Nashville comedians go for world-record 8-day show Dave Paulson, dnpaulson@tennessean.com 8:48 p.m. CST January 23, 2015
Nashville comedians DJ Buckley, left, and Chad Riden, right, are planning to put on a record-breaking, eight-day comedy show.
Let’s say you wake up tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m. and leap out of bed. You’re struck by the overwhelming urge to see some live standup comedy, right then and there. Well, you’ll be out of luck until the evening, if and when Zanies or another comedy-friendly venue opens its doors.
But for eight days this April, Nashville comedy enthusiasts can live the dream. They’ll be able to see live standup at any time of day, whether it’s just before rush hour on a weekday or well after last call on Saturday night.
It’s becoming a reality thanks to local comedians DJ Buckley and Chad Riden. The pair are looking to break the Guinness World Record for the longest standup comedy show by multiple comedians, so they’re planning a 192-hour, non-stop performance.
The madness begins April 12 and will run through April 19 at the East Room in East Nashville. The dates will overlap with the second annual Wild West Comedy Festival, which is bringing a number of standup stars to Ryman Auditorium, TPAC and other venues on April 14-19.
The current Guinness World Record is 80 hours and was achieved by the Laugh Factory in Hollywood Dec. 6-9, 2010. That show included 170 different acts by 150 comedians.
Buckley and Riden are looking to raise $8,000 to produce the event via a crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo.com. That will cover costs, including venue rental, registration with Guinness and the production of a documentary on their world-record attempt. Funders can buy tickets ($5-$20 for one-, three- or eight-day passes), souvenirs and reserve their own performance slots.
“A lot of people have said, ‘Hey, why would you want to do that? Nobody wants to see a show that long,’” Riden says in the campaign’s video. “Well, that’s true. Quite frankly, we have nothing else going on in our lives.”
To help ensure their success, they plan to have an “Emergency Back-Up Comedian” waiting in the wings at all times and hope to feature “as many talented comedians from as many places as we can manage.”
To learn more, visit www.nashvillestandup.com/WorldRecord
