COMEDY NINJA Film and Screenplay Festival

Hello, Ninjas of Comedy! We have excellent news for you. Hugely popular stand-up comedian, improvisor, host and writer Grant Cotter will open the COMEDY NINJA Film Festival on Friday, May 30th at 7:00 pm. Grant will be warming up the crowd with a special Stand-up performance before our Opening Night Film, Nathan Marshall’s COFFEE, KILL BOSS. His off-the-wall hilarity will no doubt leave everybody in stitches, so don’t you dare miss it!! Read more about this amazingly funny dude down below!

Originally from London, England by way of San Diego and Catalina Island, Grant was a smart ass from a young age. Constantly getting in trouble at school for pulling pranks and disrupting his classmates he knew he had a knack for making people laugh. His school boy antics eventually lead to him winning his schools title of ‘Best Sense of Humor’ in Middle School and again in High School.

Since then Grant Cotter has appeared on numerous TV shows including, “The Henry Cho Comedy Show” on GAC, “1,000 Ways To Die” on SpikeTV, “All-Stars” on MTV, candid appearances on “TMZ” and on the Comedy Time Network’s “Man Up Stand Up”.

His stand up can be heard on Sirius/XM National Lampoon Comedy Radio. He was a recurring guest co-host on Indie1031.com’s ‘Space Invaded Radio’, ‘Wino Wednesday’s’ and can currently be heard weekly on the Cool Party Guy’s Podcast ‘Stand-ups Sit Down’.

Since the start of his career Grant has won multiple awards and contests such as The Irvine Improv’s Funniest Comedian in Orange County, Bill Word’s Ultimate Laff-Down, Funniest Comic in Anaheim and he is a 3 time winner of The Laugh Factory’s Fresh Faces contest.

Grant’s wild off the cuff anything goes style and attitude has made him a crowd favorite at comedy clubs across the country. Grant credits his approach to comedy to a summer spent in New York City where he performed up to 10 times a night.

In 2010 after a performance at The Egyptian Theater in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, The Park City Record wrote of Cotter, “Grant Cotter has an eclectic brand of humor, quick wit, and rapid-fire delivery that never misses a beat.”

In 2011 Grant was one of the youngest comedians ever to be invited to perform in the prestigious San Francisco International Comedy Competition where he performed for over 1,800 people and received honorable mention. He has also appeared in the San Luis Obispo Comedy Festival and the Ventura Harbor Comedy Festival.

Grant is a regular comedian on ‘Comedy Juice’ a show that Sirius/XM Satellite radio calls “The best Stand-up show in the country” and has been featured on CNN and US Weekly.

He studies Improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings.

As a Host, Grant shot an unaired pilot for CurrentTV, a music countdown show featuring the Billboard Top 40. He is the Host of ‘Cracktastic’ a pop culture web series featuring topical interviews with celebrities. He is also the producer/mastermind of the insanely popular, Rated R for RADICAL, a sell out live stand up show at the Irvine Improv hosted by Grant featuring performances by todays top comedians.

The OC Weekly recently wrote, “His raunchy subject matter and quick wit will surely leave you in stitches. Rated R for Radical isn’t just a clever name—and it’s definitely worth the $10 per hour you’re paying the baby sitter. ”

Grant Cotter has performed alongside the biggest and best comedians in the country such as Dane Cook, Ron White, Louis CK, Dave Attell and Daniel Tosh to name a few. You can see Grant performing regularly at The Improv Comedy Clubs throughout Southern California as well as The Laugh Factory in Hollywood and Long Beach were he Hosts the weekly ‘Class Clowns College Night’.

Grant Cotter currently resides in Los Angeles where he performs nightly. 

For more info and updates on Grant Cotter go to http://grantcotter.com/

Purchase your COMEDY NINJA Fest tickets! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/578246

FIND US ON INSTAGRAM! http://instagram.com/comedyninjafest

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! https://twitter.com/comedyninjafest

In Hollywood, fame is but a fleeting thing. Not so for iconic actress, singer, and writer Sally Kellerman, who has been a force in Hollywood with a lengthy career spanning nearly 60 years! While she is most famous for her unforgettable turn as Major “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s hit MASH…

it is her work with another Houlihan that is being spotlighted at the COMEDY NINJA Film Festival. Kellerman stars in director Ellen Houlihan’s hilarious award-winning short comedy JOAN’S DAY OUT.

Kellerman was born in Long Beach, California in 1937, and attended Hollywood High School. After graduation, she dropped out of Los Angeles City College to pursue acting lessons with Jeff Coreys, who taught the likes of Jack Nicholson, Shirley Knight, and James Coburn. After her debut film REFORM SCHOOL GIRL (1957), Kellerman was a great presence in the live theater scene, starring in stage productions of Henrik Ibsen’s AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, Leslie Stevens’s THE MARRIAGE-GO-ROUND, and Michael Shurtleff’s CALL ME BY MY RIGHTFUL NAME.  During the 1960s, Kellerman landed roles in several television shows, including Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in STAR TREK (1966), and Judith Bellero in THE OUTER LIMITS opposite Martin Landau.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that Kellerman’s career really began to heat up, and it all started with her iconic role as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s Palme d’Or-winning comedy MASH. Kellerman was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her performance. After MASH, Kellerman continued to work with Altman and starred in several of his films, such as BREWSTER MCCLOUD, PRET-A-PORTER, and his short-lived television series, GUN. Outside of her work with Altman, Kellerman has delighted audiences for decades with her ability to portray a vast array of characters. She lit up the screen as Rodney Dangerfield’s English teacher-turned-love interest in BACK TO SCHOOL, and made audiences cry of laughter as a porn star in purgatory in MEATBALLS III: SUMMER JOB.

Aside from being an actress, Kellerman keeps busy off-screen by performing as a voice-over artist, promoting global brands such as Revlon and Mercedes-Benz. She also has an incredible singing career, has cut two albums, and has worked with music industry greats Lou Adler and Norman Granz. Kellerman often collaborates on her film’s soundtracks. Last year, Kellerman’s memoir about her trials and tribulations in the entertainment biz, READ MY LIPS: STORIES OF A HOLLYWOOD LIFE, was published.

You don’t want to miss seeing Kellerman’s awesome performance (and beautiful voice!) as a retirement home prisoner searching for freedom in JOAN’S DAY OUT. Ellen Houlihan’s hilarious breakout short was an official selection of the 2013 LA Shorts Fest and debuted at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cannes Court Metrage. JOAN’S DAY OUT will be featured at the COMEDY NINJA Film Festival on May 31st at 12:00pm, as part of the DIRTY GARDENING comedy shorts program.

Purchase your COMEDY NINJA Fest tickets! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/578246

FIND US ON INSTAGRAM! http://instagram.com/comedyninjafest

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! https://twitter.com/comedyninjafest