And so it is that the inaugural funniEST Estonian Comedy Festival welcomes back headliner Andy Valvur (pictured) who brought the house down in January 2015 at Tartu College, together with our homegrown talent to open and host, and the improv group Impeerium. The festival, organized by Ellen Valter and Paul Lillakas with the financial help of Tartu College, Northern Birch Credit Union (formerly Estonian Credit Union) and Estonian Foundation of Canada and the logistics support of korp! Filiae Patriae and Estonian Studies Centre/VEMU as a fundraiser for the International Estonian Centre runs 2 nights with a free pre-festival warmup improv workshop open to 20 participants who register via vemu@tartucollege.ca. All shows are in English and doors are at 7pm.
The festival opens on Friday January 24 at Tartu College with Improteater Impeerium, an improv group from Estonia. Krall, Rauno, Erki and Maarius had the audience in stitches in January 2017 and are returning with their accessible fun show back to Toronto with fresh music, fresh material and their abundant charm.
Then on Saturday January 25 at Tartu College, Tanya Henley, of Second City and Yuk Yuk’s fame will host a standup night that includes opening acts of Paul Lillakas, Helle Wichman, and Liia Kajak before Andy Valvur returns to the Tartu College stage. They all, of course, have charm in abundance too. Please visit estoniacomedyfestival.com for bios on all performers.
Festival passes are $50, available via eventbrite, at Tartu College and Northern Birch, and cover admission for both nights. If all festival passes have not sold out, single nights will be available at the door – please keep an eye on www.estoniancomedyfestival.com or the funniEST event page on facebook for updates on that front.
See you there!
Ellen Valter & Paul Lillakas