From Sept. 16-22, Chicago-based entrepreneur Knowledge Beckom and comedian Lil Rel Howery will debut their first What’s Funny Comedy Festival in Chicago. The festival is scheduled to feature 40 to 45 comedians, with headliners such as Just Nesh, Damon Williams, Lavar Walker, and Sherri Shepherd, just to name a few.
The festival will take place in spots around the city, but will culminate on Sept. 22 at The Dusable Black History Museum and Education Center with a live taping of Howery’s newest comedy special. With the special, Howery and Beckom hope to set a precedent. They want to film a comedy special every year with a new headlining comedian.
The two friends are creating What’s Funny with the hope of making a new tradition for Chicago comedy, one that will not only give comedians – from Chicago, all parts of the Midwest, and beyond – a chance to perform in a big city, but to also shed a light on some of Chicago’s own budding talent, while hosting events at homegrown theaters and Black-owned restaurants.
With a long history of working together, the two Chicago natives go back to when Beckom managed Howery in the first years of his career. Reuniting for this project, the two feel as though their early days of navigating through Chicago’s comedy scene has prepared them for this moment. The TRiiBE got a chance to speak with both men in a Zoom call in late July.
“[Beckom] was my manager and business partner for the longest,” Howery said, “which is why this is a full circle moment, with us coming together to do this festival, just because we’re two guys who really love comedy.”
Bursting onto the big screen with his crowd-pleasing supporting role in the 2017 film Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, Howery blew up after years of cultivating his act in standup and smaller acting roles. Since then, Howery has maintained a reputation as a go-to comedic actor in Hollywood. Now, with Beckom, Howery looks to utilize his talents on the executive side of things.
While the festival was Beckom’s idea, Howery explained that this could be his chance to give more exposure to Chicago’s comedy scene.
“I’ve been looking to do something within the comedy space, especially for Black comics, to put us in the forefront,” he said.
“All these other festivals exist, and I applaud them, I’ve been a part of them, but sometimes we tend to be from the back to the front, and everybody else is in the front, and whatever’s left they give us,” Howery told The TRiiBE.
Together, Beckom and Howery plan on giving Black comics some well deserved exposure. They assured the festival will not only give comics a platform, but will also be a learning experience with panels and workshops, as well as a chance for prime networking.
“We put out a submission, comedian submission, on our website,” Beckom explained. “We didn’t know what the interest was. We came in right under about 100 comedian submissions from over 33 cities.”
An experienced entrepreneur and entertainment industry veteran, Knowledge Beckom founded the What’s Funny comedy brand. Initially, he ran the What’s Funny Comedy Club from 2009 to 2013 out of Outriggers, a restaurant in Tinley Park, Ill.
With his experience as Howery’s former manager, a consistent businessman, and his enthusiasm as a lover of comedy, Beckom feels like this festival is exactly what Chicago’s comedy scene needs.
“A big part of coming back into this is seeing a hole in the comedy infrastructure in Chicago — they could use something,” he said. “I think I can assist. I think I can support.”
Beckom and Howery are definitely motivated. Banking on their history of success, they are confident that this festival will revitalize Chicago’s comedy scene.
“We really want to impact Chicago comedy in its current state,” Beckom said. “I think specifically, with me and [Rel] working together, good things are going to come out of it. We have a track record of that.”
Howery credits Beckom with having the vision and the skills to be able to execute their ideas. “We were just really good teammates,” Howery said. “When you have a really good teammate, you learn from each other.”
“You have a dreamer with this crazy vision, and you have somebody who knows how to execute a vision. When you bring that together, and y’all believe in each other, it’s a wrap,” Howery said.
When explaining why Chicago would be the ideal spot for this festival, beyond the obvious appeal of it being his hometown, Howery insisted that Chicago’s history of comedy makes it the perfect destination for the festival.
“All the greatest cast members of SNL came out of Second City, Chicago. Chicago is the mecca of stand up comedy and comedy in general,” Howery said. “Even some of the cats that’s not from Chicago had to come through Chicago to prove themselves, even to this day, that’s still a thing.”
After moving to LA ten years ago to advance his career, Howery is elated to be back home for this special. Leveraging relationships in the industry to push this festival forward, Howery told The TRiiBE how it felt to know he has the support of his friends.
“Sherri [Shepherd] called me as soon as we announced we were doing a comedy festival,” he said. “She’s like, ‘I need to be a part of this. And whatever you need me to do, I’m doing it.’”
With the last three days of the festival being located at the Dusable Museum of Black History, Howery explained how this will be a full circle moment for him and Beckom. Not only was the museum one of the first venues Howery remembers ever headlining, it was also where Beckom saw Howery perform for the first time, many years ago.
Together, the two hope to create the tradition of shooting yearly comedy specials at the historic Chicago landmark.
“I’m the guinea pig for this first one, but we’re hoping that this will become a thing after this, where the What’s Funny Comedy Festival will shoot and create maybe some of the greatest comedy specials you see coming in the future,” Howery said.
As a true fan of comedy first, Beckom knows attendees will enjoy what they will witness at the What’s Funny Comedy Festival. “We’re going to have 40 to 45 comics, my guess is, half of those comics, Chicago comedy goers have never seen before,” he said. “So that just adds to your excitement, because it’s all new material.”
The way Beckom sees it, this festival is a win-win for festival goers, and the comedians participating. “What we’re doing right at the end of the day is we’re giving people who have never come to Chicago (a chance) to do something in an organized manner, with a good venue set up for their success,” he said.
Chicago has maintained its reputation as a hotbed for political controversy lately, due mainly to the combination of former President Donald Trump’s recent appearance at the NABJ conference held in Chicago, the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago this August and the presence of protests here tied to the fatal police shooting of Springfield resident Sonya Massey.
Howery believes that, in times like this, stand-up is not only therapy for him, but for the larger audience as well.
“You’re going to laugh enough so you can get some of that negativity off of you, so you can make a clear decision, a very clear decision, about who we should put in that White House,” Howery told The TRiiBE.
Hoping to put the Midwest on notice, Beckom stated this festival hopes to attract talent, and fans, from all over the surrounding areas to make this a success. “Milwaukee is an hour and a half away. Indianapolis is three hours away. Wherever you’re at, Southern Illinois, you should come up to Chicago,” Beckom said.
Howery, in shooting his latest comedy special, declares that this will be his most personal special to this day. He says his friend and colleague, Jerrod Carmichael, challenged him to go deeper with his comedy.
“He’s like ‘Rel, you’re hysterical. Your specials are great, but are you willing to go even more vulnerable and deeper?,’” Howery said. “You’re going to see a very exposed Black man in this one, being very honest about my thoughts about everything. So it’s going to be interesting.”
In his upcoming special, Howery expects to make the most of his time in the spotlight, but he relishes the What’s Funny festival as a whole for what it stands to do for other performers and for the city he loves most.
“Our beautiful city, and our city that has a great relationship with comedy. So we’ll see you at the What’s Funny Comedy Festival.”
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