Big Stinkin' International Improv Festival, later known as the Big Stinkin' International Improv & Sketch Comedy Festival, was an annual comedy festival held in Austin, Texas from 1996 to 1999. Founded by Marc Pruter, Jon Wiley, and other members of the Austin improv troupe Monks' Night Out, the festival was a multi-venue event featuring improv and sketch troupes from across the United States and abroad, national television performers, workshops, gala shows, video screenings, and corporate sponsorships.
History According to an Associated Press account, Marc Pruter conceived Big Stinkin' after becoming discouraged by the absence of a showcase for rising improvisational talent. He developed the festival with fellow Monks' Night Out member Jon Wiley, who helped promote it through Usenet and the Web, while Monks' Night Out served as host for the inaugural event. The first festival took eight months to organize and grew out of the troupe's experience touring, attending other groups' shows, and performing at regional festivals, where its members encountered many of the performers later invited to Austin.
The festival’s founding vision treated cross-pollination among different schools of improv—and direct access to veteran teachers—as purposes equal to performance and industry exposure. It was designed to bring performers with different approaches into the same event, give them opportunities to study with experienced teachers, and expose their work to industry representatives. Pruter also emphasized that Big Stinkin' would differ from festivals where improv was secondary to stand-up comedy by making improvisation itself the focus.
1996 The inaugural festival ran from April 22 to 27, 1996. It featured around 20 improv and sketch troupes from cities including Atlanta, Chicago, and San Jose, presented across eight shows over five nights. Participating groups included Dad's Garage and Theatre Strike Force.
A contemporary travelogue by the Van Gogh-Goghs described the troupe checking in and registering for classes at Esther's Pool before attending the opening-night program at The Velveeta Room. The account later summarized the festival rhythm as a day of classes followed by a night of shows, with karaoke afterward. The opening-night program included a presentation by Second City historian Jeffrey Sweet on the early history of improvisation, followed by rare video of early improv performers. Talent scouts from Disney, Comedy Central, and Trimark attended the inaugural festival.
Workshops Daytime workshops were part of the festival from its first year. Monks' Night Out member Joseph Anthony wrote that he attended two workshops a day and described sessions led by Gary Austin and Mick Napier, while identifying Del Close among the festival's teachers. David Koechner and Adam McKay, then associated with Saturday Night Live, taught workshops and emceed festival shows. Phyllis Katz, Larry Moss, and George Younts were also teachers that year.
Venues Festival performances and workshops were at The Velveeta Room, Esther's Pool, Paramount Theatre, and Zachary Scott Theatre.
1997 BS2, the second festival, ran from May 20 to 24. The Austin American-Statesman described BS2 as offering improvisation and sketch shows, workshops, industry representatives, and discussions on improvisational performance. Co-hosted by Monks' Night Out and the University of Texas student improv organization Only 90% Effective, the festival featured groups including The State, Monteith and Rand, Mumblypeg, Screw Puppies, The Second City, Fools Play, Theatre Strike Force, Transactors, Recess, MISSION IMPROVable, The Impromptones, and 4 Out of 5 Docs.
Phil LaMarr, The State, The Second City, and Monteith and Rand were among BS2's special guests and performers. Festival artistic director Jon Wiley said attendance had grown from around 100 people in 1996 to at least 275 in 1997, and that industry representatives from HBO, MTV, CBS, NBC, Fox, VH1, and Comedy Central were expected to attend.
A performance history on comedian David Wain's website states that the sketch-comedy troupe The State performed a full-length live show at the festival. Performers have described the 1997 festival as a point of industry exposure, with comedian Alex Borstein later stating that a MADtv casting agent saw her perform there with Los Angeles–based ACME Comedy Theatre, leading to auditions for the show.
Workshops The festival included a substantial workshop program. Joe Bill led a workshop on Annoyance-style improv, James Bailey led a musical improvisation workshop, Paul Sills taught Spolin Games, Michael Gellman and Martin de Maat guided participants on advanced long-form, John Monteith and Suzanne Rand taught “Doing It With Two,” and Keith Privett led “The Tao of Improv.” A 2018 Good Morning Wilton article later reported that Heather DeLude met Bill at Big Stinkin' when she was 19 or 20 and described him as one of her favorite instructors there, alongside other teachers she associated with the festival, including Martin de Maat and Amy Poehler.
Venues Festival events were held at Borders Books & Music, the Electric Lounge, Esther's Pool, the Paramount Theatre, and The Velveeta Room.
1998 BS3, the third festival ran from April 20 to 25, with 55 showcases at 13 venues. CNN's almanac listed the festival as an upcoming event on April 19. An AP feature described a self-reinforcing growth pattern in which performers traveled to Austin seeking industry exposure while casting agents, producers, and television representatives attended to scout talent, creating a cycle that helped attract additional performers, audiences, and sponsors. Representatives from Comedy Central, HBO, NBC, the William Morris Agency, and Carsey-Werner were in attendance. Monks' Night Out member Ed Carter purchased a controlling interest in the festival, and added an office staff of 10, to handle work previously managed by founders Pruter and Wiley.
Zachary Scott Theatre programing featured The Groundlings, Fred Willard, and Houseful of Honkeys among its recommended festival shows. Performers included The Groundlings, The Second City Touring Company, Brave New Workshop, Monteith and Rand, The Fred Willard Show, The Latino Comedy Project, GayCo Productions, Mission: IMPROVABLE, and the Impromptones.
Fred Willard, Alex Borstein, Ana Gasteyer, Chris Kattan, and Ron Livingston were among the emcees. A 1999 retrospective in The Austin Chronicle recalled that one of the standout 1998 performances took place at the Dougherty Arts Center and featured Los Angeles troupe Houseful of Honkeys with special guest Fred Willard. Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Time Warner Cable were among the festival's sponsors. The Christian Science Monitor reported that the musical improv group the Impromptones—Jeff Davis, Joe Whyte, James Thomas Bailey, and Michael Pollock—had performed at the festival, where they received a standing ovation from their peers.
A Wednesday-night program at Palmer Auditorium, hosted by comedian Rudy Moreno, featured five Latino comedy performances from San Antonio, Austin, and Los Angeles: Yerba Buena, Big, Bad, and Beautiful, Flojo Style, the Latino Comedy Project, and Pocho!. Later that year, The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise reported that Yerba Buena's first review came from its Big Stinkin' appearance and said the review highlighted that a Latino group did not have to rely on stereotypes to be funny.
Nickelodeon's BS3 programming included an animation showcase featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, CatDog, and Action League Now!. Lori Beth Denberg was a special guest for appearances on April 25 and 26.
Workshops Teachers included Keith Johnstone, Carlo Mazzone-Clementi, Cynthia Szigeti, Mark Sutton, and Dan O'Connor.
Venues Festival events were held at Esther's Pool, the Velveeta Room, the State Theatre, Palmer Auditorium, the Zachary Scott Theatre Center, the Ritz Upstairs, the Dougherty Arts Center, the Scottish Rite Theatre, Ruta Maya Coffeehouse, the Austin Community College Main Theatre, the Continental Club, the Santa Cruz Center for Culture, and the Electric Lounge.
1999 BS4, the fourth and final festival, ran from April 5 to 10, 1999, and was billed as the Big Stinkin' International Improv & Sketch Comedy Festival 4. It ran for six days, featured about 55 comedy troupes, and included events at larger venues alongside smaller clubs and theatres. The festival's programming that year included cast members from MADtv and Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Published festival materials listed gala programming at the Paramount Theatre and Austin Music Hall, including a King of the Hill screening and Q&A, a Latino Comedy Showcase, a MADtv cast performance, and appearances by performers associated with Whose Line Is It Anyway?. The published schedule listed an Austin Music Hall gala featuring Whose Line Is It Anyway? performers Wayne Brady, Ian Gomez, Brad Sherwood, and Denny Siegel.
The Austin Chronicle also described showcase and smaller-venue programming across the festival week, including performances by ACME Comedy Theatre at Esther's Pool, Naked Babies and Oui Be Negroes at the Velveeta Room, the Flying Fannoli Brothers at the Scottish Rite Theatre, and the Impromptones at the Paramount Theatre.
There were tie-in events beyond live stage comedy. A "King of the Hill Day" was part of the festival and included a free barbecue at Auditorium Shores, lawn-mower races, and appearances by costumed likenesses of Hank, Peggy, and Bobby Hill. The event followed a declaration by Mayor Kirk Watson in honor of the animated television series King of the Hill, and series creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels attended an evening screening at the Paramount Theatre.
Workshops The detailed BS4 workshop schedule listed daytime sessions from 2 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Teachers included Fred Kaz, listed for a musician's master class in musical improvisational comedy; Gary Austin; Charna Halpern; Wayne Brady, listed for musical improvisational comedy; and Joel Murray. The April 10 performance schedule also included a youth workshop showcase and two workshop showcases.
Venues Festival performances, workshops, and other events were held at Austin Music Hall, Austin Theatresports, Babe's Stage Side, Capitol City Comedy Club, Caucus Club, Dobie Theatre, Esther's Pool, John Henry Faulk Living Theatre, Hyde Park Theatre, Iron Cactus, Maggie Mae's, Miguel's La Bodega, the Paramount Theatre, Scottish Rite Theatre, Speakeasy, the Velveeta Room, and Zachary Scott Theatre.
Panels Weekday morning panels at were at Esther's Pool on subjects including writing comedy professionally, the business of comedy, bilingual comedy, approaches to improvisation, and comedy and technology. Participants included Johnny Hardwick of King of the Hill; television writer Jay Kogen; former Lady Bird Johnson press secretary Liz Carpenter; Fred Kaz, billed as the original Second City musician; and Dan O'Connor.
Scale and programming In the comedy-writing guide The Comedy Bible, Judy Carter described Big Stinkin' as "the largest annual improv and sketch comedy festival of its kind", writing that improv and sketch troupes from around the world came to perform, meet industry representatives, and attend workshops. Contemporary coverage of the1999 festival described Big Stinkin' as the continent's third-largest comedy festival, behind Aspen and Montreal, and reported that the fourth festival drew about 12,000 attendees and 60 troupes from the United States and abroad.