Philly's Phunniest

Preliminaries, Thu. and Sat., July 30 and Aug. 1, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Tue.-Wed., Aug. 4-5, 8 p.m.; Thu., Aug. 6, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Semifinals, Sat., Aug. 8, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Final round, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m.; $10-$20, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.

by Chris Monigle

[ comedy ]

Kent Haines, winner of last year's Philly's Phunniest competition and this year's host, is modest.

"I know I was definitely not the favorite last year," he claims. A local comedian who got his start at Helium Comedy Club's open mic nights, Haines says he had to employ a tricky technique to win over crowd members who were partisan to their buddies' acts. "I played for second-place votes," he says. "Friends will vote for their friends."

More than 150 aspiring comics, from touring comedians to those who've never set foot on stage, will try to snag Haines' crown in this fourth annual competition. The hardest part, many say, is boiling down their best material to the six-minute time limit. After that, it's getting through the grueling rounds: First, they have to survive the audience voting for them in the preliminaries, then local comics voting in the semifinals, and finally Comedy Central's talent coordinators voting in the final round. Still, if Haines is anything to judge by, even an underdog can win.

"He didn't seem like much at first," says Mary Rae Cox, general manager of Helium Comedy Club. "But he killed it."

Preliminaries, Thu. and Sat., July 30 and Aug. 1, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Tue.-Wed., Aug. 4-5, 8 p.m.; Thu., Aug. 6, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Semifinals, Sat., Aug. 8, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Final round, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m.; $10-$20, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.