SVHS grad headlines ‘Pet-a-Llama’ comedy festival

SVHS grad back in Sonoma County for comedy festival.|

It’s a question Dominic Del Bene never gets tired of answering.

“Where did the name ‘Pet-a-Llama Comedy Festival’ come from?”

Del Bene is the founder of the inaugural comedy event bearing the above-mentioned name, and he is careful to give credit where it’s due. In this case, credit goes to his 6-year-old son.

“When he was 4 years old, he suddenly noticed how ‘Petaluma’ sounds like ‘pet a llama,’” explains Del Bene.

“He thought it was hilarious. He couldn’t stop saying it. ‘Pet a llama! Pet a llama!’ So I made a mental note that ‘Pet a Llama’ would make a great name for … well, for something. I just wasn’t sure what that something was yet.”

And thus the Pet-a-Llama Comedy Festival was born. Now all he had to do was book some venues and recruit some comedians.

“It was not really hard getting top talent to come to Petaluma,” Del Bene says. “The lineup is mostly all comics I’ve worked with over the years, and they know I live in a place called Petaluma, and that it’s a town I’m very proud to show off.”

The festival began on Thursday and runs through Saturday, Aug. 18, and features more than 40 comedians from Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Individual shows will take place at the Mystic Theater and the Big Easy, with one additional Saturday event unfolding at Copperfield’s Books.

Tickets can be purchased on a show-by-show basis, so attendees can build the kind of comedy experience they want. While some shows take place simultaneously, De Bene says most of the shows will alternate between the two main venues.

Kicking off the fest on Thursday night was comic actor Brian Posehn (“The Big Bang Theory,” “The Sarah Silverman Show”), who grew up in the town of Sonoma, and still feels close to Sonoma County.

“When the fires hit last year, Brian made a podcast about what was going on,” says Del Bene. “So when I asked him to do the festival, he was really eager to do it.

“But he has to be on the other side of the country on Friday morning. So that’s why the Pet-a-Llama Comedy Festival runs Thursday to Saturday instead of Friday to Sunday.”

“We’ve gotten very creative,” says Del Bene. “We have classic stand-up shows, sketch comedy shows, and some really off-the-wall stuff. These are going to be fantastically produced shows featuring great talent, and if – because this is the first year of the festival – some of the shows are under-attended, then those people who do come will be seeing some of the funniest shows of their life, performed just for them.”

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