Brady Ingledue performs in Juneau. Photo by Rashah McChesney/KTOO
A comedy troupe from Juneau is performing in Petersburg this weekend. Club Baby Seal is bringing their show to Kito’s Cave Friday and Saturday nights. It’s being sponsored by the Petersburg Arts Council. KFSK’s Angela Denning has more:
The Juneau group, Club Baby Seal, includes five comedians who’ve been performing together in Juneau for about a year. They started out doing house shows. But quickly their popularity grew.
“It’s been great. The first time we did a public show we sold out,” said Brady Ingledue, one of the comedians. “The first one sold out, the second one sold out, and the late show almost sold out too so it’s been really well received. Mostly just word of mouth and Facebook but people seem to like it.”
Ingledue says he likes to do stand-up because getting people to laugh just feels good.
“Getting those laughs on stage, it’s like going back into the womb. It’s amazing. It’s the best.” Ingledue said. “Not to be weird about it, but yeah, it’s one of the most satisfying feelings to make somebody you don’t know laugh…I do it for extremely selfish purposes. Except for when I get heckled and then I don’t want to make that person laugh. I want to make them cry.”
Speaking of heckling and the like, if you’ve never seen live stand-up comedy before or if you’ve never seen Club Baby Seal before Ingledue says live is best.
“There’s a whole different feeling to it when it’s live,” Ingledue said. “So, if you’ve seen it on TV and you didn’t like it I encourage you to come out and see it live. It really is a different experience and all four of us have our own unique kind of style.”
The group’s stand-up show has four acts and one member hosting. Ingledue breaks it down like this:
“It’s just one person at a time with a microphone telling jokes, trying to be funny. If you’re a little nervous and you don’t want to be talked to I wouldn’t sit in the front row,” said Ingledue. “I’d sit toward the back, maybe with some a wig and some glasses, things like that. Some of it’s blue material, it’s definitely 21 and up. R rated.”
From left to right, Club Baby Seal is: Allison Holtkamp, Grace Lee, Alicia Hughes-Skandijs, Brady Ingledue, Nate Williams, Hali Duran and Corin Hughes-Skandijs. Photo by Scott Burton, KTOO
The comedy show is being sponsored by the local arts council with help from The Market. Mary Koppes is on the Market board of directors and has helped organize the event.
“The arts council is the primary sponsor,” Koppes said. “They’re the ones that are bringing the group up here, and have done a great deal with finding housing for them and all that kind of stuff. And then I’ve been sort of just a bridge between the two organizations of the Arts Council and The Market. But also, I just have the contact with the comedy group. I thought it would be a really neat event for Petersburg and something that I haven’t seen at least since I’ve been here. So, I was really excited, I love comedy, and stand-up comedy and so I was like, ‘how can I get them into town?’”
The Market promotes sustainable living and supports local growers and artists. Koppes says they will be offering food for purchase during the event as a fund raiser.
“The Market is going to be selling some appetizer boards there as a fundraiser for us,” Koppes said. “So, people can get a table, mingle, have a drink, have a bite of food, and then the comedy show will start. They have an emcee so he’s going to kind of facilitate the show and tell some jokes in between and then he’ll bring up individual comics.”
The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights at Kito’s Cave. It’s sold out.
