Wednesday Nov. 19 saw a showing of ten great comedians participating in one of the semi-final rounds of the Seattle International Comedy Competition held in the beautiful auditorium of
the Edmonds Center for the Arts.

The evening began with the narrator of the evening’s festivities: Gabriel Rutledge. Oh, my.
Narrator does not due justice to his role in the night’s frivolity. Rutledge is a very very
funny stand up entertainer. He had the audience rolling on the floor during his opening set
and he brought the house down during his set during the time the scoring was calculated after
the ten comics were done. Rutledge really showed why he won the 2004 Comedy Competition.

The comics competing during the ECA semi-final round provided quite the variety of styles and
humor. Some were more humorous than others, in my opinion. Language and mature subject matter
are to be expected at an adults only comedy review. Some of the comedians were able to pull
off the cussing and sexual jokes. I felt that a couple of them did not, however. Enough of
my semi-rant.

This night of comedy was a great evening of entertainment. Hats off to the ECA facility. What
a nearly perfect venue for this type of event. The performance consisted of each comic having
ten minutes on stage: five comedians during the first half with a 20 minute intermission followed
by the last five.

Who won this nights round? First place went to Matt Donaher of Boston, MA. There is a continuing
hectic circuit of shows each night through the semi-final rounds that end on Nov. 23. Final
rounds begin on Nov 25.

The Edmonds Center for the Arts is a marvel of both purpose and facility. This establishment is to be
commended for the hosting of such events as the comedy competition. Once again kudos to Gabriel
Rutledge. Check out his website at http://www.gabrielrutledge.com/.

Gabriel Rutledge on stage somewhere. Photo from his website. Hey, it said to download it!