Nevada City Film Festival's Comedy Nights

Friday night kicks off with "Locals Mostly" co-presented with The BVNKR and featuring the enigmatic Zani Salvatore and Jori Phillips - fondly referred to as the #2 and #3 winners of last year's Herd Mentality at Comedy Nights. They're back with new hilarious material, and joining them are our new friends Nate Shaw (Punchline Sacramento) and Walker Glen (SF Sketchfest) - two dudes not afraid to riff on everyday absurdities or share their hilarious personal stories.

Saturday night audiences will be treated to a very special, never before seen evening with the one, the only - Jess Riegel, host and creator of the cult favorite online series Unlikely Gems. Opening up is The Next Great Show, a live comedy series, hosted by the ultra funny duo Rena Blair and Judy Merrick. These local gals give the original Wayne and Garth a serious run for their money.

Doors 7pm, Show 8pm. Full Bar available. General seating.

Over the years, NCFF Comedy Nights has grown to become its own signature event having welcomed such infamous characters as Marc Maron, Tig Notaro, Maria Bamford, Beth Stelling, Brett Gelman, Eric Andre, Nick Kroll, Natasha Leggero, Kyle Kinane, John Early and Kate Berlant to name a few.

Jori Phillips

Jori's fast-paced, happily aggressive, relatable comedy will make you feel at home in an alien world as she works out what it is to be a human being. Born on a small rock in the Canadian Pacific - Jori has performed in all 50 states! In her free time, she enjoys producing award winning sculptural art internationally. @whimsicorp @joriphillips

Michaela King
Michaela King is a Nevada City-based stand up comedian, producer and actor. She is the co-founder of The Bvnkr, and has produced open mics and shows in Nevada County for 5 years, including Nevada City Film Festival's standup showdown Herd Mentality last year. She has performed stand up all in multiple states, but her true passion is writing short bios. @themadgesty @thebvnkr

Nate Shaw

Nate is a Sacramento-based stand-up comedian who can be found regularly at Laughs Unlimited and Punchline Sacramento, as well as hosting and performing all over Northern California. Whether riffing on everyday absurdities or sharing hilarious personal stories, Nate never fails to leave the crowd laughing. @nathaniel_good

Walker Glenn
Walker Glenn is a stand-up comic, writer, podcaster, and the grumpy dad you didn't know you wanted. In 2023 he performed in Treefort Fest and SF Sketchfest. He is a regular at Cheaper Than Therapy and Laughs Unlimited, a frequent contributor to the punk news/satire site the Hard Times, and host of the podcast Idiotalk. He lives in Oakland, CA with his human son and canine dog, and he is not mad at you--- he's just disappointed.
@walkerjfglenn / walkerglenn.com

Zani Salvatore
Zani Salvatore quickly established himself in the regional scene with his fresh humor and casual mayhem. He's a regular on shows from Sacramento to Reno and his mom told us to say nice things about him… it is true that he is very handsome. @datboizani

Jess Riegel is a writer, actor, and director based out of Nevada City known for his role playing a deadpan TV presenter in the Unlikely Gems video series.

Riegel has spent the last eight years absorbing life in Nevada County: doing construction, milking a goat and a cow, learning to garden, helping people grow cannabis, living in an old ranch classroom, sleeping in an uninsulated cabin, practicing Ecstatic Dance, driving a yellow taxi, caring for a dog, and doing over 2000 cold dips in Wolf Creek and Deer Creek.

Growing up in Placer County, Riegel had a kind of idyllic rural childhood making oak tree blackberry forts and doing arts and crafts with his family. His parents were college art professors, and didn’t allow Riegel to watch the household TV very much or own a video game system. Jess and his sister rarely knew any pop culture references, but at home they did living room entertainment like magic shows and silly homemade videos. They also performed musical comedy at their elementary school’s yearly spring talent show, which supposedly was inspired after a five-year-old Jess Riegel asked to perform a funny and morbid song called “Found a Peanut” on-stage at the school’s halloween carnival. Riegel got very involved in local children’s theater, eventually landing a paid gig performing as the only kid in the Sacramento Music Circus production of Bye Bye Birdie. As a professional child actor, he figured out an ice cream hoarding scheme by collecting free cones from each of the three different concession stands and hoarding them in the cast freezer, where he would share with friends and family.

With an extremely supportive mother, Riegel was told he was going to college and went along with it. He studied fine art under renowned Southern California landscape painter Hank Pitcher, earning an Honors B.A. in painting from the College of Creative Studies, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He worked for four years as an illustrator at The Daily Nexus campus newspaper, and helped steward a thriving hippie surf commune called “The Sunset House” that was known for Naked Sundays, dance parties, and a foosball table with rules that said if a player is shut-out 10-0 they were required to do a naked ocean jump.

An avid video-maker since age 12, Riegel produced three distinct feature film documentaries on the unicycling world olympics: in Japan, Denmark, and Italy. He also was a very proficient unicyclist and won 3rd best in the world for technical downhill mountain unicycling at the 2008 unicycling olympics. He was a finalist in 2015 for designing a public art video commission at the Golden1 Center in Sacramento, but fumbled the win. Later, success arrived when he won an Upstate Creative Corps grant in 2023 based off his Unlikely Gems video series.

Riegel’s favorite performance of the last few years was a roast/toast wedding sing-a-long he performed to a party of 300 on a local ranch. He enjoys playing music and for a while played the percussive instrument called a güiro with local cumbia band, Suika T.

Rena Blair is lead writer, co-producer, and co-host of The Next Great Show, a live comedy series with rotating themes that features all local performers. She makes audiences laugh (sometimes intentionally) with a signature mix of wit, absurdity, and deep appreciation for pop culture references. Rena has worked on numerous shows as a stage manager, assistant director, or set designer and her variety shows with longtime collaborator and co-producer Judy Merrick have consistently sold out since 2019. Rena is an improv and stand-up comic, podcast guest, public speaker, and storyteller. She taught drama and improv to high school students at NEO Youth Center for 3 years and has a BFA in Dramatic Arts. The Next Great Show has produced Lord Of The Schwings!, How You Dune?, Ski Lodge and more! Catch them in Woke Crystal 3.0 at The Chambers Project on May 3rd/10th. Rena is very excited to be back at The Nevada Theatre with NCFF!

Judy Merrick - Coming Soon!

Event Venue

Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad Street, Nevada City, United States