WEST PALM BEACH – Kyle Dahl’s “One Shining Moment” came early.
Two days before the start of the NCAA’s basketball Final Four games, Dahl cruised through the brackets to claim the inaugural March Madnuts stand-up comedy tournament championship on Thursday at the Palm Beach Improv.
“I felt good,” Dahl said. “I felt like the crowd was enjoying it, so I was confident.”
Dahl’s deliberate deadpan delivery, more four corners than fast break, allowed him to dispatch Jim Patterson in the first round, Ben Fishman in the quarterfinals and Dan Weiss to reach the finals.
With final round performance time expanding from one to three minutes, Dahl opened with a story about being hit on by a dental technician and never looked back, defeating Natasha Naomi Calloway.
“Right out of the gate they were with him,” comic and contest producer Ramon Garcia said. “It seems like every round you could feel the momentum behind him,”
Tournaments are nothing new for Dahl, a high school baseball coach.
“I love competing,” he said.
The tournament featured both competing comics on stage at the same time, each performing their 60-second best. Winners of each round were determined by audience applause. Comics who advanced in the brackets performed different material in each round.
Runner-up Calloway actually lost her first-round match-up to Giovanni Neal, but earned new life via a wildcard birth into the second round. Calloway and Neal met again in the semifinals. This time Calloway squeaked into the finals.
“I’m excited about that second place,” Calloway said, “Even if I wouldn’t have taken second place, I still had a chance to get on stage. That’s what I’m about – telling jokes.”
Fourteen comics competed in the contest.
“Everybody brought it,” Garcia said.
Dahl, who reached the 2022 Florida’s Funniest Comedian semifinals, won $250 and a paid guest spot at an upcoming Improv show.
“I’ll have a fun weekend, I guess,” Dahl said. “Or I’ll use it on gas money.”
