Amateur Night in Norfolk to provide Guaranteed Laughter

The Viaero Great American Comedy Festival is bring laughs back to Norfolk, so get ready to have a great night. The second of the festival’s preliminary amateur stand-up competitions will take place Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. at Divots Conference Center.

Tickets will be available at the door for $10 and in advance online at www.greatamericancomedyfestival.com.

Serving as the host for the show will be Amber Preston, who placed third in the professional comedian competition of the 2012 comedy festival in Norfolk.

Amber Preston is a comedy seductress. Recently named one of “5 Comedians to Watch” in New York Magazine her brassy charisma and keenly honed jokecraft leave audiences powerless not to fall head over heels. From raucous roadhouses to the classiest clubs Preston’s saucy, mischievous charm captivates diehard and casual comedy fans alike.

A proud native of Fargo, ND Preston’s early performance career consisted of hosting family talent shows and dancing in the aisles of the Hornbacher’s grocery store hoping to be discovered by Lawrence Welk. Years of musical theater, improv training, and short film work followed. In 2004 she took the plunge into standup comedy and immediately started turning heads.

Preston is a natural improviser whose comedy can be defined as much by the method of its creation as by its hilarious outcomes. She brings her “piddly ideas”, those small grains of nascent humor, to the stage. There she pokes, prods, and explores them, involving the audience in every step of the instinctive and spontaneous process until they emerge days, weeks, or months later as comedy pearls. Add to this a laundry list of quirky obsessions (mustaches, Hall and Oates, Hall and Oates’ mustaches), and a genuine passion for connecting and having fun with her audience and you have a recipe for true comedy excellence.