KAITLIN MCCARTHY has been co-producing the Milwaukee Comedy Festival for the past five years and is a co-founder of The Laughing Tap comedy club. Before this year’s festival, which runs from Oct. 3-10, we asked McCarthy to choose a few Milwaukee stand-ups we should be watching.
AJ Grill
Grill won the 2016 “Funniest Person in Iowa Contest,” before moving to Milwaukee. He describes his comedy as “a mix of humorous personal tragedy, silly wordplay, sprinkled with the occasional rant about respecting large bodies of fresh water.”
Chastity Washington
Washington has toured nationally and appeared on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” and BET’s “ComicView” over her nearly 20-year comedy career. Much of Washington’s comedic material is inspired by her day job as a middle and high school teacher in Milwaukee.
Dana Ehrmann
After trying stand-up as a student at Carthage College, Ehrmann has gone on to open for Todd Barry, Hari Kondabolu and Charlie Berens, among others. Her comedy focuses on “discussing sort-of-but-not-quite-adulthood.”
Drew Flagge
Besides appearing at the Comedy Festival, Flagge frequents many local comedy events. “You know what kind of guy I am?” he jokes. “I’m more of a, ‘I didn’t do the dishes so I’m going to be eating my oatmeal out of a pint glass I got free at a brewery tour’ kind of guy.”
Ton Johnson
Anton “Ton” Johnson has opened for Dennis Banks and Rondell Sheridan, and he “uses his comedy to poke fun at the absurdity of everyday life.” According to Ehrmann, he is “the comic that other comics watch and get angry at because he’s so good and it seems so effortless.”
