FuMPFest

Recapturing Lightning

The second FuMPFest convention took place took place June 5-7, 2015. This time talent was imported from Canada to bring the comedy. The Arrogant Worms were our guests of honor. The guys put on an amazing two hour concert on Saturday night, did a fantastic Q&A session, signed autographs, sampled the legendary Chicago pizza, and even took part in our Dumb Parody Ideas panel.

The Dumb Parody Ideas panel was inspired by sketches from Luke Ski's album 4th Grade Talent Show. Tony Goldmark suggested we make this into a FuMPFest event and the results were amazing. Musicians, both professional and amateur, took the stage to perform brief snippets of dumb song parody ideas. The winner, as voted on by the audience, was presented with The Golden Spatula.

Other events of the weekend included a screening of the short zombie comedy Chomp featuring music by Trevor Strong of the Arrogant Worms, as well as Henry Phillips' movie Punching The Clown. We also had another Live Podcasts panel, this time including Kyle and Luke Talk About Toons where TV's Kyle and Luke Ski talked about the show Mighty Magiswords, a show Kyle created and Luke is working on.

The weekend was not without its snafus, as a miscommunication among the volunteers lead to there being no karaoke set up in the skack bar. ("I thought you were going to do that!")

Guest of Honor

The Arrogant Worms - Canada's long-time comedy legends crossed the border to delight us with some of their all-time classics, such as "Carrot Juice is Murder," "Rippy the Gator," and "I Am Cow."

Performing Artists

Bad Teenage Moustache - Danny Rockett and his crew of misfits from Chicago came out to perform their "must listen or die" songs.

Tim Cavanagh - Our surprise guest from 2014 returned in 2015 for an official concert.

Todd Chappelle - Hailing from Philadelphia, Todd Chappelle is a comic who has made a name or himself by doing timely parodies on YouTube.

Steve Goodie - One of the most prolific acts from the FuMP, Steve Goodie is a musician and comedian from Nashville who was on hand to grace us with some of his many Harry Potter songs.

Matt Griffo - Local artist Matt Griffo returned for a second year, this time with a viola player, to give us more great comedy songs.

Insane Ian - Since Ian was once again hosting the event we decided to let him perform first for the weekend so his voice wouldn't be shot. It went much better.

Drew Jacobs - This understated comic from New York came out dazzle us with his wit.

Mikey Mason - Unfortunately Mikey Mason had to cancel at the last minute, so Devo Spice and Power Salad filled in with half sets each.

the great Luke Ski - Luke Ski returned for a second performance at FuMPFest and put on one of the greatest shows he has ever given.

Smashy Claw - Austin Aeschliman and Nathan Long make up the experimental band Smashy Claw, who were on hand to perform some of their funner songs.

TV's Kyle - Animator TV's Kyle and his wife Lindsay put on a great show of quirky music.

Carla Ulbrich - Hailing from New Jersey, Carla Ulbrich is known as "the singing patient" for her many songs about doctors and medicine, which she wrote while battling a severe illness.

Other Events

Opening Ceremonies - Welcome to the con! Power Salad performed their song "Grapes" and we used the solos portion of that song to introduce the acts. Devo Spice banged his head against the microphone on behalf of the guests who weren't there yet and actually drew blood.

Dumb Parody Ideas - A rapid-fire event where contestants perform snippets of dumb parodies they came up with. Contestants included The Arrogant Worms, Carla Ulbrich, Steve Goodie, and Devo Spice, but the winner was a fan named R.J.

Movie Time - Screenings of Chomp and Punching the Clown.

The State of the FuMP - Devo Spice and the Core FuMP members on hand gave a behind the scenes look at The FuMP and what the plans are for the future.

The 5th Annual Logan Whitehurst Memorial Awards for Excellence in Comedy Music - The 5th Logan Awards ceremony was hosted by Insane Ian who appeared on stage in a different outfit for each nomination.

Q&A With the Arrogant Worms - A Q&A with the trio from Canada, which featured information on how they got their name, what it was like performing with a symphony, and why they got picketted by the Westboro Baptist Church.

Live Podcasts - Live recordings of Manic Mondays with Devo Spice featuring a performance by Devo with Carla Ulbrich, and Kyle and Luke Talk About Toons where they discussed Mighty Magiswords.

The Demented Dance - DJ Blasted Bill hosted this late night dance party which featured some live performances as well as the music.

FuMP Showcase/Open Mic - A chance for any other artists in attendance to take the stage. This year we had performances by Karl Brown, Alyssa Yeager, Soggy Potato Chips, Brett Glass, RJ and DJ Particle.

Dementia Smackdown Wrestling - Comedy-music superfan Jered "Mr. Tuesday" Perez produces these wrestling videos staring the guests of FuMPFest with the help of his X-Box console.

Closing Ceremonies - All good things must come to an end. We closed out this year's event with a performance of "The Chainsaw Juggler" by The Four Postmen.

Click here to download the 2015 program book. (pdf)