Andy Wood (comedian)

Andrew "Andy" Wood (born 1977) is an American comedian and a founder/producer of Portland's Bridgetown Comedy Festival. He is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan currently residing in Los Angeles, California.

Andy Wood
Andrew "Andy" Wood
OccupationStand-Up Comedian/Producer of Bridgetown Comedy Festival
Years active2005 - Present

Standup comedy

Wood has performed at the Bumbershoot Arts Festival, the Seattle International Comedy Competition, the Portland Amateur Comedy Competition, SF Sketchfest[1] and the Bentzen Ball.[2] He has performed with comedy acts such as Patton Oswalt, Todd Glass, Doug Benson and Janeane Garofalo.[3] He graduated from Huron High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan) in 1995 and took his degree in Electrical Engineering at Cornell University in 1999. Before he became a comedian, Wood was an engineer at Pixelworks.[4]

Probably Science

Wood is one of the hosts of the popular podcast Probably Science[5] where he and other comedians talk about science news stories. While Andy Wood does have a background in science, the podcast is meant for humor and entertainment and is not intended to provide accurate scientific information. He affectionately refers to the show as "Your week in half-assed science."

Producer, The Bridgetown Comedy Festival

As tri-founder of the Festival, Wood is responsible in part for "the fastest-growing comedy extravaganza in America."[6] Successively larger and better-planned comedy festivals prompted one reviewer to comment, ". . . as usual, organizer Andy Wood and his royal army of geniuses outdid themselves. How can you make something already great even better? I'm not sure, but it happened."[7] In late 2009, the Portland Mercury reviewed the festival, stating that, "Bridgetown (or should we say, Andy Wood) is changing Portland comedy"[8] and the following year, the Portland Monthly stated that Wood "deserves several rounds of applause for making the fest happen . . . ."[9] In his work as a comedy promoter, Andy Wood created a venue where the comedy market was struggling, and has promoted the venue to as a regional and national event.[10] Part of Wood's approach in creating 'draw' to a weak comedy market was to couple art with philanthropy.[11]

Short history of the Bridgetown Comedy Festival

2008

In October 2007, comedians Andy Wood and Matt Braunger and comedy fan Kim Brady created a comedy festival based in Portland, Oregon with Patton Oswalt as the first headliner. Bridgetown hospitality coordinator Jen Lane joined the effort, suggesting Portland's Hawthorne district as the site. In addition to Oswalt, the 2008 Festival featured Tig Notaro (comedian, The Sarah Silverman Program); Matt Braunger (founder and Portland native); Morgan Murphy (writer, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon); Natasha Leggero (comedian, Reno 911!); and Chris Fairbanks (comedian, Fuel TV). The 2008 Festival garnered some sixty performers.[12]

2009

The 2009 Bridgetown Comedy Festival was headlined by Janeane Garofalo (Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show alumnus), and featured Andy Kaufman Award-winners Reggie Watts and Brent Weinbach. It added long-form improv and podcasts to the schedule.[13]

2010

The 2010 Festival featured 170 performers at nine venues and featured long-form improv, podcasts by comedian Marc Maron (and stand-up performance) and Jimmy Pardo, and comics including: Maria Bamford, Tim Meadows, Scott Adsit, Tig Notaro, Greg Behrendt, Christian Finnegan, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Matt Braunger, Danny Pudi, Steve Agee, T.J. Miller, and Hannibal Buress.[14][15][16][17][18]

Association

Wood joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Cornell University, and through that organization, the Irving Literary Society.[19]

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2013-02-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. http://seattlecomedycompetition.com/2008/comics/andy_wood.php (last viewed on June 29, 2010).
  3. http://bridgetowncomedyfestival.com/performers/andy-wood (last viewed June 29, 2010)
  4. "No Joke," by Ethan Smith, Willamette Week (newspaper), March 5, 2008 Archived 2008-10-21 at the Wayback Machine)(last viewed on July 23, 2010).
  5. http://www.probablyscience.com
  6. Ben Bateman, "News and Culture: Bridgetown Comedy Diaries: Night 1," Willamette Week (Apr. 23, 2010)(a primary source reporting on the 2010 Festival)(last viewed 7/6/2010).
  7. Aparna Nancherla, "Bridgetown Comedy Festival 3: The Return of the Zing," The Apiary (as a review, this qualifies as a secondary source for notability purposes)(last viewed 7/6/2010).
  8. Andrew R. Tonry, The Year in Comedy: Examining Portland's Burgeoning Comedy Scene, The Portland Mercury (Dec. 31, 2009)
  9. John Chandler, "A Comic Invasion," Portland Monthly (Apr. 20, 2010)(last viewed 7/6/2010)(a primary source with respect to the comic performances, but as a review, a secondary source with respect to organization).
  10. Randy Gragg, Laughs on Hawthorne: Bridgetown Comedy Festival returns, Portland Monthly (Apr. 2009) ("Give it time. The Bridgetown Comedy Festival, which is in only its second year, has grown from a field of forty comedians to an invasion of 115 rib-ticklers from the Northwest and around the country. And while the festival might not yet have bred a one-off catch-phrase ("Take my compost pile—please!?"), it has already bred success.").
  11. Kristi Turnquist, Laugh riot ! Big names, local favorites kick off the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Oregonian (Apr. 16, 2009) ("The eclectic list of performers in this year's Bridgetown Comedy Festival may share some of those traits. One thing is for certain -- they're not showing up at the April 23–26 event looking for a big paycheck. If anything unites Bridgetown's roster of out-of-town stars like Janeane Garofalo and up-and-coming local hopefuls, it's comedy for comedy's sake . . . . Wood, the Bridgetown fest co-founder, has a theory about why some Portlanders aren't willing to take a chance on seeing nonfamous comics: 'Maybe it's because it's so earnest here,' he says.") Douglas Perry, Coming Up: Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Oregonian (Feb. 28, 2008) ("Time will tell if next week's first Bridgetown Comedy Festival will take its place in the pantheon of Portland performance buffets. But founders Andy Wood and Matt Braunger have something in common with Waterfront Blues Festival booker Peter Dammann: They're working performers . . . . The fest features comedians from the Northwest and nationwide, working to raise funds for the Oregon Red Cross.")
  12. Ethan Smith, "No Joke," Willamette Weekly Online (March 5, 2008 Archived 2008-10-21 at the Wayback Machine)(last viewed June 29, 2010).
  13. "Ladies Are Funny Says Portland's Bridgetown Comedy Festival", by Ashley Brittner, Bitch Magazine, April 24, 2009 at collected 7/1/2010
  14. "Matt Walsh, Bamford, Pardo, more to perform at Bridgetown Comedy Festival" Punchline Magazine, March 16, 2010 collected 7/1/2010 at "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-03. Retrieved 2010-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "A Comic Invasion: Bridgetown Comedy Fest brings the funny", Portland Monthly Magazine, April 20, 2010 at http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/blogs/bar-pilot/bridgetowncomedy-bp-042010/, collected 7/1/2010
  16. Ben Bateman, "By Comics, For Comics: How the fastest-growing comedy festival in the country snuck into Portland," Willamette Week (Apr. 21, 2010)(as a review, this constitutes secondary source material, even though it was published in a newspaper)(last viewed 7/1/2010) Archived 2010-06-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. "Bridgetown Comedy Festival", Portland Mercury (newspaper), March 6, 2010 at http://www.portlandmercury.com/theater/bridgetown-comedy-festival/Content?oid=717743 collected 7/1/2010
  18. "Risky Business : Trust in the Bridgetown Comedy Fest" by Andrew R Tonry, Portland Mercury (newspaper), April 22, 2010 at http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/risky-business/Content?oid=2462432 collected 7/1/2010
  19. Cornell University Residence Plan of 1966, Schedule I, Appendix A (May 3, 1966)(see sixth page of document noting the relationship between Phi Kappa Psi and the Irving Literary Society)); see also, List of Phi Kappa Psi/Irving Literary Society Members (Aug. 18, 2011).
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