Winter Roast: Comedy from the North
Mon, Jan 30, 7:30 pm
Sisyphus Brewing
In Minnesota, winter is our great equalizer. Join The Great Northern for a comedy program curated by comedian Ali Sultan to make deep winter a little warmer—featuring a standout lineup of Minnesota-based performers seen on Comedy Central, Colbert and Drybar. Let’s get together and laugh, because if we cry, our tears will freeze our eyes shut.
The performers:
Ali Sultan saw his first stand-up comedian when he moved to America from Yemen at the age of 15. He grew a desire to go on stage, but first he needed to learn English. Ali became the first Yemeni American to make a stand-up television network debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Ali has been on Comedy Central’s Hart of The City with Kevin Hart. He filmed his Half Hour comedy special in Dubai for Comedy Central Arabia. He represented Minnesota and won the Best in The Midwest competition at Gilda's LaughFest. His albums Happy to Be Here and Funny First can be heard on Spotify and SiriusXM and have more than 1 millions streams on Pandora. His last special can be seen on DRYBAR.
Pearl Rose is a comedian who recently returned to her hometown in Minnesota. She has participated in the Limestone Comedy Festival and the District of Laughs Festival, as well as Comedy Corner Underground in Minneapolis and venues up and down the East Coast, including Good Good Comedy Theater in Philadelphia, the DC Improv, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Alex Swalve is a comedian based in Minneapolis who started comedy a long, long time ago in 2018. He is an army brat who grew up mostly in the Midwest and Japan/Okinawa, where he always used comedy as a defense mechanism until he grew some balls and started doing it for stand-up. He's performed for Asian Comedy Fest in NYC, the Des Moines Comedy Festival, and People of Comedy at Sisyphus Brewing in Minneapolis. He was also The People's Champion at the Crowned Comedian show in Des Moines, and was a finalist at the "Funniest Person with a Day Job" contest at The House of Comedy in 2022. A few notable people he’s opened for are Ali Sultan (Comedy Central, Late Show with Stephen Colbert), “Feeling Asian Podcast Live!” with Youngmi Mayer and Brian Park, and David Harris (Drybar). He's also performed in New York, both Dakotas, Wisconsin, and Zoom!
Khadijah Cooper grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis as an only child. Working as the Education Director of a local nonprofit focusing on adolescent sexual health, her confidence in public speaking coupled with her quick wit gave her the fuel she needed to burst onto the comedy scene in February 2018—making her name known. In March 2019, Khadijah was in the top five for the Best Comedian for the City Pages’ Best of the Twin Cities. In 2021, Khadijah was named one of MN Comedy’s “Comics to Watch.” Her point of view in her stand-up as a mother, a sexuality educator, director,and someone that has the confidence and comfort in her skin makes her irresistible to laugh with and relate to.
Ahmed Khalaf left community college with two credits to go and a dream, to be the best darn comic in the world, or to get paid more than minimum wage. Neither of those things happened but Ahmed Khalaf uses his dark sense of humor to justify his shortcomings. Is that healthy? Not even a little bit, but it is funny.
MJ Matheson was voted the second funniest person in the Twin Cities (2018)—a title he will defend to the death. MJ has performed in clubs and colleges all over America, and even in Toronto. An active member of the Bearded Company and ComedySportz, MJ is quick on his feet and ready for anything.
Abenezer Merdassa began his comedy journey in 2018. Since then, he has been a regular feature around the Twin Cities and beyond, appearing in the 10,000 Laughs Comedy Festival and winning Sisyphus Brewing’s Funniest Person in the Twin Cities in 2020.
Courtney Baka is a comedian and writer based in Minneapolis. With her dry wit and unique perspective she finds comedy in a tragic world. She has performed in numerous festivals across the country, including The Women in Comedy Festival, Limestone Comedy Festival, 208 and 10,000 Laughs. In addition she has opened for such comedians as Kyle Kinane, Taylor Tomlinson, Shane Torres, Beth Stelling, Michael Ian Black, and Aparna Nancherla. She also writes for the punk rock satire site The Hard Times, where she is known as the resident goth. Courtney was named 2019 Minnesota Comic to watch, but you can usually find her in her apartment with her two cats where she is currently living out her dream of becoming a cliché.
Joey Hamburger is a filmmaker, playwright and comedian. Joey’s films have been featured on Funny or Die, Film Shortage, and played at numerous film festivals around the world. He was a co-founder and playwright for Sheep Theater. As a comedian, Joey was named a 2022 comic to watch by The Racket.