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January 2022
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 Marty Simpson doesn’t look like an All-American Football Player, a sports radio talk show host, or a guy married to a woman who could stop traffic with her beauty. Let’s be honest, he looks like Dr. Phil’s heavier brother. Yet, he’s all of these things. Plus, Marty is a stand up comedian who has quickly garnered national recognition after becoming the winner of the 2012 Clean Comedy Challenge. Since that time, you may have seen Marty opening for Saturday Night Live’s Dennis Miller (if you were at that one show, that one night), Tim Hawkins, Pauly Shore, and Last Comic Standing Winners, Jon Reep and John Heffron. Marty also was a featured performer recently at the Lifeway Main Event along side Dr. Tony Evans, The Kendrick Brothers, All-Pro Place-Kicker David Akers, and Coach Tommy Bowden.  Marty stays busy at live stand-up shows throughout North America and has performed in venues from the 3 thousand seat Durham Performing Arts Center, all the way to Los Angeles’ Flappers Comedy Club. Marty has been a featured performer on Tim Hawkins’ Rockshow Comedy Tour and has performed for hundreds of churches across America and Canada.
Marty Simpson’s fun loving, self-deprecating comedy is focused on his experiences as a husband, dad, and former high school coach and teacher. He’s a perfect fit for…
Marty LOVES sports and is involved with his community in Blythewood, SC.  Bobby Kelton has appeared on "The Tonight Show" over two dozen times, and he's also been seen on "The Montel Williams Show," A & E's "Evening at the Improv" and CBS' "48 Hours." His classic observational style of comedy has audiences of all ages laughing at the things that happen in everyday life. He's opened for such diverse acts as Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones and Gladys Knight, and is equally at home - and equally funny - in small comedy clubs or on a big Las Vegas stage.
Trustpoint Advisors launches its national Tour for The Apostles of Comedy while making its DVDs available at mass retail stores everywhere. Drew Edwards is the President of Trustpoint and the film’s Executive Producer. Apostles is often referred to as the “Christian” version of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Mr. Edwards was exposed to Blue Collar (founded by Atlantan comedian Jeff Foxworthy) because his main client, Atlantan Ron White, was part of Blue Collar. Mr. Edwards serves as the President of “Ron White, Inc.” and believes Apostles could have similar success as Blue Collar.
This year's Clean Comedy Challenge was the best yet! Leslie Norris Townsend keeps hitting a homerun. Improvements in the competition were obvious. Not only were the competitors the best ever, the venue and the format of the competition was improved. The competition location was moved down south to the beautiful little town of Senoia, Georgia, home of "The Walking Dead" television show. The Cafe which served as the host venue for the competition was wonderfully staffed and jammed packed full of eager audience members every night! Just 25 minutes south of Atlanta, and located in the Hollywood-darling town of Senioa made for a perfect location for the Challenge.  Formatting structure changed slightly this year as well. We crowned "Peoples' Choice Audience Winners" each night in order to spread the wealth a little bit. In the past, sometimes an individual night winner may not go on to win the entire competition so we wanted to acknowledge who the audience like the most each night, in addition to awarding the judges' favorite at the end of the week. This year's audience happen to agree with the judges though. The two nightly winners were Charlene Mae, a judges' finalist, and Marty Simpson, the eventual winner. The open-mics back at the hotel proved to be very entertaining to the hotel guests and the finale shows by Joby Saad, Bobby Kelton, Leslie Norris, and Dennis Regan were a fantastic success. Joby and Bobby showcased their talents at the Senioa Cafe on the last night and Leslie and Dennis blew the roof off the Wyndam Hotel.  The conference portion of the Challenge was a stellar piece of the week as well. The competitors were able to hear from Bobby Kelton about his life experiences which included over 20 Tonight Show appearances. They got to hear from Joby Saad about the art of producing show stopping comedy bits, including silent movie-inspired mime act-outs. Dennis Regan, David Letterman's favorite comic, work-shopped with the contestants about the fundamentals of performance and writing, Suzanne Bartels, the nation's top cruise-line entertainment booker and owner of the Senioa Cafe, spoke with the group about what it takes to be a working cruise-ship comedian, and on the last day, Drew Edwards shared industry secrets which helped create the world famous Ron White!
Leslie Norris Townsend has produced award winning shows for more than 20 years and the Clean Comedy Challenge is no different. The Peachtree Wyndham Hotel was perfect for the sessions and for the finale show. Overall, it was by far the best Clean Comedy Challenge yet. If you are a comedian serious about developing your career, you would be foolish not to take advantage of the Clean Comedy Challenge! |
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