Four Years of the Traverse City Comedy Festival

Comics galore promise laughs aplenty

By Ross Boissoneau | April 4, 2026

If laughter really is the best medicine, then doctors can take the weekend off come April 16-18. That’s when the Traverse City Comedy Festival returns with a bountiful slate of national and local comics.

CEO Ann Duke says the festival’s popularity has been increasing in the four years of its existence (it is unrelated to the former Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival). That’s true among comedians as well as audiences. Duke says the response from comics interested in performing in Traverse City continues to grow, and choosing who to include and who to suggest return again next year is a challenge.

“I don’t make all the decisions,” she’s quick to note. “There’s a panel of 10. We want to be above reproach.” She says there are no guarantees or grandfathering in someone because they were part of the festival in a previous year.

A dizzying number of comedians will be part of this year’s laughfest. Headliners include Megan Stalter, Sarah Sherman, Roy Wood Jr., Gary Gulman, and Joe DeVito. But wait, there’s more, from A (Nate Armbruster and Diego Attanasio) to Y (Andrew Yang and Chris Young), with 30 others in between.

Duke says while men still dominate the comedy scene by a two to one ratio, women continue to make inroads. That’s reflected in the performers booked this year as well as nationally. “About one-third are women. That’s the balance in the industry,” she says.

Asked to pick her favorites, Duke demurs, instead highlighting virtually the entire lineup. “The level of talent is off the charts. Sarah and Meg have been on fire. Gary is brilliant. Roy we’ve been trying to get since the beginning” of the festival. “Joe DeVito we got for the weekend. Janelle Draper was at the Motor City Comedy Fest. She’s talented.”

Homegrown Talent

Duke, also a comic who has been known to amuse an audience herself, is quick to praise the local comedy scene. She believes it is important to support up-and-coming comics, wherever they are up and coming from. So open mic nights and shows by local groups are part of the fun of the TC Comedy Fest as well.

This year’s festival will feature Traverse City comics in a returning local showcase. Several improv and specialty shows will also be featured, including returning Traverse City groups Full Tilt Comedy and Good on Paper. The festival’s popular open mic and comedy karaoke events will also be back for an encore this year.

The hijinks and hilarity will take place at a variety of venues. In addition to the Traverse City Comedy Club on South Garfield, The Alluvion, Hotel Indigo, Right Brain Brewery, City Opera House, Park Place Hotel & Conference Center, and the Little Fleet will all host shows over the course of the festival.

Duke promises something to tickle everyone’s funny bone. “Comedy is enjoying a renaissance—there are more opportunities and clubs. The Michigan comedy scene is one of the strongest. There’s so much talent,” she says. This year’s lineup includes 19 comics from the Great Lakes State among the 34 performers listed.

The Traverse City Comedy Fest has also introduced a charitable partner for this year’s festival. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Women’s Resource Center, the Traverse City-based nonprofit working to protect, shelter, and empower all people impacted by domestic and sexual violence.

Duke says it’s all about giving back. “Traverse City has given so much to the festival.”

Meet a Comedian: Joe DeVito

Joe DeVito will be onstage at the Traverse City Comedy Club 8:30pm both Friday and Saturday. The Long Island-based comic is known for his observational humor and dry, sardonic delivery, as well as a self-deprecating wit. He’s a regular panelist on FOX’s Gutfeld!, where he’s a contributing writer. He’s appeared in clubs across the country, as well as other TV shows and festivals.

DeVito started performing standup while working as an advertising writer. He amused his coworkers and customers, who suggested he try standup—reportedly so they could get some work done.

So he gave it a whirl, and found out he enjoyed it. But it wasn’t until he was laid off that he made the jump into comedy fulltime. “People said, ‘I always knew you’d do something like this.’ A friend signed me up for a comedy class. I backed my way into it in my 30s.”

In 2006, he appeared at Canada’s prestigious Just for Laughs Festival. That appearance jump-started his career, earning him a spot on the NBC prime time show Last Comic Standing the next year. Since then he has performed at clubs around the country and has appeared on The Late Late Show, Comics Unleashed, AXS-TV’s Gotham Comedy Live, and was a semifinalist on season five of Last Comic Standing.

“When you first start, you start to think what’s funny. That’s not the way” to do it, he says. It’s up to you to discover what it is about your world, your observations of what’s around you. “You have to talk about your life,” he says. “You have to do it for yourself and do it your way.”

Asked about shows where he was particularly successful, he turns his response in the opposite direction. “The thing with comedians is they want to tell stories of their worst possible show. Nobody wants to hear how well you’re doing,” DeVito says.

For example? “My collar was sticking up,” he says of his time on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He discovered that fact partway through his performance and tried to discreetly adjust it while in front of a studio audience and a television audience of millions. What could have been a triumph he thought of as mortifying, no matter how good it was for the audience.

DeVito said it’s also important never to judge an audience. Sometimes those that don’t provide a lot of laughs or positive feedback will approach him after a show and tell him how much fun they had. He also recalls playing a show once in New York City for two people. The three of them had a great time.

Two’s the minimum though. “If it’s just one, you’re just bothering some guy,” he says drily.

So what is it about comedy that attracts people? DeVito says for him it’s the immediate feedback. “Standup is one of the purest [performing arts]. You know right away” if you’ve succeeded.

And if you haven’t, move right on. “When it doesn’t, what do you do?” DeVito asks rhetorically. When that happens, he takes encouragement from an unlikely source. “Connor McGregor says he never loses. You either win or learn. If I had a show that didn’t work, I evaluate. It’s all good.”

He enjoys playing festivals where there are a number of different comics performing in a variety of styles. “There are so many ways to be funny,” he said. “There’s something for every palate.”

And for the Traverse City festival? “It’s gonna be a good time.”

For more information, including a complete schedule and tickets, go to TraverseCityComedyFest.com.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly called the local showcase Kamikaze Comedy.