Cabo San Lucas is small city filled with a lot of life and when the Cabo Comedy Festival came to town from October 2nd-6th, the town was roaring with laughter. This is the first installation of Cabo Comedy Fest and offered comedy shows with various comedians, panels and of course, pool parties. The comedy show’s were at some of the hottest venues in downtown Cabo, Pink Kitty, Hard Rock Cafe, Desperados and the infamous Cabo Wabo. The most anticipated show was the ‘The Comics of Chelsea Lately,’ at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Among the popular Chelsea Lately comics that had the crowd standing for their standup was Gina Brillon, Ben Gleib, Annie Lederman and Heather McDonald. The comedian I looked most forward to seeing was the ever so funny, Ms. McDonald. I could not contain my excitement when I saw Heather McDonald walk through the door. Yes, I am sure I came across as a little girl seeing One Direction, because she walked right in front of me (and the only 3 other people in line) and I shouted “Oh my gosh! There’s Heather McDonald,” which was followed by a giddy wave. Once we were able to go upstairs to our reserved table, I actually chatted with Heather. She was very nice and spoke with my friend and I for a little while before the show. McDonald told us that one of her newest characters, “Regina Chelsea Lately’s Make-up Artist,” is based on Chelsea Handler’s real make-up artist. In fact, she even said that the real make-up artist watches as they film the Regina sketch and Heather still is not sure if she really knows the character is based on her. Loved her candidness. I even expressed that my favorite impression she performs is ‘Celine Dion,’ and guess who then performed a Celine Dion sketch 10 minutes later.

If any of you are big fans of Chelsea Lately and recognize Ben Gleib, then you know that Chelsea always gives him a hard time, poor guy. Seeing his standup was a great look for him. He had the crowd rolling across the beer stained floors of the Hard Rock with laughter. Gleib knows how to work an audience and also understands the environment he is in. Cabo jokes kept coming out of the comedian and the people were loving it. After the show I met Gleib and we chatted for a while. He was very personable and appreciative and shared that he was loving his time in Cabo. I told Gleib that I had just saw him on Chelsea Lately that night before coming to the show and heard him and Chelsea talk about the Cabo Comedy Fest. He was amazed that it happened to air that same night of his performance (I explained that Mexico aires the show’s later). Out of all the comics I met Ben Gleib was the friendliest, and might I even say the funniest.

When Annie Lederman took the stage the energy in the room shifted. The comedian seemed to be very irritated by a drunk audience member that was apparently disturbing her. Lederman kept engaging the bothersome man and at one point told him, “I hope you die.”

Don’t get me wrong, I can imagine how frustrating that must be, but at the same time you also need to take into account the other 99 people in the audience who came to see your performance. To be quite honest, it was awkward and slightly uncomfortable. Our table would not have even noticed the guy if she did not put such an emphasis on him. Lederman continued her sketch and involved the audience the entire time, pulling them into her jokes. I met her once the show had finished and she and Gleib were nice enough to take a photo with me. Lederman was a pleasant person off stage.

Cabo Comedy Fest was a success! Excited to see the lineup for next year’s festival! Getting a little too excited, too soon.