1st ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA 2018

First Annual Palm Springs International Comedy Festival’s Awards Gala took place on Saturday, November 10^th at Hotel Zoso’s Filmore Ballroom.

The star studded, black tie awards gala honored the best comedic celebrity talents in stand-up, film and television. Comedian Kathy Griffin was presented with the “Comedian of the Year” Award, while Illeana Douglas received the “Pioneer in Comedy Award” for the first ever branded Web series “Easy To Assemble.” The award-winning cast and production team of Paramount’s summer blockbuster “Book Club” were presented with the “Stanley Kramer Mad World Comedy Award.”

Celebrities in attendance included Kathy Griffin, Illeana Douglas, Ed Begley Jr., Karen Sharpe Kramer, Kat Kramer, Geoffrey Mark, ‘Book Club’ Director/Producer Bill Holderman, Writer/Producer Erin Simms, Wayne Federman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Festival Director/Founder Paul Cruz. Veteran performer Tommi Rose hosted the gala.

The festival continues on November 17-18th. For more information, please visit www.palmspringscomedyfest.com

Photo Credit: Danielle Mathias

Vic Gerami

A noted columnist, Vic Gerami is also a journalist and media contributor who is also publisher and editor of The Blunt Post. His show, 'The Blunt Post with Vic' on Public Radio KPFK 90.7 FM, part of Pacifica Network, launched in 2018. Today reaching national international audiences, Gerami first built a foundation of knowledge and skills by learning the media industry during his years at Frontiers Magazine, followed by positions at LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. For the second time, Gerami was selected as a finalist in the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards “Columnist of the Year” category in 2019, having first made the final round of consideration in 2017. His celebrity Q&A column, '10 Questions with Vic', is syndicated internationally. The Wall Street Journal featured Gerami as a “leading gay activist” in its landmark 2008 coverage of opposition to Proposition 8, the ballot measure that for years denied same-sex couples in California the freedom to marry. In addition to his years of volunteer work as a leading advocate for marriage equality, later Gerami went on to serve as a Planning Committee member for the historic Resist March in 2017. Vic Gerami is also a founding board member of Equality Armenia. In 2015, Gerami was referenced in the landmark Supreme Court civil rights case, Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Vic Gerami is a contributor to the LGBTQ San Diego County News, Windy City Times, Montrose Star, DC Life Magazine, Out & About Nashville, Q Virginia, GNI MAG, QNotes, GoWeHo, Asbarez, California Courier, Desert Daily Guide, Armenian Weekly, GED, The Pride LA, IN Magazine, OUT Traveler, The Fight and The Advocate Magazine among others.

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