Beyond Patton Oswalt (buy Tickets here) and Sarah Silverman (buy tickets here), The Bentzen Ball is deeper than the '96 Dream Team. For instance you might not know about........

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FREE EVENT: Jesse Thorn Interviews Ian MacKaye

Special Taping of Jesse Thorn's Sound of Young America at the Renaissance Washington

Saturday 10/24, 2:00pm - 4:00pm, doors at 1:00pm, Renaissance Washington Hotel

Join us for an afternoon taping of Jesse Thorn's nationally-syndicated Sound of Young America radio program at the Renaissance Washington (999 Ninth Street NW)- Jesse will be interviewing dc legend Ian Mckaye

To get you in the mood, here's is Todd Barry's classic bit on Fugazi.  Todd is doing a marathon 5 shows at the Ball, check the sched

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FREE EVENT: Open Mic @ Ben's Chili Bowl

Comedians from Hollywood to College Park will be dropping in to the Ben's Chili Bowl backroom for our FREE open mic throughout the festival. My guess is that with Howard Homecoming + regular starving late night drunks + Bentzen Ball performers will make Ben's back room one hell of a party.

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FREE EVENT: Be A Groupie @ Washington Renaissance Hotel

The hotel lobby has a bar called Eclectic and a sports bar called American where one could stake out a bar stool- rumor has it if you're wearing a pathetic or awesome outfit  and have a 1/8 of weed you can have your pick of the litter.

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FREE EVENT: Be A Groupie @ Bohemian Caverns/Hominy Thursday

Rumor has it that the official afterparty for the 1st night of Bentzen Ball is at Bohemian caverns. Downstairs will be strictly VIP/Invite only but the main level is all about hitting on Chelsea Peretti and cornering Nick Offerman and making it count.

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Insider Tip: How to Feel OK About Spending Money on a Comedy Festival + Bonus Karma Points

A portion of the proceeds of the festival is being donated to the Walter Reed Hospital AND some of the comedians are doing a special, on-site, Saturday daytime show for the patients

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Insider Tip: Hot Merch Available Exclusively at Shows

We just got a giant pile of awesome Bentzen Ball t-shirts and super sweet posters which will be on sale exclusively at the venues during the festival. Get excited:

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Heartthrobs/ Must See Comedians:

Reggie Watts

http://www.reggiewatts.com/

Bentzen Ball Performances: Studio Theatre-Milton Theatre, Friday 10pm, HR 57-Jazz Room, Friday 7pm, Black Cat-Main Stage, Saturday 11pm, HR 57- Comedy Room, Saturday 7:30pm.

Get Tickets Here!

Seeing Reggie Watts is like going to a Hieroglyphics-comedy show. Combining looped vocals created live on stage with his unique brand of improvised comedy, Watts’ is a show definitely not to be missed by comedy or music fans alike. GET SERIOUS. This guys angle is ridiculous.

In his unique sets, Reggie’s subjects range from ancient history, technology, magic, spirit elves, dragons, mythology and theology to pop culture. The music incorporates hip-hop, trip-hop, 80’s pop alternative, nu-metal and classical opera, no two songs are ever the same. Reggie loves to disorientate and confuse people in the most entertaining way.

Ben Kronberg

http://www.myspace.com/benkronberg

Bentzen Ball Performances: Studio Theater, Thursday 7pm, Black Cat-Backstage, Friday 10pm, Studio Theater-Milton Theare, Saturday 7pm.

Get Tickets Here!

Ben Kronberg’s unique style blends clever one-liners and witty observations with catchy songs that he performs while playing instruments like the guitar, casio-keyboard, and loop-pedal.  Much of his material has been inspired by girlfriends, who are now incidentally ex-girlfriends.  Since his breakout performance in Aspen, Ben has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Last Call with Carson Daly.  Ben has also appeared twice on ABC’s hit game show, Wipeout - one time as a normal contestant, and most recently in the All-Star Episode.  He lost both times, but would still go back for a third helping of pain if asked.  Ben currently resides in Los Angeles where he creates original content for the web and is starring in a stand-up comedy based pilot that is currently in production.  He hopes writing about it doesn’t jinx it.

Think about it... farts are totally just food ghosts

Mary Lynn Rajskub

http://marylynnrocks.com/Welcome.html

Bentzen Ball Performances: Lincoln Theatre, Thursday, 8pm; Studio Theatre-Milton Theatre, Friday 8pm; Black Cat-Backstage, Friday 10pm; Black Cat-Back Stage, Saturday 7pm; The Studio Theatre-Stage Four, Saturday 10pm.

Get Tickets Here!

Mary Lynn Rajskub has established herself as a versatile and dynamic actress/writer/performer through impressive television and film roles as well as stand-out live performances. Her continuing fan-favorite role as computer genius Chloe O’Brian in FOX’s smash hit “24″ - even though she doesn't know jack about technology in RL.

Steve Agee

http://www.myspace.com/steveagee

Bentzen Ball Performances: The Studio Theatre-Milton Theatre, Thursday 10pm, Bohemian Caverns-LIV, Thursday 7pm, Black Cat-Backstage, Friday 10pm, HR 57-Jazz Room, Friday 7pm, Studio Theater, Saturday-Milton Theatre 9:30pm, 9:30 Club, Sunday 8pm.

Get Tickets Here!

Steve was born in Riverside, California. Fast forward about 30 years past all the childhood and young adulthood bullshit. Now Steve is an actor, comedian and writer who appears on the Sarah Silverman Program. He has like 1 million Twitter followers and had the grossest thing happen to him......

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+ california tortilla coupons at all merch tables

For more festival ticketing info, including festival value packs check out http://www.bentzenball.com/tickets/

(BONUS: if you buy your presale before noon today, you get $75 zip car gift certificate. Score)

For all things comedy festival related: http://www.bentzenball.com/

Previously in comedy:

• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
• 1/24: LiveDC: Adam Carolla @ Fillmore
• 1/20: Behind The Desk 32: Eddie Brill Is Common
• 1/17: LiveDC: JB Smoove @ 930 Club
• 12/8: Tom Arnold - Up Close & Very Nice
• 12/5: LiveDC: Michael Ian Black @ Sixth and I Synagogue
• 12/5: Lauren Weedman-BUSTED
• 12/1: R.I.P. Patrice O'Neal - brilliant 1969 to 2011
• 11/30: BYT Interview: Michael Ian Black
• 10/4: Laugh Track: Joe Rogan @ Warner Theatre