Blogs

Erma’s Got Talent is back for season two!

Erma’s Got Talent: The Stand-Up Auditions, loosely fashioned after America’s Got Talent, will offer 12 randomly selected contestants the opportunity to perform two minutes of their original stand-up material in front of three celebrity judges — acclaimed comedians Brian Kiley, Wendy Liebman and Joel Madison. Nancy Berk, host of the podcast Entertaining Insights, will serve as emcee.

Slated for 7 p.m. (EST), Tuesday, May 3, it’s free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register here. Only registered attendees for the in-person workshop are eligible to perform, but anyone can be in the audience. To express your interest in performing, fill out this form by April 18. Contestants will be selected randomly and notified by April 20. (Clean comedy only!)

The winning contestant and runners up will perform on stage at Attendee Stand-Up Comedy Night on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the in-person Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. Other performers for that evening will be selected randomly later this spring or summer.

Entertaining and educational, Erma's Got Talent is an instructional opportunity for participants as well as the audience. The judges will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of performance/material and offer expert suggestions.

Host Nancy Berk is a comedy writer for internationally awarded entertainers and television personalities; host and co-producer of the podcast Entertaining Insights featuring over 500 celebrity interviews; lyricist; humor columnist; and author.

Meet the celebrity judges:

Brian Kiley, comedian, writer for The Ellen Degeneres Show, Emmy Award-winning former head monologue writer for Conan O'Brien and the author of two books, Maybe Kevin and The Astounding Misadventures of Rory Collins.

Wendy Liebman, stand-up comic who has performed on late-night shows — from Carson to Kimmel — and appeared in comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central and, most recently, on Showtime’s “Funny Women of a Certain Age.” She was a semifinalist on America's Got Talent. A workshop favorite, she returns to host the Attendee Stand-Up Comedy Night this fall.

Joel Madison, stand-up comedian and comedy writer who has worked in every form of television writing as well as feature films. Most recently, he was a consulting producer on the HBO comedy series Crashing. He won the prestigious Peabody Award for his work on the original Roseanne sitcom.

To learn more about the Oct. 20-22 in-person Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop and to register, click here.