Line-Up | planocomedyfestival

Official 2023 Festival Line-Up

We have over 100 comics performing on this year's Plano Comedy Festival! And our talent line-up is bigger and better than ever!

Beth Stelling started stand-up in Chicago where she became a member of Chicago Underground Comedy and hosted a Sunday night variety show with her best friends (The Puterbaugh Sisters) called Entertaining Julia (Julia was the bartender) at Town Hall Pub. After just three years Beth was named “Best Stand-up Comedian in Chicago” by The Chicago Reader in 2010.

Beth was selected from a Chicago showcase to be a New Face of Comedy in Montreal’s renowned Just for Laughs Festival and then moved to Los Angeles. Within her first year in L.A., Beth made her late night TV debut on CONAN and appearances on Comedy Central’s @midnight, Chelsea Lately and The Pete Holmes Show.

Outside of stand-up, Beth writes for television and film. Her credits include I Love You America with Sarah Silverman, The Last O.G. on TBS, Judd Apatow’s HBO series Crashing, Another Period on Comedy Central, Apple’s new animated series Strange Planet and season 8 of Rick and Morty for Adult Swim.

Rachel Feinstein is a nationally touring comedian and actress. AV Club says “Feinstein’s acute observations create silly, sympathetic characters keeping her subtly, exquisitely attuned to her audience.” Rachel was featured on Amy Schumer’s Parental Advisory which was filmed at the 2022 Netflix Is a Joke festival. She has three Comedy Central specials, including her critically acclaimed one hour special ‘Amy Schumer Presents Rachel Feinstein: Only Whores Wear Purple’.

As an actor, Rachel recently appeared on the first season of LIFE & BETH for Hulu. She also recurred on the Steven Soderbergh Amazon series RED OAKS and on Judd Apatow’s HBO comedy CRASHING. Her past credits include TRAINWRECK, TOP FIVE, THE NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE, HBO’s LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, co-hosting THE VIEW on multiple occasions and several appearances on INSIDE AMY SCHUMER which she also contributed to as a writer. You may also remember Rachel co-hosting alongside Shaq on UPLOAD WITH SHAQUILLE ONEAL. Feinstein has also lent her voice to Adult Swim’s VENTURE BROTHERS and the phenomenally successful GRAND THEFT AUTO video game franchise.

Paul Varghese is an American comedian and actor of Indian descent who appeared on the hit reality show Last Comic Standing. He taped his first full set for national television on March 8, 2007 for Comedy Central's Live at Gotham. Paul Varghese's act includes a number of observations about being Indian, providing outsider-looking-in and insider-looking-out commentary, while also exploring an array of topics and issues outside that realm. He was named by the Dallas Observer in 2007 as the "Best Stand-up Comic in Dallas" and then won the 2009 "Funniest Comic in Dallas" competition. Varghese has performed at the HBO Comedy Festival, the Montreal and Toronto's Just For Laughs Festivals and the TBS Comedy Festival. His TV credits include Telemundo 2's "Loco Comedy Jam", NBC's "Last Comic Standing," Comedy Central's "Live At Gotham" and he can be seen on Showtime's "Russell Peters Presents". His latest special "As I Was Saying" is out on YouTube.

His album, Paul and Oates, was recorded via Comedy Central Records and hit #1 on iTunes.

Mia Jackson is a bonafide Georgia peach (that's Georgian for “native”). In 2017, she was selected as a New Face by the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival and Atlanta's Creative Loafing named her the Critic's Choice Best Stand-Up in the city. She has toured nationally with Amy Schumer and is a featured comic at festivals and clubs across the country. Her first stand up special aired in October 2018 as part of Unprotected Sets on EPIX. Mia has appeared on NickMom's Night Out, Viceland, Comedy Central's This Week at the Comedy Cellar and was a semi-finalist on Season 9 of NBC's Last Comic Standing. Her Comedy Central half hour special debuted in November 2019.

Usama Siddiquee is a Bengali-American stand-up comedian and actor based in New York. He’s the kind of comic you want to follow right now, so you can totally gloat to your friends about how you were totally into him before he got huge. And then they’ll get really jealous of your impeccable foresight and superior taste.

He is on Netlifx’s Inventing Anna, HBO’s And Just Like that, Comedy Central’s Nora from Queens, and FX’s Better Things. Wow! He most recently was featured on the 2020 season of America’s Got Talent. He traveled to Montreal as one of the New Faces at Just For Laughs in 2018. Shortly after he was passed at the world famous Comedy Cellar in New York. He made his standup television debut on BET's 50 Central.

Ali Macofsky is a comedian based out of Los Angeles, California. Her stand up has received over three million views on Just For Laughs Digital, she hosts a podcast called Resting Bitch, and has opened for big name comics at theaters and arenas as well as opening for musical artist, St. Vincent. She was selected as a 2022 New Face of Comedy at the Just For Laughs comedy festival. Macofsky herself can be found headlining comedy clubs across the country.

Flo Hernandez was born and raised in Dallas, Texas to proud Mexican- American parents. His interest in comedy started at the ripe age of 12 years old and was considered the class clown. Since then he has come a long way working professionally headlining his own events.

Flo can be found performing at clubs and special events across the country. His comedic style is delivered with high energy and in a fast-paced style that hits on all cultural and ethnic backgrounds as he continues to gain a multi-cultural fan base.

Flo’s first national TV appearance was in 2007 on Bill Bellamy’s Who’s Got Jokes. He was crowned the funniest comic in Texas in 2010. In 2011, he was featured in Chris Spencer’s The Minority Report on Showtime and America’s Got Talent. Earlier this year, he taped a comedy special Entrenos for HBO/HBO Latino. You can check out some of his work on YouTube.

The Magic of Eric Eaton has performed all over the United States and can be seen on the hit TV Show Masters of Illusion. Eric has won a Merlin Award (Oscar’s of Magic) for Outstanding Comedy and Magic. Eric has had the opportunity amaze celebrities such as; George Lopez, Lou Ferrigno, Russell Peters, Desiigner, and many more in which you can find on his social media platforms; @themagicofericeaton. Eric puts on a great show that earns him high praise with his unique blend of magic, charm and comedic wit. People referred to his amazing comedic tendencies and his ability with magic to being the perfect combination for a compelling and entertaining show. All of Eric’s tricks include audience members. From the show’s start to the incredible finish, audience members find themselves on stage trading barbs with Eric and having the time of their lives! The interchange is classic entertainment at its best. Be prepared to sit back and laugh at the hilarious and incredible Comedy and Magic of Eric Eaton!

When you hear Linda Stogner's act on stage, you get the sense that she lives in her own little world where common sense and normalcy don't exist. But as Joel Hodgson once said, "That's OK, they know me there."

The comic and filmmaker was born into a life of absurdity. She was brought into the world by a father who got mixed up in a Chicago crime syndicate when he had an affair with the wife of a local mob boss. When her mother left her with her father and he couldn't take care of her, his partner-in-crime brought her back to Texas where his parents raised her with a set of phony adoption papers. That sounds like the perfect resume for a budding comic but it wouldn't be fair to just call Stogner that. She's also a gifted and heartfelt storyteller.

Her storytelling skills and unique point of view have earned her comedy honors such as Funniest Comic in Texas as well as several Emmys and a Gold Hugo award for short films and documentaries she's made for KERA and the PBS series Life 360.

This Dallas, TX native, Fonzo Crow, is a star on the RISE! His comedy will leave you in stitches with his stories about fraternity life, married/divorced life, the challenges of being a father raising step-kids, his love for his son and becoming a step-grandfather. Fonzo has been fortunate to feature for national headliners and has performed at legendary venues such as Los Angeles’ famous clubs like Jay Anthony Brown’s “ The J Spot”, The Laugh Factory ,The Comedy Store, Improv Comedy Clubs, The Comedy Union, and more. Fonzo was a semifinalist for Shaq’s All-Star Comedy Jam Tour and is currently touring colleges and clubs across America.

Sheridi Lester is a stand-up comedian based out of Dallas, TX. With a unique voice and sarcastic wit, Sheridi is always a crowd favorite. She has performed in numerous comedy festivals around the country including the “Laughing Skull Comedy Festival”, “Boston Comedy Festival”, and “Dallas Comedy Festival”.

Headliners Sheridi has opened for include Paul Reiser, Nikki Glaser, and Jeff Ross. She is the 2023 winner of "Funniest Comic in Dallas". You can see her regularly in clubs throughout the DFW area.

Mitch Burrow is a Marine Corps Veteran that served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. He then started a career in manufacturing before realizing that it sucked. Now, Mitch has found his true calling in acting silly on a stage in front of strangers on a nightly basis. Mitch placed second in the 2015 Seattle International Comedy Competition and was the winner of the 2015 Trial By Laughter Competition. Mitch has appeared on six episodes of the Fox Show Laughs where he was listed as “The Next Big Thing” on his first appearance. He has been heard on the Bob and Tom show which is syndicated toover 100 cities as well as overseas on the Armed Forces Network.

Raul Sanchez began doing stand-up comedy shortly after leaving the US Army where he served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an airborne infantry soldier. He’s been featured as part of the New Faces showcase at Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival. He’s performed at the Moontower Comedy Festival, The San Francisco International comedy competition and the Boston Comedy Festival amongst others, and won the Funniest Person in Texas competition. In 2017 Raul released an album called “I’m Funnier Than This,” which rose to number one on the iTunes charts for a total of two weeks. In late 2018 he had a half-hour special on Epix as part of their Unprotected Sets series and is currently in the process of writing his next hour.

No mistaking when Daryl Felsberg is on stage, this larger than life comic commands a room everywhere he goes. His story telling approach littered with jokesand heaps of laughs always have a big pay off. His sarcasm is as rich and thick as his brisket infused bloodstream.

Host of the new Youtube series “Daryl Eats”, Felsberg’s recent album “Truth or Daryl” peaked last #3 on iTunes and 18 on Billboard! In 2023 he shot a special for Open Bar Comedy and Amazon Prime and is finishing a BBQ Cook Book inspired by the Pandemic, and after his show you’ll see why!
His voice inflection and passion keeps people in the room not knowing what absurd humor is going to come out of his mouth. Whether it's well crafted and precise jokes or completely improvised streams of consciousness, Daryl makes friends and fans out of all audiences.

Gregg Ka-Zam!'s hilarious magic show and top-notch balloon twisting for kids, along with Peggy's fantastic face painting, combine to give you the best birthday party entertainers! Gregg has delighted children in 6 countries around the world from royalty to orphans and on national television. The funniest kid's magician in the Dallas area.

Comedy Arena is McKinney's home for comedy! Famous for hosting all sorts of comedy in the North Texas area, from standup to improv! It's the Home of ComedySportz!

ComedySportz is, arguably, the most famous short-form comedy show in the world. A ComedySportz match is comedy played as a sport where two teams of improvisational performers compete in various improv games and performing scenes, with audience members judging the results and awarding points. In every match, a ComedySportz referee monitors the action and administers fouls as necessary. This International comedy show-down is a high-energy hilarious experience, and appropriate for all audiences – all ages, all welcome, all the time.