THE PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL Returns Virtually October 11th – 18th

Honors RANDY RAINBOW & JUDY TENUTA

And Celebrates with an Amazing Line-up of LGBTQ+ Talent

The Palm Springs International Comedy Festival kicks off on Sunday October 11^th, which not only happens to be ‘National Coming Out Day,’ but LGBTQ+ History Month as well, and this year’s fest offers quite a few of your favorite LGBTQ+ Stars that you won’t want to miss!

Starting on Monday October 12th at 7:30pm PT, the PSICF ‘Pioneer in Comedy Award’ will be presented to Author, Comedian, YouTube sensation and Two-Time Emmy Nominee Randy Rainbow.

On Tuesday, October 13th, the one and only Bianca Del Rio, RuPaul’s Drag Race winner season 6, is set to receive the PSICF ‘Trailblazer in Comedy Award’ from the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival. As a famous Drag Queen Comedian, Bianca’s stand up shows have sold out around the world and she was the first drag queen to headline Wembley Stadium!

The gala, usually done live at their annual Black Tie, Red Carpet, Dinner Awards event in Palm Springs, where tickets are usually quite pricey, are doing their awards live this year due to the pandemic. Festival viewers will get to see all PSICF Gala Award Honorees accept live, for free, during the festival’s regularly scheduled programming, including Bianca.

Wednesday, October 14th has Gay Icon, Comedienne, Author, Two-Time Grammy Nominee, Love Goddess, and Officiant of Gay Weddings everywhere, Judy Tenuta, receiving the PSICF ‘Lifetime Achievement Award.’ Judy has long entertained LGBTQ+ Fans at Pride shows everywhere and was last ‘Queen of the Palm Springs Pride Parade.’

Comedian, Actress and LGBTQ+ Political Activist – Selene Luna of Disney/Pixar’s ‘Coco,’ ‘The Cho Show,’ ‘Selene Luna Live: Short Stories,’ hosts an LGBTQ+ star-studded special event on Tuesday, October with PSICF Presents: ‘Selene Luna and Friends – ‘Taste the Rainbow!’  The Line-up includes the Iconic Lady Bunny – Dragtime (HBO), The OutList (HBO), Wigstock, ‘RuPaul’s Drag U; Murray Hill – ‘Logo’s New Now Next and Cocktails & Classic and Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live; Alec Mapa – ABC’s Ugly Betty & Desperate Housewives;  Zach Noe Towers – seen on E!’s ‘Dating: No Filter,’ as well as season three of Netflix’s Dear White People; ’ Roz Drezfalez – seen on Buzzfeed, Bravo, Hey Qween TV & Three Queens; Sarah Hyland – creator of LaSarah, Kentucky Lightning, Gail, Martha Owens, The Influencer, and more; Sherry Vine – has earned the title of Drag Legend. ‘She’s Living For This’ (Hulu), The OG Queen of YouTube, where her video parodies have been viewed over 19,000,000 times; Ian Harvie – NBC’s ‘Will & Grace, Amazon’s Transparent and his own Stand-up special, Ian Harvie: Superhero’ and Max Ziegfeld – ‘Porn Awards the Musical’ as seen in LA/NY, many comedy clubs and the Inaugural PSICF.

Streaming in the film festival portion, you can catch Michael Cimino, star of the Hulu series Love Victor based on the hit film Love Simon and from the New Line Cinema film Annabelle Comes Home with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Michael has a PSICF Official Selection short film titled No Child Left Behind in the fest, directed by Benjamin South. Thorgy Thor & Phi Phi O’Hara of RuPaul’s Drag Race can also be seen in the hilarious TV Pilot A Sip with Vodka: The Russian Guide to Becoming A Real Housewife & Making It in America.

And well-known gay comedian Tony Tripoli debuts his hilarious world premiere comedy special Tony Tripoli: LIVE from Palm Springs! on Saturday October 17^th.  Tony was the writer and producer of E!’s Fashion Police with Joan Rivers and was also recurring on Life on the D List with Kathy Griffin.

Returning Judge Anne Ramsay – Actress Mad About You, Bombshell, The L Word & Planet of the Apes, is back again this year. She helped select last year’s PSICF Stand-up fest winner, Renaldo Evan’s, whose one-hour comedy special also premieres at the festival on opening day. New PSICF Judge Jai Rodriguez – Host, Singer, Actor of Malibu Country & Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, is also on the panel helping to look for the next funniest comic.

Additionally, the festival features their famous stand up competition with over 100 comedians, which also has fantastic LGBTQ+ talent in it, all vying for the $1,000 Cash Prize, the coveted ‘Best in Fest Award,’ and a chance to have their own comedy special produced (pandemic restrictions pending). This is looking like the LGBTQ+ Celebration of the month! More celebrities and events are being added daily.

Part of the festival’s proceeds will go to benefit various pandemic related charities. For tickets and more information go to www.psicf.org.