In a city where pythons explode after snacking on alligators and robbers break into the wrong house and rough up abuelos instead of drug lords, you'd expect stand-up comics to be growing out of the sandy soil like weeds. Instead, the local comedy scene often seems as quiet as the Wynwood Art Walk in August. But for at least one local comic, 2010 is looking to be a very good year. Stand-up comedian Johnny "Trabs" Trabanco won big at the Comedy Derby competition at the Miami Improv in Coconut Grove. He beat 14 of his peers, winning the grand prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to perform at -- wait for it, not one of the comedy hot spots like L.A., Chicago, or NYC -- the Improv in Louisville, Kentucky. We can only assume it's to hit up the town's flowing rivers of Bourbon.
Trabs is the second half of the comedy troupe A Pair of Nuts with comedian Yamil Piedra. Their comedy -- including videos such as "The Law Offices of Facmee & Diaz," "Wink," and "Chonga Chat" -- has been featured on Last Call With Carson Daly, BET, the Discovery Channel, the South Beach Comedy Festival, FunnyorDie.com, and CollegeHumor.com. They're currently working on an international Spanish sketch comedy show, El Vacilón, for MegaTV, which is broadcast locally on UHF Channel 22.
In the clip below, they talk about gay mayonnaise and their wish to become the first mainstream Cuban comedy duo:
Johnny Trabs will perform with Yamil Piedra as A Pair of Nuts at Miami Improv (3390 Mary St., Miami) next Thursday, February 18, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15.
