Fight Match debuts before a standing room only crowd at Rain Dogs.
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Published by Sareth Ney on Jan. 10, 2019 at 8:10 a.m.
Updated on Jan. 10 at 5:30 p.m. |
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ben Sweet and Brian Zeolla unleashed Fight Match at Rain Dogs., on Jan. 9. Sweet was the host and Zeolla was the referee. Hailing from Jacksonville were the following stand-up comedians: Stephen Baker, Dakota Strickland and James Chafin. Laura Thompson was in town from Colo.
Sweet and Zeolla introduced themselves and described their roles, for Fight Match. They chose three random judges to pick the winner of each round. They explained to the audience the first of the two matches. The first featured Baker and Strickland. Sweet departed from the stage, Zeolla remained in the corner of the platform and Baker was the first to perform a stand-up comedy set.
During Baker’s performance, he noticed those to the side of him talked loudly. Zeolla walked over to where the talking was, counted to four loudly, pointed in their direction and the crowd cheered aloud. It silenced them and Baker was able to continue without further interruption.
Strickland displayed his storytelling skills, for his turn. The three spectators were brought on. Sweet and Zeolla had them cast their vote. One of the judges stated Baker told jokes about unhuman acts towards clowns and dolphins, from an open mic performance he operated from years ago. It swayed his decision to vote for Strickland.
The reasoning caused the onlookers to repeatedly chant, “Holy s**t!”
Due to majority decision, Strickland won the first round.
Chafin took on Thompson. Thompson ended by winning, by majority decision. Strickland was invited back on and Chafin exited. Strickland explained to the crowd Baker was mistaken for another comedian. Due to the reasoning—he was unable to accept the false victory, as the judges stood behind him.
This caused the audience to continually yell, “You f****d up!”
Zeolla handpicked three new judges to call the rest of the show, due to the mistake of the judge. The second round featured a roast battle between Baker and Thompson. Thompson ended up winning.
Thompson thought she was crowned the winner and Sweet went over to the bag near the side. He removed his baseball cap and had a game drawn out. It was titled “Blind, Deaf and Dumb”. Zeolla surprised everyone by removing his referee shirt and revealed his “The Cliq” shirt. The two contestants wore earplugs, industrial strength earmuffs, a blindfold and performed stand-up comedy.
After all the madness, Thompson was declared victorious and she received a trophy.
Sweet and Zeolla introduced themselves and described their roles, for Fight Match. They chose three random judges to pick the winner of each round. They explained to the audience the first of the two matches. The first featured Baker and Strickland. Sweet departed from the stage, Zeolla remained in the corner of the platform and Baker was the first to perform a stand-up comedy set.
During Baker’s performance, he noticed those to the side of him talked loudly. Zeolla walked over to where the talking was, counted to four loudly, pointed in their direction and the crowd cheered aloud. It silenced them and Baker was able to continue without further interruption.
Strickland displayed his storytelling skills, for his turn. The three spectators were brought on. Sweet and Zeolla had them cast their vote. One of the judges stated Baker told jokes about unhuman acts towards clowns and dolphins, from an open mic performance he operated from years ago. It swayed his decision to vote for Strickland.
The reasoning caused the onlookers to repeatedly chant, “Holy s**t!”
Due to majority decision, Strickland won the first round.
Chafin took on Thompson. Thompson ended by winning, by majority decision. Strickland was invited back on and Chafin exited. Strickland explained to the crowd Baker was mistaken for another comedian. Due to the reasoning—he was unable to accept the false victory, as the judges stood behind him.
This caused the audience to continually yell, “You f****d up!”
Zeolla handpicked three new judges to call the rest of the show, due to the mistake of the judge. The second round featured a roast battle between Baker and Thompson. Thompson ended up winning.
Thompson thought she was crowned the winner and Sweet went over to the bag near the side. He removed his baseball cap and had a game drawn out. It was titled “Blind, Deaf and Dumb”. Zeolla surprised everyone by removing his referee shirt and revealed his “The Cliq” shirt. The two contestants wore earplugs, industrial strength earmuffs, a blindfold and performed stand-up comedy.
After all the madness, Thompson was declared victorious and she received a trophy.
Photo credit: Sareth Ney
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sareth Ney is the journalist for A Quarter and Dream Pictures. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications from Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is a former apprentice to master of horror, Clive Barker. He is a Wu-Tang Clan inspired superhero, Wu-Man Chu. He is an award-winning short filmmaker; his goal is to write 150 articles in select time zones, he inducts every article into his hall of fame, is a stand-up comedian, motivational speaker, philanthropist, founder and co-host of Pueblo's Independent Multimedia Podcast, is the festival director at Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival and Corazon Comedy Festival.