Much as Twitter has finally taken all that ponderous “substance” out of communication, Comedy Central’s upcoming ComedyFest will excise much of the waiting around and spending money on things from comedy festivals, whittling the experience down to just 140 characters and 6-second videos that you can absorb at your leisure for free. The April 29 event will play out over Twitter and its associated video app Vine, with the press announcement promising five straight days of more than 50 comedians—including people like Jeffrey Ross, Amy Schumer, Gabriel Iglesias, and Key & Peele—all scheduled to be tweeting jokes, but also doing so with the hashtag #ComedyFest, so that you know it’s part of a Twitter festival.
In addition, Vine will host panels like a Judd Apatow-moderated one in which he and Carl Reiner watch Mel Brooks make his first-ever tweet, a roundtable between comedy directors including Paul Feig and Neil Brennan, and a “Vine Dining” party where Steve Agee challenges people like James Urbaniak to tell a story in only six seconds. There will also be many, many “livetweet” showcases, such as The Ben Show’s Ben Hoffman chronicling his battle to stay lucid on Ambien, Doug Benson riffing on Encino Man, and a live commentary on the Reno 911! movie from its reunited cast. Those who want to keep track of it all can do so through the Comedy Central Twitter account, or just search for the “#ComedyFest” hashtag that certainly won’t be usurped by people just trying to get attention, because Twitter is governed by order and respect.