About the Show
Price: $15 GA, $20 reserved
When: Wednesday 7:30
Spotlight: Join us for a supersized edition of the world's greatest stand-up competition! Each Wednesday for four straight weeks (July 9 - July 30), we'll have six different performers duke it out. Each "match" has comics doing sets back-to-back, and the audience chooses one person to advance. At the end of each Wednesday, we'll have a champion ... and of course, the audience ALWAYS wins. Once all four champs are determined, they'll return one more time for a no-holds-barred comedy battle (August 6). The winner of that match becomes our Comedy Kumite XL champion for 2025! This is a great way to enjoy top local talent, at a price that's a knockout.
Featuring: Bill Monaghan, Bria Beddoe, Benny Nwokeabia, Adam Freesman, TBA, TBA
About the Comics
A DC native with street sense and low dating standards, Bria Beddoe has been in the DMV comedy scene for several years now. She loves making dad jokes, heckling transplants, and blasting her ex on Facebook (it was a REALLY bad break up). She loves art and artists, deals with people in doses, and has recently relaxed her “I don’t date comedians” stance. Although she is a superstar in her head, she currently lives with her parents and is striving to have a place of her own once this ‘rona heat’ dies down. She has lofty goals, but plans on meeting them all. As long as the world doesn’t end first... Bria won Comedy Kumite 38.2 (spring 2023) at the DC Improv.
Instagram: @briabeddoecomedy
Born in Washington DC, Benny Nwokeabia is half Nigerian half Ethiopian but grew up overseas in Geneva, Switzerland. He has performed in NYC and DC as well as internationally in Switzerland, Mexico and Canada (Zoo Fest, Just for Laughs). He has opened for acts such as Matt Rife, Martin Amini, Nate Jackson, Mark Christopher Lawrence and Felonious Munk. Benny won Comedy Kumite 39.2 (June 2023) in the DC Improv lounge.
Instagram: @realbennyy
Adam Freesman is a comic out of Baltimore. He has opened for nationally touring acts in clubs and theaters around the U.S. such as Modi Rosenfeld, Geoffrey Asmus and Jourdain Fisher, to name a few. Adam has also featured in the Cleveland Comedy Festival and one police report due to a typo.
Instagram: @adamfreesman
Hailing from the People’s Republic of Annapolis, Md., Bill Monaghan has been honing his comedic chops since 2006. He may possibly be the most immature mature person you’ll ever encounter. His absurd, one-liner style is “Rated R” due to strong language, adult situations, and brief nudity. You’ll be fine. Don’t be a prude.
Instagram: @billmcomedy
Kumite History
Comedy Kumite was first organized by Chris White around 2005 at venues in D.C. and Northern Virginia. Eight comedians squared off in a bracketed tournament, with the audience deciding the winner of each match with their cheers. The DC Improv worked with Chris to revive the format in its lounge showroom in the summer of 2015, showcasing the next wave of DMV talent. Kumites have returned every few months since then, always selling out in the lounge and sometimes even filling up the club's main showroom. While the venue was closed in 2020 and early 2021, six editions of the tournament were featured in the club's virtual showroom. More than 30 kumite champions have been crowned. You can see them all in the Comedy Kumite Hall of Fame.