Get ready for laughs and grub as the Gundo Comedy and BBQ Festival comes to El Segundo beginning Thursday, bringing together comedy acts and barbecue for everyone to enjoy.
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The four-day event includes “6 comedy shows that feature professional comedians and an opportunity to purchase BBQ from the world's best pitmasters,” according to its website.
Founder Dave Williamson told KNX News 97.1 FM that the event started years ago as a comedy festival.
“I'm a full-time stand-up comedian and I live in El Segundo, and I just kept looking around my community and thinking, ‘Man, there's so many cool little venues. This would be a really neat place for a comedy festival,’” he said. “So, we ran as the Gundo Comedy Festival for five years, and it was a lot of fun and cool thing to do for my community and to bring my comedian friends from all over the city and all over the country here to my neighborhood and and perform for people who live in El Segundo”
Then, he found his passion for barbecue.
“Over the past seven or eight years, I have, in addition to my comedy and touring, really become active in the world of barbecue and made a lot of friends in that world,” he continued. “So, when the pandemic made us shut down the comedy festival for a few years, and everyone was asking me if I was gonna bring it back, I was like, I don't know. I'm like, there's so many comedy festivals now, and I'm busier than ever touring, and I'm just not sure if I have the bandwidth to do it correctly.”
That’s when Williamson had the idea to add barbecue to the festival and brought it to El Segundo last year.
“I started a podcast called Meet Dave about barbecue, so my barbecue fans were coming out to my comedy events, and the two worlds were merging more and more,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, you know, it would be a lot of fun to turn the festival into something where I can bring my barbecue friends into town and my comedy friends into town at the same time.’”
Comedians expected to be at the event include Brad Williams, Caroline Rhea, Katherine Blanford, Jesus Trejo, Jeremiah Watkins, and Williamson himself.
Pitmasters attending the festival include Big Moe Cason, Bartz Barbecue, Meat Dave, Mel Chmilar (“Dark Side of the Grill”), and Chef Binotto.
The six events will spread throughout the four days with the BBQ Main Event held on Sunday at Library Park from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“At the barbecue festival, you buy a ticket and then it's unlimited bites once you're in,” Williamson said about Sunday’s event. “Its ticket is $40 plus fees, so it comes out to about $45 and we do have a more affordable kids ticket ‘cause we realize that a lot of people are gonna want to bring their whole family, and kids don't eat quite as much.”
For more information on the festival, click here.
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