After being kicked off with a pre-festival show on Nov. 8, the first annual New York Comedy Festival officially got underway with Roseanne Barr's performance on Tuesday, Nov. 9. The Festival, which was criticized by many for its high prices and lack of opportunity for local up-and-coming talent, featured stars Steven Wright, Denis Leary, Drew Carey, Paul Mooney, Mo'Nique, Opie & Anthony, among others. "It definitely already has (helped me)," said Los Angeles comedian Eric Schwartz. "Getting up in front of a New York audience is great. It's great because I got to do the weekend at Caroline's. It just exposes me to a whole new audience, which is cool. I got to go up in front of 5,000 people at Madison Square Garden. I got to meet a bunch of industry people."

Comedian Kristen Schall said that the Festival gave her the "fire to keep creating work. (I liked) the idea that sort of different forms of comedy is being embraced."

Except for Paul Mooney's show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, all of the major events were held on the west side of Midtown. That's in contrast with other comedy festivals, such as the Comedy Soapbox festivals and the New York City Underground Comedy Festival, which spread their shows around a much wider area. The latter has shows in each of the five boroughs.

Roseanne headlined the first event, and got a lot of laughs with a highly political show that featured a visual presentation that complemented her act. In typical Roseanne fashion, she concluded her act with a risqué performance of her stripping down to her underwear and tap dancing for the crowd. This show kicked off her latest tour.

Steven Wright performed on Thursday, Nov. 11. Reviews for his show were favorable. Tickets for his show were priced at $54.25, which was significantly higher than the $28-38 that his show cost in Stamford, Conn. in June.

One critic, who also runs a comedy festival, contrasted his event with the NYCF. "We're about helping emerging talent, not about lining our pockets."

Repeated attempts to contact the organizers of the New York Comedy Festival went unanswered.

During Wright's performance at Town Hall, Caroline's Comedy Club gave less-famous comedians their only chance to perform in the Festival. Ten contestants competed in the finals for the first-ever Andy Kaufman Award, after having submitted tapes and advancing in Monday's semi-finals.

One of the judges, Marc Hirschfeld, who is the executive vice president of casting at NBC, described what he looks for when judging a contest. "It's completely subjective," he said. "I look for originality, strong point of view, unique voice, character, and last, most subjective of all, is that spark, that sort of unquantifiable specialness that, in my opinion, makes someone a star. Really, my gut is what I go on."

The winner was Suzanne Whang, who performs under the stage name Sung Hee Park. Park's character is a recent Korean immigrant who is on stage for the first time, and says shocking things.

"At the finals, I felt like Cinderella at the Ball," Whang said. "My mother, father, and sister came up. Andy Kaufman was such an inspiration to me. He was someone who was original and had courage. Every time I've done my standup anywhere, somebody has come up to me and said that I was like Andy Kaufman."

For the victory, Whang received a check for $7,500. She also was seen by industry professionals, which led to two meetings at NBC and a slot on Comedy Central's Premium Blend.

Whang said, "Sung Hee Park… can get away with anything. I just love the idea that people are rooting for her, yet she's saying all of these horrifying things. It just challenges people. I would like Sung Hee Park to get her own sitcom. All she wants to do is to be able to make people laugh."

The New York Comedy Festival concluded with Last Comic Standing II winner John Heffron's show on Sunday, Nov. 14.

When comparing the Festival with other major comedy festivals, Hirschfeld said, "I hope the New York Comedy Festival is as successful in its own right, and makes its own mark. New York is such an exciting place to do comedy and to discover comedic voices."

"I'm really excited to get back to New York," Schwartz said. "Doing this festival… opened my eyes to the great comedy scene that's in New York. It seemed very inviting to come back soon."

You can also e-mail Jerry L. Kahn at jerry@thecomical.com or visit him at www.BorderingOnTheRidiculous.com.