Variety reports that HBO has yet to decide on the new home for the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which had been held in Aspen for more than a decade. Santa Barbara had been the front runner.

In an email sent earlier in the month to Santa Barbara city officials, Bob Crestani, who heads the industry-targeted fest, cited the May departure of former HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht — a big supporter of both USCAF and the proposed move to Santa Barbara — as the key reason the event was not moving forward in the beach town.

HBO said the decision to leave Aspen was based on logistical considerations:

The pay-cabler announced in May that it wouldn’t keep the industry-targeted fest in Aspen, Colo., where it had been held for the past 13 years — this followed a 2007 incarnation in early March that was marred by bad weather and flight cancellations, as well as the decision by fest headquarters, the St. Regis Hotel, to go condo.

But not everyone was enamored of Colorado’s Glutter Gulch. Said “Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Susie Essman:

“Everyone says there’s great shopping here, but there’s nothing here you can’t get in New York unless you want antlers. I mean, this is a mining town, it was built by dirty men with bad breath, and they make it seem like Gstaad.”

Daniel Brogan
Daniel Brogan
Daniel Brogan is the founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of 5280 Publishing, Inc.