Headliner
Paula Poundstone
Saturday, June 16 - Web site
Serving as the host for the Saturday, June 16, show that serves as the finals of the festival’s stand-up competition will be Paula Poundstone.
Poundstone is known for spontaneity and intelligent humor, making her an ideal panelist for National Public Radio’s weekly news quiz show called “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me” show. She was the first woman to win an ACE Award for Best Stand-up Comedy performance, and was the first woman to be invited to perform at the distinguished White House Correspondents dinner.
She has starred in solo special on HBO and Bravo and made frequent television appearances with David Letterman, Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson and Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
A lecturer and author who lives in Santa Monica, Calif., Poundstone has been described as “a refreshing anti-celebrity: warm, gracious, genuine. If you like intelligent, philosophical comedy, you’ll love Paula Poundstone.”
2012 Johnny Carson Comedy Legend Award recipient
Jimmie "JJ" Walker
Saturday, June 16
Jimmie “J.J.” Walker — who rose to fame in the 1970s and ’80s as a television actor and comedian — will be in Norfolk on Saturday, June 16, to receive the Viaero Great American Comedy Festival’s annual Johnny Carson Comedy Legend award.
But not only will he receive the award, he’ll also take to the stage of the Johnny Carson Theatre and perform some of the stand-up comedy that helped make him famous.
Rising from the streets of New York's ghettos to television superstardom, Jimmie Walker personifies the great American success story.
His catch phrase "Dyn-o-mite!" is part of the modern vernacular, and he became such a major celebrity in the 1970s that Time Magazine named him "Comedian of the Decade.
Jake Johannsen
Thursday, June 14 and Friday, June 15
With more than 40 appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and an HBO special that TV Guide named one of the "50 Funniest Moments on Television," Johannsen has become one of the top performers in stand-up comedy. He’s also performed on “The Tonight Show” more than 10 times.
Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Johannsen attended Iowa State University in the early 1980s, originally majoring in veterinary medicine, and then later changing to chemical engineering. He left after three years in college and moved to San Francisco in order to pursue a career in comedy. By 1986, he had won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition.
In 2010, Johannsen starred in his second comedy special titled “I Love You,” which aired on Showtime.
Johannsen will be performing to close out the shows on Thursday, June 14, and Friday, June 15, at the festival.
Ryan Hamilton
Thursday, June 14 and Friday, June 15
In addition to his win last summer at the 2011 Viaero Great American Comedy Festival, Hamilton has been named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s five comics to watch and has appeared on NBC's “Last Comic Standing,” Comedy Central's “Live at Gotham” and the Showtime special “Caroline Rhea and Friends.”
He received his degree in journalism and public relations at Brigham Young University. But that was before he decided to make comedy a career.
He has won the MVP award for “The Comedy Leagues” competition at the Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, garnering him a spot on the Just For Laughs Canadian cross-country tour. He also won Sierra Mist's “America's Next Great Comic Search” and has been a two-time finalist at the Boston Comedy Festival competition.
Hamilton will host the June 14 and June 15 festival shows.