Courtesy of Fred Firestone
Jo Firestone is a standup comedian based in New York City, but her roots are in St. Louis. Six years ago, she and her father struck gold when they created Punderdome 3000, a monthly pun competition that GQ Magazine called one of “The 5 Funniest Nights in America.”
Would-be punning champs get 90 seconds with a whiteboard and a prompt, then have two minutes to slay the crowd. A finely calibrated Human Clap-o-Meter—an audience member, blindfolded like Lady Justice—decides the winner based on the roar of the crowd.
On Saturday, July 29 at 7 p.m., the competition comes to St. Louis for the first time, with a show at the Duck Room.
Jo's dad and show co-host, Fred Firestone, lives in St. Louis, but travels to New York every month for the show. So far, the father-daughter team have done 75 shows.
“Anything for the children,” he says. “She’s 30 years old…”
Before Punderdome, Jo had a habit of booking spaces and then coming up with quirky event ideas, like a dating game where friends match up their single friends.
In 2011, she reserved a bar basement in New York and decided to host a pun competition. She called up her old man for advice on how to pull off the event, and he decided the best way to help was to pack up the game show set he had in the garage and get on a plane.
“There were 35 people there—and we always round up to the nearest 35,” Fred says. But one of those zero-to-35 people, he says, was a writer for The New Yorker who shared the experience with the world.
“We got a little traction, yadda yadda yadda, here we are!”
In the early days, the show's contestants would be the first 18 people to sign up. But they wound up with some real duds. Now, the New York shows have rules about who can join the initial 18—if you tried already and were eliminated in the first round, for example, you might be ineligible. They have regular punners who bring their own fans, and a few weeks ago the New York Post's headline writers went head-to-head against Punderdome champs.
For the inaugural St. Louis gig, the Firestones reached out to contacts in the improv community to find folks who know how to think on their feet. A New York champ will also be a contestant.
It’s competitive, yes, but not cutthroat. And the Firestones have a strict no-hate policy that they read at the beginning of every show. “People realize it’s going to be fun and nobody gets hurt,” says Firestone.
The Duck Room show is sold out, but never fear. The Firestones are in talks to host another one soon. And if you really can't wait to try your hand at competitive punning, the Firestones released a card game last month.
