Renton comedienne Monica Nevi is getting ready to head out on her first national tour and will be opening the trip with a performance Sept. 10 in Renton.
Dubbed the “Blanket Fort Comedy Tour,” Nevi will be joined by her HugLife podcast co-host Mike Coletta as the pair make their way across the country and back.
Nevi is a 2008 graduate of Hazen High School, where she also played for the basketball team. After high school, Nevi attended Seattle University, but injuries ended her basketball career.
In 2011, she discovered stand up comedy and has been performing ever since. She has appeared on New Day Northwest, local sketch comedy show “The 206” and on Fox’s nationally syndicated “Laughs.”
The tour opener will be at Renton Civic Theatre, with one-third of the proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Nevi said they chose the name “Blanket Fort” for their tour because it reminds people of a “good, silly time,” which is also how she described her approach to comedy.
“My comedy is about things that have happened to me that are either silly or I can make silly and things I think other people can relate to,” she said in an email. “It’s a lot of taking something serious or that we all deal with and telling you what dumb way I think about it.”
Nevi said her favorite comics were Chelsea Peretti, as well as Demetri Martin, Maria Bamford and Ellen DeGeneres.
“Those were the first comics that I listened to over and over again,” she said. “I have always been a fan of comics who what they say is funny, a little less physical but make you think in a different way.”
Nevi and Coletta will be joined on stage in Renton by Portland comic and Bridgetown Comedy Festival favorite Sean Jordan. The show will be hosted by Renton native Adam Norwest, the winner of CMT’s Next Big Comic.
The next day, the pair will hit the road, with shows planned in Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana and all the way across the country to Florida.
According to Nevi, the plan is to “say goodbye to Seattle” after the tour and head to Los Angeles to pursue their comedy dreams.
Nevi said she is excited, but nervous about finally doing comedy full-time, as well as a little sad about leaving her “supportive family of absolute weirdos” in the Seattle area.
“Going from having a stable day job to doing this thing you love that can be a little inconsistent is a little scary,” she said. “However, I am so happy to be doing and with Mike Coletta, who is hilarious and a fun person to be around.”
The tour gets started at 8 p.m. Thursday at Renton Civic Theatre. Tickets are $15 online and $20 at the door. To purchase tickets, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/e/blanket-fort-comedy-tour-renton-kick-off-tickets-17993679580?aff=eac2
