Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

This year’s Bridgetown Comedy Festival (April 18-21) features a weekend full of shows at venues across the city. The intimately set stand-up acts, panel discussions and other special events invade Portland’s quintessential nightclubs and stages, from Helium Comedy Club, which hosts acts year-round, to Hawthorne Theater, better known for its high-voltage rock shows.

The just-announced roster includes laugh legend Dana Gould — who’s been around since the ’80s and has written for The Simpsons, internationally renowned beatboxer/musician/comedian Reggie Watts and British comics Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, along with about 200 others. Whether you know their names or not, they’re pretty much guaranteed to make you laugh.

Conceptual rendering of new bridge courtesy of Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project

Call it the City of Roses, Stumptown, Rip City or P-Town, but to me, “Bridgetown” is Portland’s most fitting nickname. In the central city, eight spans (for now — see below) cross the Willamette River, connecting the two sides of the city and uniting those who use them. Three upcoming events offer different perspectives on Bridgetown: 

Construction on Portland’s first new Willamette River bridge in nearly 40 years will kick off in July 2011. The as-yet-unnamed bridge, expected to open in 2015, will run from South Waterfront to OMSI. Carrying the sixth MAX light rail line, as well as buses, streetcars, pedestrians and bicyclists (but no cars), it promises to be a striking addition to the downtown skyline. Once construction is underway, you can watch it live via webcam.  (more…)

Marc Maron

This weekend, the third annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival brings a slew of funny folks to the clubs, bars and street corners (probably, eventually) of our fair city.

The lineup is truly staggering, featuring Big Names — big to comedy geeks, anyway — like Lizz Winstead, co-creator and former head writer of The Daily Show; Marc Maron, formerly Air America’s morning show host, currently the neurotic genius behind the WTF podcast; Scott Adsit of 30 Rock and Moral Orel; Comedian of Comedy Maria Bamford; and many, many others. Scan the performers page and be amazed to learn the names of those previously known to you only as “That one guy” and “You know, her.”

The festival runs Thursday-Sunday, April 22-25. As an avid Maronite, I’m most looking forward to the live WTF taping on Friday night at the Mt. Tabor Theatre. The Live Wire Radio show on Saturday will also be a hoot — the show and its cast are always hilarious, but with guests like Maria Bamford, Lizz Winstead, Scott Adsit and Michelle Shocked, this week’s edition will be something special.