Bill Bellamy to Receive Icon Award at Whats Funny Comedy Festival — SkimNews
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- Bill Bellamy will receive the Icon Award at the 2026 Whats Funny Comedy Festival on Sept. 21 during the inaugural Whats Funny Today Show Chicago Comedy Legends ceremony, honoring his decades of impact on stand-up comedy and entertainment
- Knowledge Beckom and Lil Rel Howery co-founded the Whats Funny Comedy Festival with a mission to spotlight Black and Brown comedians and position Chicago as 'the next great home of comedy discovery'
- The festival's third edition runs Sept. 19-26 at five Chicago venues — Comedy Bar, Laugh Factory, Bellagio 223, ETA Theater, and Wax Vinyl Bar — featuring more than 50 comedians from 20 cities
- Bellamy will be honored alongside 15 Chicago comedians whose careers helped shape the city's comedy legacy, with the celebration concluding in a live taping of the 'Whats Funny Today Show' podcast
- Lil Rel Howery will tape his next stand-up comedy special on Sept. 20, following his previous special 'Rel Talk' filmed during the inaugural festival and released on Tubi last year
Why it matters: The Icon Award puts Bellamy's three-decade stand-up career at the center of a festival explicitly built to elevate Black and Brown comedians, with Howery's return to Chicago for a new special turning the week into both a tribute and a career-launch platform for the 50+ performers on the bill.
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