Six Degrees of Alt-Comedy Nation: The Inbreeding of Comedy Fest Riot LA’s Lineup

All of your favorite comics—and their favorite comics—will be in downtown LA this weekend.
Art & Culture
Six Degrees of Alt-Comedy Nation: The Inbreeding of Comedy Fest Riot LA’s Lineup

All of your favorite comics—and their favorite comics—will be in downtown LA this weekend.

Words: Kurt Orzeck

graphic by Rachelle Sartini Garner

January 28, 2016

Notorious LA hater David Cross, notorious LA lover Patton Oswalt, their mutual friends Janeane Garofalo and Maria Bamford, and a bushel of other comedians descend on downtown Los Angeles this weekend for the fourth installment of the Riot LA festival. The three-day getdown brings together more than two-hundred comedians, ranging from salty-haired veterans (what’s the point of naming names?) to virtual unknowns (again, what’s the point of naming names?).

So, what do the participating comics have in common, beyond a knack for mostly sarcastic and sometimes snarky jokes, japes, and jabs? A hell of a lot, as it turns out. As this flowchart shows, there’s enough in-breeding between them to suggest that the festival isn’t taking place in LA but rather … well, another part of the country. We’ll leave the joke-making to them.

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