Every day is opening night.

Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara / Evie Freeman / Morgan Zysman
rick@omdkc.com / marie@omdkc.com / evie@omdkc.com / morgan@omdkc.com
212 695 7400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

“PUNCHLINES AND POWER BALLADS: BROADWAY’S FUNNIEST ARTISTS”
ANNOUNCED TODAY AS PART OF THE
2025 NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL
THE COUNTRY’S BIGGEST AND LONGEST RUNNING
ANNUAL COMEDY FESTIVAL

HOSTED BY COMEDY ICON
RACHEL DRATCH

FEATURING CREATORS AND ACTORS FROM
HIT COMEDIES INCLUDIN
OPERATION MINCEMEAT
THE BOOK OF MORMON
BEETLEJUICE THE MUSICAL
GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!
TITANIQUE
POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG

ONE NIGHT ONLY – NOVEMBER 16, 6:30PM
AT THE BROADWAY COMEDY CLUB

ALL TICKETS AT $25
ALL PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

New York, NY (October 16, 2025) – It was announced today that Broadway’s funniest writers, actors, and composers are coming together to share how they keep audiences laughing 8 shows a week at “PUNCHLINE AND POWER BALLADS: BROADWAY’S FUNNIEST ARTISTS,” the first-ever Broadway panel to be part of the programming at this year’s New York Comedy Festival, the country’s biggest and longest-running annual comedy festival. “Saturday Night Live” icon and Tony Award nominee Rachel Dratch (POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive) will chat with a lineup of writers and actors from Tony^®, Olivier^®, and Emmy^® Award winning and nominated hit comedies including Operation Mincemeat (Natasha Hodgson), The Book of Mormon (Cody Jamison Strand), Gutenberg! The Musical, Beetlejuice The Musical (Anthony King and Scott Brown), Titanique (Lea Delaria) and The Play That Goes Wrong (Henry Shields).

The panel will be hosted at Broadway Comedy Club (318 West 53^rd St) on Sunday, November 16 at 6:30PM. All tickets are priced at $25 plus a small ticket fee and 100% of ticket proceeds go directly to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Tickets can be purchased here. To download headshots and logos click here.

Launched in 2004, The New York Comedy Festival (NYCF) was created by Caroline Hirsch and Carolines. The NYCF has brought together the country’s top comedians, including Judd Apatow, Bill Burr, Margaret Cho, Larry David, Kevin Hart, Jo Koy, Nick Kroll, Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Conan O’Brien, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Tracy Morgan, and many others to venues throughout the five boroughs of New York City. In 2007, NYCF launched the “Stand Up for Heroes” event to benefit The Bob Woodruff Foundation, which has featured performances by Stephen Colbert, Jim Gaffigan, Ricky Gervais, John Mayer, Seth Meyers, John Mulaney, John Oliver, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jeff Ross, Ray Romano, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Stewart, and many others. To date, Stand Up For Heroes events have raised over $113 million. For more information, visit www.nycomedyfestival.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X, and using the hashtag #MakeNYLaugh.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Due to popular demand, Olivier® Award-winning Best New Musical and Tony® Award winner for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Jak Malone), plus Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score nominee, Operation Mincemeat, has extended its critically acclaimed Broadway run by four weeks at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) now through March 15, 2026. This is the fourth extension for the musical, which was originally scheduled to run for 16 weeks only. Exclusively for superfans on the mailing list, the production is launching the “Operation Early Bird” pre-sale on Monday, October 27, running for 24 hours. Tickets will be available at $79, $129, and $179, with fan-favorite front two-row seats priced at $79. To sign up for the mailing list, click here.

General on sale begins Tuesday, October 28. Tickets are available at Telecharge.com or by phone at 212-239-6200. For more information, please visit operationbroadway.com.

In Operation Mincemeat, it’s 1943, and the Allied Forces are on the ropes. Luckily, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve. Well, not up their sleeve, per se, but rather inside the pocket of a stolen corpse. Equal parts farce, thriller, and Ian Fleming-style spy caper (with an assist from Mr. Fleming himself), Operation Mincemeat tells the wildly improbable and hilarious true story of the covert operation that turned the tide of WWII.

Directed by Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat began performances on Broadway on February 15 and is currently playing at the historic Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street).

Starring in Operation Mincemeat are David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone, and Zoë Roberts, who have reprised their original, acclaimed performances for the musical’s Broadway (American) premiere.

Operation Mincemeat is produced on Broadway and in the West End by Avalon (in association with SpitLip). The show was commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by The Lowry, and also supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.

B I O G R A P H I E S

Rachel Dratch is a Tony-nominated actress, writer, and comedian best known for her seven seasons on Saturday Night Live. She got her start at the Second City Theater in Chicago, where she co-wrote and performed in 4 mainstage revues. New York theater credits include Love’s Labours Lost (Delacorte), Ripcord (MTC), Privacy (Public), the title role in Sylvia (George St), and her Broadway debut in POTUS. Rachel has appeared in the films Click, Just Go With It and Wine Country, to name a few, and television series such as “The King of Queens”, “30 Rock”, and “Shameless”. She is also the host of the podcast Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch. ‘

Anthony King is a Tony and Emmy-nominated writer, producer and performer. He co-wrote Beetlejuice The Musical for Broadway (Tony Nominee – Best Book of a Musical) and also Gutenberg! The Musical! (Tony Nominee – Best Revival of a Musical), which enjoyed a Broadway run starring Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells after originally running Off-Broadway and Off-West End in London. Anthony was the co-creator and executive producer of ‘Robbie’ (Comedy Central/Paramount+) and has written/produced for shows like ‘The AfterParty’ (Apple), ‘Silicon Valley’ (HBO), ‘Dead To Me’ (Netflix), ‘Search Party’ (TBS/HBO Max), ‘Broad City’ (Comedy Central), ‘Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp & Ten Years Later’ (Netflix), ‘Woke’ (Hulu), ‘Wrecked’ (TBS), ‘Playing House’ (USA), Best Friends Forever (NBC), and more. For many years, he was the Artistic Director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NYC, and he still occasionally performs at the UCB Theatre in LA where he now lives with his wife and daughters. Also – he hates cotton balls.

Scott Brown has made theatre things with Anthony King since high school; decades later, their two-man musical comedy Gutenberg! The Musical! (dir. Alex Timbers) scored Drama Desk, Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle nominations, and a 2024 Tony nomination for Best Revival of a Musical. Scott was nominated for a Tony for Beetlejuice the Musical (Book), also with King. He writes TV drama (HBO’s ‘Sharp Objects’, Hulu’s ‘Castle Rock’, WGN’s ‘Manhattan’, Amazon’s ‘Utopia’, Netflix’s upcoming JFK bio-series) and novels (xL, Knopf), and won the George Jean Nathan Award for his theatre criticism at New York. Before that, he spent many happy years at Entertainment Weekly. He’s old enough to remember “magazines” but young enough not-to-be-dead. He does NOT write for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (IMDb is just dead-wrong about that); he would have a much bigger house if he did.

Cody Jamison Strand hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Book of Mormon scooped him up almost immediately after graduating from the University of South Dakota’s theatre program and shipped him out on tour. Since then, he’s starred as Elder Cunningham on Broadway for over a decade and performed with Mormon on the West End and throughout North America. In addition to The Book of Mormon, Strand has also appeared on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Dickinson.” He resides in New Jersey with his only child, Blooper the Pomeranian.

Henry Shields is an actor and playwright, best known for his work with Mischief. He has been nominated for three Olivier Awards for Best New Comedy, winning in 2015 for The Play That Goes Wrong, as well as numerous other accolades including a Molière, What’sOnStage Award and Drama Desk Award. Credits Include: The Play That Goes Wrong; Peter Pan Goes Wrong; The Comedy About a Bank Robbery; Groan Ups; Magic Goes Wrong; Mind Mangler; ‘The Goes Wrong Show’ (BBC); Mischief Movie Night and The Comedy About Spies.

Lea Delaria was the first openly gay comic on television in America and is an accomplished Jazz performer who has performed in concert venues all over the world. She is best known as ‘Big Boo’ from ‘Orange is the New Black’ (3 SAG Awards). Lea was last seen on stage in the role of ‘Ruth’ in the Off-Broadway hit musical, Titanique, and currently in the feature films TOW and Outerlands. TV credits include ‘Girls5Eva’, ‘Awkwafina is Nora from Queens’, ‘East New York’, ‘The Blacklist’, ‘Physical’, ‘Reprisal’, ‘Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts’, ‘Shameless’, and ‘Broad City’. Film credits include Glitter & Doom, Cars 3, Support The Girls, and First Wives Club. Broadway credits, POTUS Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive (Bernadette), The Rocky Horror Show (Eddie/Dr. Scott) and On The Town (Hildy), Obie and Theatre World Awards. @realleadelaria www.leadelaria.com

Natasha Hodgson is a member of SpitLip and a co-writer of Operation Mincemeat. She originated the role of Ewen Montagu in Operation Mincemeat (winner: Best New Musical, nomination: Best Actress, 2024 Olivier Awards), and outside of the show she is an award-winning comedy writer/performer. She has created, written and performed on projects for companies including Netflix, BBC, Paramount and Cartoon Network. Operation Mincemeat marks her Broadway debut.

A B O U T  B R O A D W A Y  C A R E S  /  E Q U I T Y  F I G H T S  A I D S

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway, is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theater community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has awarded more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, the HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative. Broadway Cares provides annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance. At times of crisis, Broadway Cares also awards one-time humanitarian grants to provide emergency aid across the US and around the world. You can donate to BC/EFA here.

A B O U T  B R O A D W A Y  C O M E D Y  C L U B

Located just steps from Times Square, Broadway Comedy Club is one of New York City’s top comedy venues, offering non-stop laughs right in the heart of the Theater District. Whether you’re a local looking for a fun night out or visiting the Big Apple for the first time, a night at Broadway Comedy Club promises an unforgettable NYC experience.

Since opening its doors, the Broadway Comedy Club has been a launching pad for comedy’s biggest names and a home for rising stars. Nestled on the same block as the Ed Sullivan Theater and CBS Studios, it’s not unusual to see surprise celebrity drop-ins and unforgettable sets.

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