Bentzen Ball 2016 Photos

Photos by Clarissa Villondo, Nicholas Karlin, Jeff Martin, Franz Mahr

Bentzen Ball this year was SPOOKY / SCARY / HILARIOUS / WONDERFUL. More of you came out to it THAN EVER and our photographers submitted more photos of it THAN EVER.

We’ll let you enjoy the photos below but first some quick notes:

THANK YOUS!

Thank you all for coming!!!!
Thank you to all our amazing (and frankly, legendary) talent: Tig Notaro (officially DC’s comedy BFF and our festival curator), Bridget Everett, TJ Miller, Emo Phillips, Michael Ian Black, Aparna Nancherla, Lizzy Cooperman, Baron Vaughn, Dave Hill, Seaton Smith, Jon Dore, Melissa Villaseñor, The Last Podcast On the Left, Jason Weems, Umar Khan, Brandie Posey, Eric Dadourian, Mike Mayfield, David Ross, Jordan Levine, Jamie Noguchi, Chuck Bryant, Josh Clark, Anthony Atamanuik, Earth Universe, Wham City, Church Night, John F. O’Donnell, Dave Hill, Amber Nelson, Lee Camp, Leah Bonnema, Brian Parise, Andrew Knox, and everyone at Story District.
Thank you to all our staff for kicking ass on no sleep this weekend.
Thank you our venues: Lincoln, Howard, DC Improv, Kennedy Center, Howard Theatre, Drafthouse Comedy, and Sixth & I.
Thank you to Rock the Vote for being our non-profit partner and for everything you do, especially this year. GO VOTE.
Thank you to Heineken for presenting all our Lincoln shows and keeping the Bentzen Ball dream alive.
Thank you to Nando’s for partnering up with us for the amazingly wild and weird YOUR SPICY PLACE show, outfitting the Lincoln Theatre with some beautiful decorations, and providing loads of delicious chicken for our hungry comics and loads of vegan options for Weird Al.
Thank you to Lyft and W Hotel DC for sponsoring the festival and keeping us well rested (well, well rested enough) and for motoring us around. If you are signing up for Lyft, use the code BYT this weekend and get $10 off five rides.
Thank you to OM Digital for being the best photobooth int he world.
Thanks to Whole Foods, Ben & Jerry’s, Wigle Whiskey, Health-Ade Kombucha, Confluence Coffee Co., Herbivore Botanicles, and Kramerbooks for being lovely and supporting the festival.
Follow us on follow us on FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM and use #BentzenBall and #BYThings ALL THE TIME.
Thank you thank you thank you and SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!

DAY BY DAY BY DAY BY DAY BREAKDOWN BELOW:

Thursday:

We have a full, big shiny set of our super sold out opening night with Tig Notaro, Aparna Nancherla and Lizzy Cooperman RIGHT HERE:

Friday:

Friday kicked off with a White House tour. Thank you for having us!

then, it was onto a bunch great shows: Picture This! and Baron Vaughn at Millennium Stage, John Dore at Drafthouse Comedy and Bridget Everett at Lincoln.

We’ll share those in chronological order: jokes and drawings of Picture this! first:

and then Baron Vaughn, with Brandie Posey opening at Terrace:

things were funny and weird over at Drafthouse:

meanwhile, over at Lincoln, we were prepping for the hurricane that was Bridget Everett (with Jason Weems hosting, and Michael Ian Black and Melissa Villasenor as the special guests/openers). If you are wondering what that super alienating pre-show spectacle was: it was Motherknuckle (we know, we know).

meanwhile, backstage:

then, everyone convened at Root Cellar for an after hours hang:

Saturday:

Saturday, is traditionally, the busiest show day: afternoon kicked off with a very sold out Last Podcast On The Left at DC Improv, and continued with the very sold out STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW at Lincoln and John F. O’Donnell shows at DC Improv, as well as Mock the Vote at Sixth and I. Plus, late night got extra weird, and spicy with the free Journey To Your Spicy Place show at Lincoln, brought to you by our friends at Nando’s.

But, lets start from the top:

You guys LOVE Last Podcast On The Left. LOVE THEM:

and while those dudes stopped by Jack Rose for some fine whiskey and beer sampling:

the rest of the shows were getting under way:

Here is JFOD getting ready for his special:

and then, the actual special taping:

While we celebrated the Halloween pre-election weekend at Sixth and I at Mock the Vote:

Over at the Lincoln, Stuff You Should Know guys talked grave robbing to a capacity audience, with Baron Vaughn and Lizzy Cooperman providing warm-up:

while outside, the line was already forming for The Spiritual Journey To Your Spicy Place, which was FREE courtesy of our friends at Nando’s PERi-PERi and featured the dream team of Last Podcast on the Left, Wham City, Church Night, Melissa Villasenor, Anthony Atamniuk as Donald Trump, Emo Phillips AND TJ Miller, who loves chicken and sauce but hates Halloween decorations (you’ll see what we mean)

(so many Trump supporters)

Now, we KNOW you want to see what the backstage at this dream/nightmare looked like. So, come on back:

Sunday:

We closed the festival in style: Weird Al at a live commentary screening of UHF (joined by Tig, Emo Phillips, Seaton Smith and Dave Hil) and Horror Stories with Story District over at Howard. It was THIS level of magical:

But lets take a peek at the HORROR SHOW first, before we dive into Lincoln. Story District came back as a festival partner for the 2nd year with a perfect foil for Halloween: stories so scary they’re funny.

Over at Lincoln…with TJ Miller having destroyed all our Halloween decorations, we had to whip out our Christmas supplies, but that’s ok with Al deserves Christmas every day: