CAROLYN CASTIGLIA: Inspire Love

Monday, March 29, 2010

Inspire Love

My friend Abbi Crutchfield is such a talented little spitfire. She's that rare breed of smart, funny and genuinely kind. So when she wrote this piece about me having inspired her for Pepsi's We Inspire program, I was truly touched. She said every nice thing I could hope someone would say about me - and I'm not even dead yet!

Back in February, Abbi, her husband Luke Thayer and their friends (and adorable couple) Brendan Fitzgibbons and Jenna Brister organized an auction for Love 146, a charity that works to prevent child sex slavery. A personalized freestyle by yours truly was the first thing auctioned off at the event, and it was definitely divinely inspired. Take a look:

For those of you reading this on Facebook, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMZn6k1JpeA

Punk Rock:

I had the good fortune of attending the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (click here for all my E-burgh blog posts), thanks to Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting and Peter Buckley Hill (2009 recipient of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards Panel Prize).

Three Weeks said, "Carolyn Castiglia was the funniest female comedian I've seen at the Fringe." London production company Brown Eyed Boy (Kim Noble Will Die, How Not To Live Your Life on BBC3) chose me as one of the 14 edgiest International stand-ups to film for their pilot, Laughter Shock Worldwide.

My solo show BROWN AMBITION ran Aug. 8-29, 2009 as part of PBH's Free Fringe.

BROWN AMBITION previewed Off-Broadway as part of 59E59's East to Edinburgh Festival and premiered on February 5, 2009 as part of Ars Nova's Tragedy Tomorrow series.

Praise for BROWN AMBITION:

"There are few performers candid enough to admit to the bigotry they grew up with, the criminals they have dated and the toilet brushes their toddlers have gnawed on. Even fewer have the guts to put it in a rap song. And there is only one who will go that extra mile to share it while sweating, jumping, belting operatically and shouting in an African accent. Luckily for New York, Carolyn Castiglia does not know any other way.

Like her stand-up, the show is fast-paced, refreshingly brazen and soulfully ambitious."

Click here to read the entire review by The Apiary.

Personal:

Carolyn Castiglia is a stand-up comedian, writer and hip-hop superstar. You may have seen her on Comedy Central's Atom TV, NBC's Last Comic Standing, Nick-at-Nite's Funniest Mom in America 3, The Maury Show, ABC World News with Charles Gibson and heard her on Sirius/XM Radio. She is best known for her appearances on VH1/ego trip's The White Rapper Show and Miss Rap Supreme as the lovable and hilarious Miss CKC. Her funny freestyle has won her numerous championship titles at The BEATdown, a monthly showcase at New York's UCB Theatre.

Carolyn's voice has been heard by millions on YouTube in the Key of Awesome parody of Lady Gaga's Telephone (as Beyonce) and Bieber Fever (as Justin Bieber). KOA's Telephone parody has received over 7 million hits and was featured in two issues of Entertainment Weeky. Her music videos "Lemme See" and "DAMN (You Wish)" both hit number one in 23 countries on YouTube Comedy, and her video "Less Money, Mo Problems" with Tom McCaffrey has aired on Comedy Central. "DAMN (You Wish)" was nominated for an ECNY Award in the Best Short Comedic Film category.

Her solo show BROWN AMBITION premiered at Ars Nova theatre in February 2009. It went on to run Off-Broadway at 59E59 and played for a month at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. While in Edinburgh, Carolyn was chosen by London-based production company Brown Eyed Boy to film "Laughtershock Worldwide," a television pilot featuring "edgy" stand-ups from around the globe. Three Weeks said, "Carolyn Castiglia was the funniest female comedian I've seen at the fringe." Other festivals and tours include LAFF (2010), NC Comedy Arts Festival (2010), ImprovBoston Women in Comedy Festival (2009), The Hysterical Festival (2008), Obama Girls of Comedy Tour (2008) and the New York Underground Comedy Festival (2004, 2005, 2006).

Carolyn's jokes have been printed in over 50 issues of Life & Style magazine in the Style Slip-Ups section as well as the book, "The Idiot’s Guide to Jokes." Her writing has been featured in Time Out New York (Joke of the Week), the New York Post’s, "KILLER JOKES," and on MarieClaire.com. She recently joined the staff at Babble and contributes to The Huffington Post and The Apiary, the premiere website about comedy in NYC.

For three years she hosted and co-produced the weekly showcase Chicks and Giggles (featured in the New Yorker, New York Times and BUST Magazine), which enjoyed a very successful run at Mo Pitkin’s and Ochi’s Lounge at Comix. Carolyn is enormously proud to be one of the subjects of the documentary PERFORM, a permanent installation at the Museum of the City of New York.

Acting appearances include Darlene in Anathemaville at the Gene Frankel theatre, Hillary Clinton in American Oligopoly and Hera in Sex Myths, both at the NY Fringe, Rizzo in Grease at LaComedia in Ohio, Louise in Joking Apart and The Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, both at Theatre on the Hill in Maryland. In 2001, like many Americans, Carolyn sought to serve her country, and thus went on tour as the title character in the children's musical Pippi Longstocking, presented by AFT.

CAROLYN CASTIGLIA

Monday, March 29, 2010

Inspire Love

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