The 10,000 Laughs Festival is back, and this year it has everything.
Romantic first dates? Got ’em! A three-headed crowd-work monster? You betcha! A game show centered entirely around milk? Why not?
Now celebrating its (spooky?) 13th anniversary, 10,000 Laughs is the biggest comedy event of the year for Minnesota, with more than 60 comics from all over the country coming together for three days of lolz and debauchery.
While every show this weekend is a certified banger, the best part of the festival each year are the kooky, creative, and occasionally weird nights. To help you better plan your comedy pilgrimage, we plucked out four unique offerings from this year’s fest.
Funny Bachelors
When Frankie Runquist started her onstage dating experiment show two years ago, her mission was simple: help get her friends laid.
“It started as a joke,” she laughs. “Some of my comedian friends were riffing on how they were struggling in their love lives, so I said I’d do a show just so they could get the ladies. I called it, ‘Date a Comic, Save a Life.’”
Pretty quickly she realized that watching real people date was much more entertaining, and the show evolved into its current form.
The premise is simple: Two real people have a blind date onstage, while a panel of comics offer feedback, advice, and ridicule, all in front of a live audience.
“It’s like watching comedians crash their date,” Runquist says. “They’re half menaces, half matchmakers. But sometimes real connection can form from chaos.”
The show has become a sensation both in Minneapolis and Atlanta, where Runquist recently moved. She plans to expand the show into other markets and just might become the Vanessa Lachey of comedy.
“Someone came up to me and told me that they felt like they were watching a live reality show right in front of their face,” she says.
While there’s no guarantee that Funny Bachelors will result in any long-term connections, it’s probably the only show of the fest where you might get to see some tongue.
“We’ve had people make out on stage,” Runquist shares proudly. “No official relationships that I’m aware of, but we’ve definitely had sparks.”
IF YOU GO:
Sisyphus Brewing
7 p.m. Thu., Oct. 23
AND
Bricksworth Beer
Noon (brunch show!) Sat., Oct. 25
$22.50; find tickets here.
One Liner Madness
What’s that? TikTok is ruining standup comedy? You can’t judge someone by just a minute of comedy? How about judging 64 people by just one line of comedy?
That’s exactly what is going down Thursday night when comedian (and recent Price is Right winner) Emily Winter brings the comedy battle royale known as One Liner Madness to the Turf Club.
Sixty-four comedians will square off in a single elimination tournament, with the winner declared champion and earning the ultimate comedy bragging rights.
“Anything can happen,” Winter says of the Madness. “I’ve seen comics who have been around for a long time lose out to newer comics. I’ve seen people who aren’t experts in one-liners run through the competition. It’s always a fun surprise.”
After a sold out show at the Turf in 2024, this week’s show will be even bigger with comics from the festival as well as some local favorites dropping in to do battle onstage.
“Festivals just bring an energy of their own,” Winter says. “It brings an extra oomph to the whole ordeal.”
IF YOU GO:
8 p.m. Thu., Oct. 23
Turf Club
$30.07; find tickets here.
North Star Comedy Hour
There is no other show you can compare to Mary Mack’s live podcast/variety show/fever dream North Star Comedy Hour. Part Prairie Home Companion, part late-night talk show, part Nathan Fielder-style experiment, Mack has created the most delightfully clever and hilarious concoction of the entire festival (and maybe in the whole world).
“Back in the day we had a meat raffle show that was very loosey goosey,” she explains of the show’s evolution. “It’s a much tighter show, and we record it and put it out as a podcast. We have comedians do sets, then I talk to them afterwards for a little bit. We’ll have the guests read a sketch and do a little acting. Then I’ll do a game show with the audience. It’s absurdist and a lot of fun.”
While past episodes have included poets, musicians, comedians, and her insanely funny husband, comedian Tim Harmston, Mack is bringing out the big guns for the 10,000 Laughs Festival.
Comedians Al Jackson, Sam Schedler, Amber Preston, and Grace Johnson will join rapper Desdamona, R&B group Nunnabove, and house band Circle of Heat, led by local favorite Trevor Anderson. There will be standup. There will be music. And there will be milk.
“I’m going to do a milk-based game show called ‘Truth of Dairy,’” she laughs. “I really hope people come, because if I get milk all over the stage and nobody is there, I’m going to be so sad—wait, don’t tell the Granada about the milk.”
Whoops!
IF YOU GO:
7 p.m. Fri., Oct. 24
Granada Theater
$40; find tickets here.
We Cool? Podcast
When comedians Grant Winkels, Tommy Bayer and Ryan Kahl made the choice to end their hit podcast, We Cool? last year, the rumor mill went crazy. Was there bad blood? Did Ryan really call Grant a Nazi in the press? Did Tommy break up Chrissy Teigen and John Legend’s marriage?
“We all had to figure out how to monetize the stupid bullshit that we do,” Winkels explains. “We went from doing the dumbest podcast in the tri-state area to all three of us getting content jobs and selling products to your kids. That’s the state of the world now.”
This weekend, like a Gathering of the Juggalos (except for young alt-comics with cool haircuts), the crew will reunite with a special live edition of We Cool? as part of the festival.
“It’s awesome that we get to do this,” Winkels continues. “It’s a nice reminder that we don’t hate each other.”
The show was initially created under the guise of the hosts and listeners offering public apologies—or demanding them of others—based on the often-hilarious ways they had been wronged. (One of the all-time bests was Winkels being publicly called out for breaking up with an ex-girlfriend on her birthday.) Since then, the show has evolved with sketches, characters, and, of course, standup.
“We’re really proud that it has kind of become like a best of the fest-type showcase, with some of the headliners and people dropping in during the show,” Winkels says. “Then, of course, we throw in some of our idiotic stuff. Like this week we’ll probably do the three-headed crowd work monster. I want to do a sketch where Tommy and Ryan are both my therapists. Honestly that’s as far as we've gotten.”
And if you don’t like the show you can demand an apology after.
IF YOU GO:
9:30 p.m. Fri., Oct. 24
Sisyphus Brewing
$22.50; find tickets here.
