In early April, the Moontower Comedy Festival makes its return to Texas.
For a little over a week, more than 150 comedians will perform in venues across Austin, including several headline acts like Aziz Ansari, Pete Holmes, Janelle James, Josh Johnson and Aparna Nancherla.
The festival will also feature performances by comedians living and working in the capital city – like Austin comedian Avery Moore, who has been on the lineup every year for the past decade and is the festival’s longest tenured performer.
“Last year they put my face on a banner,” said Moore, who’s done comedy for the past 16 years. “It was pretty awesome.”
For this year’s festival, Moore is premiering her first-ever special, “Avery’s Special Movie,” which is inspired by her journey to sobriety and includes standup material she performed last year.
“It’s a really raw set that I did during the festival, of all new material that I had written in just like six months of sobriety,” said Moore. “I just vomited an hour of comedy when I got sober. My brain set back on fire.”
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Moore told the Texas Standard that for the first decade of her career as a comedian, she stayed on the surface with her material and it’s only recently that she’s allowed herself to get more vulnerable and honest on stage.
“The special is going to have vignettes,” said Moore. “It’s going to have music. I wrote a song for myself, and thematically, drugs and alcohol are a big part of it.”
“Avery’s Special Movie” premieres April 19 at 2 p.m. at the State Theatre.
“I think everyone’s going to laugh, because when I watch it while I’m editing, I laugh,” Moore said.
