This week, hundreds of comics from around the country will filter into Austin for the Moontower Comedy Festival.

First started 15 years ago, the festival has since grown into one of the biggest comedy events in the country, spanning a dozen venues and running from April 7-18.

This year’s festival features nationally known acts like Marc Maron, Kathy Griffin, and Roy Wood Jr. 

In addition to headliner standup shows, Moontower has also made an effort to highlight non-traditional acts and Austin comedians.

“I’m super excited. I love Moontower so much,” said comedian Angelina Martin. “It’s always been such a huge part of the Austin comedy scene and the national comedy scene in general.”

Martin runs several shows around Austin and one of them, Slide in the DMs, was added to this year’s Moontower lineup.

Martin performs at East Austin Comedy Club. Courtesy of Angelina Martin

For each show, comedians and local celebrities share strange messages they’ve sent or received. Then, a cast of improvisers build a scene based on the messages.

“It’s not all really dirty stuff. Sometimes it’s weird in a different way,” said Martin. “One time we had the guy who had sent the comedian messages that we were showing on screen. He was in the audience and he stood up and took credit for his weird messages.”

She first got the idea for the show as a way of marrying her love of standup and improv. Martin’s work has been featured on Comedy Central and SiriusXM.

“I’m one of those people who considers comedy art, which I know makes some people groan,” she said.

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One of Martin’s early memories of wanting to be an entertainer comes from her high school drama class, where she wrote a comedic monologue about how grateful she was to “be ugly.”

“I do remember saying how freeing it was that I didn’t have to worry about going on dates and I could just watch ‘Arrested Development’ with my parents,” Martin said.

Her monologue lit up an auditorium, raised mild concern about her self-image, and gave her a feeling to chase for the rest of her performance career.