Comedian Angelo Bowers’ tragic and untimely death last week, in a traffic accident caused by a drunk driver, has brought the Los Angeles comedy community together. On Saturday, the monthly rooftop comedy show, “It's A Long Way Down: Comedy With A View,” will hold a show in Bowers’ honor.
Bowers and fellow comedian, Josh Adam Meyers, were driving through Hollywood on Jan. 3 when, at 12:40 a.m., their Jeep Wrangler was struck by a 21-year-old drunk driver in a Toyota Matrix. Meyers and the driver who caused the accident suffered serious injuries. Bowers, who was a passenger, died several hours later.
“It's A Long Way Down,” a free show held on the rooftop of a Culver City apartment building, was founded by neighbors Alex Hooper and Eric Sheffield last March. Bowers not only performed at their debut show, he was the very first comic booked, Hooper says.
“He was a brilliant joke writer, his demeanor was so relaxed, he didn’t care about anything except making people laugh -- he didn’t even have a Facebook to promote his stuff,” Hooper says. “That first show was so great and had this amazing vibe to it; Angelo was a major contributor to the fact that we’re still going so strong now, a year later.”
“It's A Long way Down” typically features one relatively known comedian -– Eric Andre, Rob Delaney and Kyle Kinane have headlined –- along with a roster of emerging comics. It’s a loose, BYOB event that feels more like a party than a structured comedy show. Saturday’s show, says Hooper, is the first time that money -– donations -- will be accepted from audience members; donations will be put toward Meyers’ recovery.
“We don’t want anything to do with money because it’s not about that,” Hooper says. “It’s about our friends having an awesome place to see great comedy and for comedians to feel comfortable. But this time around, if people have anything to give, we’re asking that they do.”A Twitter feed has also been created to pay tribute to some of Bowers’ best material: @AngeloJokes.
Saturday’s lineup at “It's A Long Way Down” includes headliner Pete Holmes, as well as comedians Asterios Kokkinos, Aparna Nancherla, Traci Stumps, Jeremy Paul and Bombo Belford. Jonny Loquasto, a close friend of both Bowers and Meyers, will also perform.