The Nantucket Comedy Festival has the look and feel of something very special that will be around for a long time. Everyone I spoke with praised the quality of the shows and “Nantucket feel”, and looks forward to being able to tell their friends many years from now that they were at the first.
Thursday night (7/31) was a love fest for Nantucket’s own Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, and it was magic – best friends, local talent, and professional comedians all poked fun at and honored these American pioneers of comedy. At the end, both friends and members of the audience wandered up on stage to congratulate Anne and Jerry, who stayed up on stage until everyone had had their moment. One woman in her early twenties leaned up against the stage, too shy to come up, but so excited to do so – she said Jerry was her favorite in the world, and she just wanted to meet him and have her picture taken with him. Fifteen minutes later she was still too shy to jump up, so I grabbed her hand, pulled her up on stage, and brought her over to Jerry who so graciously said hello and posed for the picture.
Congratulations to Bonnie Block Levison and Kevin Flynn, who had a dream.
