Musikfest 2014: Comedy offers visitors a late-night alternative for entertainment

The stages are empty, the amplifiers switched off and grills turned to low heat.
So what is there to do at Musikfest as the witching hour approaches?
ArtsQuest will offer late-night comedy for those who want to relax and have a few laughs after a day of festing.

"I feel it adds a little bit of something different to the festival in that there is just a width of programming," says Ryan Hill, programming director of comedy and cinema at ArtsQuest.

Lehigh Valley-based improvisational comedy troupes The Associated Mess and ManDudeBro are on the docket. The latter will perform the Upright Citizens Brigade-inspired show "Story Time Comedy Hour with ManDudeBro" on Thursday.

Comedy Clubs week of Aug. 1

Comedy Clubs week of Aug. 1

• Paul Rodriguez Longtime comedian Paul Rodriguez has been making audiences laugh all over the world (in Spanish & English) for nearly 3 decades with his unique brand of humor that has undeniable universal appeal. Showtimes: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Aug. 1-2. $20. Off the Hook Comedy Club at House of Brewz Taps and Tapas, 10045 Gulf Center Dr. E110, Fort Myers, 389-6901. offthehookcomedy.com/

• Comedians at Laugh In Tim Pulnik- described as the “Everyman of Comedy,” Tim easily connects with audiences. Also appearing, Hurricane Andrew, comedy’s “Perfect Storm.” 7:30 and 9:30 Friday-Saturday, Aug. 1-2. $12. Laugh In Comedy Cafe, 8595 College Parkway, south Fort Myers, 479-5233

Scotland's young pretender to comedy crown - Daniel Sloss

I'm a nice person," Daniel Sloss - comedian, young person, sometime teller of jokes about bodily functions, XBox obsessive, possibly soon-to-be American TV star - is telling me as we sit in the slightly messy living room of his house in Edinburgh.

Which is nice, isn't it? Nice to be nice and all that. Thing is, however, he adds, it doesn't come naturally. It requires pure force of will.

"I'm a nice person," he continues, "only because I act like a nice person. It's not a natural instinct for me to be a good human being. But I constantly overwrite my natural instincts. My brain goes: 'What's the nice thing, the right thing to do in this situation?' Then I do that."

Will Adamsdale: 'Comedy today is tweeting with one hand and playing a ukelele with the other'

The comedian returns to the Fringe 10 years after winning the Perrier award at the first time of asking. How has comedy changed? And what is comedy anyway?

My first fringe was actually 1991, doing a play with some friends from school. I did four more plays throughout the 90s there, including a monologue about a guy who kidnaps some children (but, like, the funny side of that scenario). It was on late in the Pleasance Attic and drunk people would show up and think it was comedy. Sometimes they would kind of heckle, but the piece was so dark and interesting that they’d get drawn in. I love that about the fringe: you think your evening’s gonna go one way...

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, E4, review: 'best watched drunk'

The hit rate of Noel Fielding's surreal show is high, says Christopher Howse

 Tony Reason, the white manta-ray record producer in Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (E4) said: “Rizzle Kicks live in the same street as me, so occasionally I pay them extra pocket money to clean my car.” In the absurd circumstances, I found this remark amusing.