CATSKILL -- The Catskill Comedy Festival is returning for its second year next month with a big name as its headliner.

Colin Quinn will be the event's headliner Saturday night at the newly renovated Community Theater in Catskill. Also appearing at the festival will be Eddie Brill, former warm-up comedian for David Letterman, writer Erik Marino, as well as improv shows, vaudeville theater shows, and a paired wine-to-comedian show.

As an actor, comedian and writer, Quinn is best known for his time on "Saturday Night Live" as a writer and featured player, then as a full cast member who hosted the show's "Weekend Update." He has had comedy shows on Netflix, Comedy Central and HBO, as well as co-hosted "Remote Control," and written and performed in numerous one-man shows.

The festival runs from Oct. 17 to Oct. 19, with multiple events each day at various locations in the village.

"This year, what is different is we are [now] in the renovated Community Theater," festival co-founder Robbie Chafitz said Tuesday. "It's a little scary because it's 500 seats. The biggest last year was 200. We got a bigger headliner, Colin Quinn. We have a really great lineup of people, both local and regional."

Last year, the festival's biggest venue was Foreland in the village.

Chafitz said not much is changing from last year, but that the festival is growing.

"A lot of people didn't know [village of] Catskill even existed," Chafitz said. "The comics that I went through friends to get, they were thrilled to come back this year, and some asked to be on our board ... that is the environment we want to create. We want to bring in the comics and comedians, and the audience will follow. That is what the Catskills are all about."

Shopping Encouraged

Chafitz said one of his goals is to encourage out-of-town residents who come to see the shows to shop and dine at local businesses.

"You never know what's going to work the first year or what people will respond to," Chafitz said. "We did an improv workshop, but realized people didn't want to partake and wanted to see more stuff. As far as programming, we were very surprised to see that everything did very well. The biggest thing, outside of programming, was there was no place for people to eat after the shows, so now I'm going around to see if people will keep [their] kitchens open longer."

Chafitz is working with Stephan Bradicich, a former mayor of the village of Athens, to put on the festival. The two grew up together in Maryland.

"In 2023, I was watching comedy at The Avalon Lounge and everything was great, and of course, there's always tough stuff going on in the world, and I thought we all need to laugh more," Chafitz said. "... I started planning a festival with a background in comedy ... I reached out to Stephan to start the festival. I told everyone we were doing it and I talked myself into a corner. The goal was to create an environment for great comics, but for people to see awesome stuff."

Chafitz is trying to keep ticket prices low and the festival is put on largely through volunteer support, individual donors, and a $5,000 grant from CREATE Council on the Arts, a local nonprofit organization designed to support local arts initiatives in the Twin Counties and Schoharie County.

"We wanted to keep it affordable, so no super-high ticket prices," Chafitz said. "We have a lot of donations and sponsors, lots of free events, but the idea was to draw people into the area and raise money to provide free comedy workshops for kids because it's great for [their] self-esteem and self-expression, and it's a good thing to be able to laugh at yourself."

There will be a children's workshop performance and an open mic night Oct. 17 and 18, respectively. Both are free events.

Attendance Hopes

Last year's festival saw about 1,000 attendees. This year, Chafitz hopes to double that number over the course of the weekend.

"One of the things I've learned in talking to other venues, since COVID, is that people wait until the last minute to buy tickets," Chafitz said. "Last year, we sold 35% to 40% in pre-sales and the rest (on the) day of (the performance). We had about 1,000 people last year and it was a good mix of local and regional [people], and then some people from Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania. We had a really good mix of attendees. I'd like to do maybe double this year, or close to it, since we have a bigger venue."

Chafitz, who is a comedy writer and producer, made countless connections through his work, and leveraged those connections to get many of the festival's acts.

"Eddy Brill, who I've known for years, a legend among comedians, he was the warmup act for Letterman and booked many festivals and comedy clubs and he's known Colin as a friend for years," Chafitz said. "We've all used our personal relationships. Colin saw who we had on the ticket, Ophira Eisenberg, Erin Jackson, all reputable names ... people see we are reputable."

The full festival line-up can be found at the festival's website, https://www.tccfest.org/. Seating for free events, including the children's workshops, is first-come, first-served.