{"id":2344680,"date":"2026-03-25T10:04:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2344680"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:04:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:04:06","slug":"bergamot-comedy-festival-creates-space-for-comedians-to-fail-grow-and-belong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/bergamot-comedy-festival-creates-space-for-comedians-to-fail-grow-and-belong\/","title":{"rendered":"Bergamot Comedy Festival creates space for comedians to fail, grow and belong"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Performing their solo show in a comedy club was an intimidating experience for Brigham Mosley, a genderqueer person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI often perform comedy and stand-up in this kind of drag, and I will go to open mics, and you do a set and then you get off stage and people come on stage and start making trans jokes,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The feeling of discomfort changed once they found the Crow<\/u><\/a>, a comedy club in Santa Monica. After performing and participating in some of its writing development programs, Mosley didn\u2019t want to stop the collaboration, so they applied to the Bergamot Comedy Festival<\/u><\/a>, held at the venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen folks start working at the Crow, they never leave because the space is so magical,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

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<\/picture>\n
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Comedian Mike Lawrence gives advice to fellow comedians during the panel discussion portion of the Bergamot Comedy Festival in 2024.<\/p>\n

(Michael Blackshire \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

This year, Mosley will be performing in the third-annual festival. The four-day event happening from Tuesday through Saturday is designed for comedians by comedians, said Nicole Blaine, the founder and executive producer.<\/p>\n

It is curated to not only expose comedians to studios like Netflix, HBO and Comedy Central, but to help their professional development through educational panels open to the public for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you aren\u2019t feeling safe and comfortable to fail, then the joke isn\u2019t going to get discovered,\u201d Blaine said. \u201cWe have to figure out the funniest way to say the hardest stuff and we need a room to do it in where we\u2019re not feeling judged by our peers.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she was starting as a comedian, as an \u201colder woman who was talking about having babies,\u201d Blaine felt like an outsider. The Bergamot Comedy Festival was a result of that feeling. She wanted to create a place where everyone feels welcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government can\u2019t control this,\u201d she said. \u201cI am an independent comedy club that is willing to say that we need more people of color, we need more queer stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival is designed to nurture not just comedians but the surrounding community. Before any performer takes the stage at the Crow for the Bergamot fest, Blaine provides in-depth educational conversations with key industry players.<\/p>\n

Professionals from Mic Drop Comedy, \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon\u201d and Sundance will guide conversations about self-producing, discussions on how to get a comedy gig in different types of venues, and on how to make your tight five-minute sets even tighter \u2014 all open to the public for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to provide education for everybody, not just the comics who get into the fest,\u201d Blaine said. \u201cYou\u2019re limiting your impact on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Comedian <\/picture>\n
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Comedian Cameron Esposito performs during the Bergamot Comedy Festival in 2024 at the Crow.<\/p>\n

(Michael Blackshire \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Professional development was a major draw for Bernice Ye, a comedian at this year\u2019s festival.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The panels] give you a chance for people to network,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ye applied to perform in the festival\u2019s first two years but wasn\u2019t selected. Instead of moving on, she took advantage of the free public panels and made connections. The rejection didn\u2019t discourage her, instead she was inspired by the level of talent and pushed by the networking.<\/p>\n

She watched the performers each year, learning from their sets. By attending panels, Ye was able to see that the industry wasn\u2019t as scary as she thought it was.<\/p>\n

Blaine would conduct discussions during the panels where she would ask the tough questions, Ye and other entertainers were probably afraid to ask. The openness made it easier to build relationships and network with industry people \u2014 they just want to help, she said.<\/p>\n

This year, she will be performing a comedy set; third time is a charm, she said. Her inclusion will be more than a celebration, it will be a capstone of what she\u2019s learned from the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me appreciate it even more because I know how hard it is to get it,\u201d Ye said. \u201cI worked really hard to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Performing their solo show in a comedy club was an intimidating experience for Brigham Mosley, a genderqueer person. \u201cI often perform comedy and stand-up in this kind of drag, and I will go to open mics, and you do a set and then you get off stage and people come on stage and start making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2344681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2344680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bergamot-Comedy-Festival-creates-space-for-comedians-to-fail-grow.com2Fce2F072Fcedc9f594e9fa1eb3aea3219.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2344682,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344680\/revisions\/2344682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2344681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}