The first two years of Kickstand’s Comedy in the Park summer series were impressive, but 2023 blew them both away, with Portland Parks & Recreation staff counting approximately 4,700 people on a recent Friday in August. That’s people-protesting-against-Donald-Trump numbers. But while anger frequently provides the motivation of our moment, Kickstand brought all those people out to make them laugh, and in doing so, to showcase and support local comedians and community. Now, as Portlanders gaze.
It's fucking beautiful out today—would be a good day to have Comedy in the Park, right? Well, there's less than a month until Portlanders get to do just that. Local nonprofit Kickstand Comedy announced Friday that the third year of the Laurelhurst Park comedy pop-up—which they began during the pandemic—kicks off on June 23 and will run weekly all summer until Sep 1, with one exception on July 21. Kickstand also dropped a some incredible.
Kickstand Comedy announced on Friday that it will reprise its hugely popular Comedy in the Park series in Laurelhurst Park this summer. The shows will start promptly on July 1, the first Friday of that month and run through September. "Our kickoff show will be Julia Corral, Shain Brenden, Zak Toscani, and some surprise guests," Kickstand's Artistic Director Dylan Reiff told the Mercury. "Expect everything you loved about last year, but with some smart, fun.