DANIA BEACH – Mother Nature doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor when it comes to Florida’s comedians.
The projected landfall of Nicole as a hurricane in South Florida late tonight or early Thursday morning prompted the postponement of the Florida’s Funniest Comedian east division semifinals, moving the show from Thursday at the Dania Improv to Nov. 30 at the Palm Beach Improv.
“It’s frustrating because you don’t want to change it, but watching the weather, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” contest organizer Rene Harte said.
While Dania Beach is outside of Nicole’s path cone, Harte elected not to ask competitors and judges to travel significant distances in inclement weather to participate in the contest.
The rescheduled date of Nov. 30 in West Palm Beach was originally slated to be the day and site of the contest finals. Harte chose that date reasonably believing that competing comics would have kept that date on their schedule free.
Harte has yet to choose a new date for the finals, but Dec. 7 and Dec. 28 are among the possibilities. She intends to keep the finals at the Palm Beach Improv, but a move to a different location is possible.
Thursday’s postponement marks the second time tropical weather forced the postponement of a 2022 Florida’s Funniest event. In late September Hurricane Ian delayed the first-round show in Miami.
Thursday’s Florida’s Funniest show isn’t the only postponement caused by Nicole. Wednesday’s Nadeem Awad and Friends show at the Palm Beach Improv is being pushed back a week to Nov. 16.
That shift prompted Harte to move the PB Improv’s Turkey Contest, in which stand-up newbies vie for a coveted frozen turkey in time for Thanksgiving, from Nov. 16 to Nov. 23.
The Dania Improv had postponed Wednesday’s Barry Brewer show until Thursday, where it would have followed the Florida’s Funniest semifinals. With the semifinals postponed, Brewer will now perform in the early slot, with the show starting at 8 p.m.
