Ashland is known for serious theater, but a new festival hopes to put the town on the map for something else — sarcasm. The Ashland Sarcasm Festival, a three-day celebration of all things comedy, debuts in December.

The headliners include Ron Funches, Moshe Kasher and Amy Miller, stand-up comedians with national profiles and, in some cases, Oregon ties.

“The goal of year one was to bring in people from a higher level, mix them with regional comics and even local comics,” Hoffman says. “It’s really a platform for comedy in Ashland and the entire valley.”

The festival, created by local arts group Storytown, is also bringing improv workshops and a slate of unconventional performances to Ashland.

Comedy in unexpected places

Storytown hopes to spread performances throughout town by turning a range of local businesses into festival stages. Events will take place in bars, cafés, wine rooms, clubs and bookstores

“Local businesses are eager to be part of the festival,” Lavagnino said.

Businesses, such as Bar Juillet, Brickroom and Z Spicy Café, have signed up to host everything from game shows and stand-up to drag brunch and one-man shows.

At Drift Collective, a shop featuring locally made goods, former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and musical improviser Luke Null will teach a hands-on improv workshop.

“If the weather’s good, you might drive by and spot Luke Null with his guitar,” Hoffman laughs. “He’s amazing.”

Southern Oregon comedian Ty Boice will perform his one-man show “Hick to Hamlet” at Resistance Wine Company, blending Oregon humor with a Shakespearean twist.

“We wanted to show all different forms of comedy,” Hoffman adds. “Ty’s performance is a twist on Hamlet with an Ashland flavor.”

How sarcasm became the theme

The inspiration for the festival emerged during a gathering at Southern Oregon University’s Schneider Museum, where Hoffman presented Storytown’s early concepts to local leaders and creatives.

“After the meeting, everybody was coming up to me saying, ‘Sarcasm, sarcasm,’” Hoffman recalls. “So that seemed to be the one that stuck.”

For Storytown’s leadership, the word captured Ashland’s blend of intellect, humor and eccentricity.

“This town is so unique—nothing like anything else,” said Karolina Lavagnino, Storytown team member. “That sarcasm and sharp wit we want to celebrate is our way of saying, ‘Come discover. Let’s play together. Let’s enjoy comedy.’”

Storytown’s broader vision

Storytown, the producer behind the festival, traces its roots back four years, when co-founder Matt Hoffman joined a school district effort to help attract more young families. That project eventually evolved into Storytown, an attempt to build world-class cultural experiences that make Ashland a more vibrant place to live.

That vision came into focus in the festival’s anchor event, Epic Nights of Comedy, taking place at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Angus Bowmer Theatre. Storytown partnered with the nonprofit Epic Ashland, the group behind the Summer Sounds concert series.

“Epic was the first organization able to get its foot in the door with OSF venues,” Hoffman notes. “That was a big testing ground for the idea.”

A new events app for Ashland

Storytown is also preparing to launch a new events app, aimed at untangling Ashland’s scattered event listings.

“People miss things because they don’t know what’s going on,” Hoffman said.

Built in partnership with White Rabbit, Lavagnino said the app would aggregate events from multiple calendars and present them in an intuitive, customizable format.

“It will be a huge opportunity for organizers,” she said. ”One spot, easily accessible, where you can find exactly the events you’re interested in.”

Even as the Sarcasm Festival and app launch, Storytown is looking ahead.

“We are discussing opportunities for a documentary screening in early spring,” Lavagnino said. “There are also ideas for festivals with live music at numerous venues — and always opportunities for food events.”

The Ashland Sarcasm Festival runs Dec. 5-7 at venues throughout Ashland.

Vanessa Finney name is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio.

This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/22/ashland-leans-into-quirky-side-with-new-sarcasm-festival/