a regular at festivals and clubs around the country and opens for comics like Taylor Tomlinson and Patton Oswalt.

Ian Lara is one of the hottest rising comics in New York City. He found internet success when he recorded his “Comedy Central Stand up Featuring” which has garnered over 10 million views, he also made an appearance on the first season of “NBC’s Bring the Funny” and made his late-night debut on the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon all in the same year. He was a regular player on ‘This week at the Comedy Cellar’ on Comedy Central with his second Comedy Central set hitting the 10 million views mark yet again. He's been featured in The New Yorker Magazine and was named a “2021 JFL NEW FACES" of comedy. On February 10th, 2022 he debuted his Comedy Central half-hour special titled “Growing Shame”. Shortly after on November, 11th, 2022 he debuted his first standalone HBO special titled “Ian Lara: Romantic Comedy” now streaming on MAX. In 2023 he has hit the ground running and has received the high honor of being name one of “Variety’s 2023 Comics to Watch” he then went on to make his third appearance on The Tonight show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Sunday – 30th Anniversary Screening of Kevin Smith’s Clerks

Tickets $10 Available at the Door, Doors 6:30pm, Show 7pm

On Sunday, NCFF and the Onyx Downtown wraps the weekend with a special 30th Anniversary screening of the cult classic comedy Clerks.

Considered a landmark in independent filmmaking, Kevin Smith’s (Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Mallrats) directorial debut made a huge splash when it premiered at Sundance 30 years ago. The film follows a day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof. With its quirky characters and clever, quotable dialogue, Clerks is the ultimate clarion call for slackers everywhere to unite and, uh, do something we guess?

Host or Publisher Nevada City Film Festival