Denver, CO

Comic Katie Bowman isn’t afraid to make crowds squirm

Published

6 months ago

December 1, 2023

Comic Katie Bowman isn’t afraid to make crowds squirm

Katie Bowman is quick to describe herself as a “neuro-divergent nightmare,” despite bringing laughs to countless audiences in hundreds of stand-up sets in the last decade.

“I don’t think it’s a negative thing,” said Bowman, a 36-year-old Denver comedian and visual artist who makes an impression with a bright shock of red hair and oversized glasses. “Some people hate it, but it resonates with people who have ADHD, like me, or cognitive disorders. All the crazies, underdogs, outcasts and losers — bring them to me. I picture the people in the audience as friends at a party, and I want them to feel welcome and heard.”

The poster for Katie Bowman’s Dec. 2 album recording. (Provided by Katie Bowman)

Bowman and her loopy, bawdy, intensely personal humor, which features practiced jokes and improvised asides, just returned from a national tour where she performed what will become her first stand-up album.

Dubbed “Neurodivergent Nightmare,” she’s recording it on Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Bug Theatre in the Highland neighborhood (tickets are $10; see bugtheatre.org). It’s the site of Bowman’s first stand-up try nearly a decade ago, as part of the open-mic variety show “Freak Train,” and well-trod comedy ground that Denver’s Grawlix trio has used for its monthly, often sold-out showcases.

“I would watch those (Grawlix) sets in the beginning, especially all the awesome women they booked, and dream of seeing myself up there,” Bowman said. “But I never really felt like I knew how to get up on that stage.”

Bowman, who quit her job at Planned Parenthood to work on comedy and art full-time in 2021, is now well established in Denver’s crowded, competitive stand-up scene. In addition to local festivals such as Trinidad’s Chief Comedy Festival and Denver’s High Plains, she’s forged a persona at national events, and on dozens of club and bar stages during scrappy tours with husband and comic Brad Galli.

Together they also host weekly comedy nights in the basement of Highland’s Sushi Hai, a Thursday institution they took over in early 2020 — just as the COVID pandemic was shutting down public performances. (They’ve only missed a half-dozen nights since then, Bowman noted proudly, and most have been due to weather or special events).

Bowman has grabbed more stage time these days because she’s also finished with her 43-episode podcast about horror movies, “Help Me, I’m Scared with Katie Bowman.” Meanwhile, she’s also ramped up her support for unhoused people. She visits downtown camps, she said, to talk to people and hand out blankets that her dogs have nibbled on and made imperfect (but still very clean and useful, she said).

She sells her paintings, “urine sample” beer koozies, crop-top shirts, and other merch her website, katiebowman.rocks, where her University of Colorado Boulder art-school training shines through. Her progressive politics bubble over onto the nude figures, nature scenes and animals. It’s a complement to Bowman’s comedy, with a thematic emphasis on personal traumas, body image, and sex (often, about removing the stigma of discussing its messy, multi-gender details) aligning with her stances on women’s health, which were developed as a health center assistant for Planned Parenthood.

Katie Bowman has been performing on Denver and national comedy stages for nearly a decade. (Andrew Bray, provided by Katie Bowman)

There she performed blood draws, dispensed medications, conducted sex and birth-control education, and helped women with the process of getting an abortion, from paperwork to overviews of what the procedure entailed, she said.

“I was on tour in Clinton Country — Arkansas, Missouri — and while people in those cities liked the dirty sex jokes, they got tight on abortion jokes,” she said. “Even in Atlanta, which was surprising. How can they be so open-minded sexually and then watch these abortion jokes just go into the void?”

Bowman is accustomed to negative feedback from some audiences, especially men. They’ve scolded her for saying “just kidding” and “you know” too much in her set, she said, which has prompted her to lean into those tendencies even more. She knows that nervous, fast-talking comics can find strong audiences; see Robin Williams, or beloved Canadian comic Debra DiGiovanni. Their comedy is vulnerable, but confident and edgy.

“I’m really eager and forceful in the way I portray myself,” she said, “People will come up after the show and say, ‘I felt like I was on the same wavelength as you!’ It’s great feeling like they can keep up with me. But I’m also making it part of the punchline at the same time. I hang my ego at the door because I don’t want to act better than the audience. We’re just making fart sounds together and having a good, weird time.”

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Denver, CO

Three people arrested for allegedly vandalizing Craig Hall, DU officials say

Published

5 mins ago

May 24, 2024

Press Room

Three people arrested for allegedly vandalizing Craig Hall, DU officials say

DENVER — Three people were arrested Thursday night for allegedly vandalizing a University of Denver building, Campus Safety Chief Michael Bunker said in a letter to the DU community Friday.

The three were caught in the act, Bunker said. Two are DU students. The third took off before Denver police could arrest them but was eventually apprehended.

Bunker said the university is working with the Denver Police Department and “is taking appropriate disciplinary actions.”

Anyone with information about the Craig Hall vandalism is asked to contact Campus Safety at 303-871-2334 or submit an online report. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

This is the second act of vandalism on the DU campus in four days. A false emergency call was used to distract DU safety officials and Denver police from an “act of significant vandalism” to the engineering and computer science building Sunday night, Bunker said in a letter Monday.

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Denver, CO

What Zach Wilson — and Sean Payton — said about his second chance in Denver

Published

7 hours ago

May 24, 2024

Press Room

What Zach Wilson — and Sean Payton — said about his second chance in Denver

Zach Wilson hasn’t been in Denver very long, but the quarterback has already earned praise from his new head coach.

In April, Wilson was traded by the New York Jets to the Denver Broncos and what has since become a crowded quarterback room.

The former second overall pick joined returning quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who started the Broncos’ final two games last season after Russell Wilson was benched. Denver then drafted Oregon quarterback Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick in last month’s draft.

What has Sean Payton said about Zach Wilson and Denver’s quarterbacks?

On Thursday, Sean Payton said all three quarterbacks will and have split reps with the starters during OTAs.

Stidham took the first-team reps on Tuesday, Wilson took them on Wednesday and Nix took them Thursday.

“There’s going to be a time when you read into the reps, I don’t think it’s early in OTAs,” Payton said, according to The Associated Press.

Payton sounded impressed by what he saw from each of his quarterbacks after the end of the first week of OTAs.

“They’re all in a race to learn this system,” he said. “Man, they’re doing well.”

The Broncos’ quarterback room is filled with players looking for a new beginning and the opportunity for a fresh start as an NFL starting quarterback.

“You know, it’s kind of the orphan group,” Payton said. “They’re all orphan dogs. They come from somewhere. But they’re doing good.”

Zach Wilson can see the logic in his coach’s dog metaphor.

“It’s been three years of tough challenges,” he said. “But in the end that’s what makes you stronger, and you just need somebody to believe in you and believe in yourself.”

What has Zach Wilson said about his trade to the Broncos?

Wilson told reporters Thursday that he misses his former Jets teammates but is looking forward to starting a new chapter of his career with the Broncos.

“You know, obviously, there’s bittersweet moments in everything. I was grateful for my experiences (in New York) and the guys. I miss the guys out there and everything, too. But at the same time, a fresh start is good,” he said, per the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. “I’m excited to attack a new challenge.”

He’s also excited to learn from Payton, who was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints for 15 seasons and won a Super Bowl with the Saints prior to becoming the head coach in Denver.

“I loved watching him and Drew (Brees) back in the day and just the efficiency they played with, how consistent it was, how explosive they were as an offense and just taking what the defense gives you,” he told Tomasson. “(I’m) just looking to keep growing and learning every single day from him.”

The Broncos have been looking for their franchise quarterback since Hall of Famer Peyton Manning retired. Manning was the last quarterback to lead Denver to the playoffs, which was the season they went on to win the Super Bowl. He reached out to Wilson upon his trade to Denver, according to The Associated Press.

“I’ve grown up watching him and the way he plays the game, the way he attacks it every single day,” Wilson said of Manning. “He’s a legend out here. So, hopefully I can spend a little time picking his brain.”

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Denver, CO

Broncos may have found their starting tight end already

Published

14 hours ago

May 24, 2024

Press Room

Broncos may have found their starting tight end already

The Denver Broncos are running through their OTA program and this week the media got their first look at the 2024 Broncos. Ryan Edwards from KOA noted one player had himself a day in third-year tight end Lucas Krull.

#Broncos TE Lucas Krull was easily one of the standout performers of today’s OTAs. Caught everything thrown his way on short, intermediate and deep routes. Impressive throw and catch from Nix to Krull on an out route….ball was on a rope to the left sideline and Krull got both…
— Ryan Edwards (@redwardsradio) May 23, 2024

The former undrafted free agent who head coach Sean Payton signed to the New Orleans Saints in 2022 seems to be coming into his own with Denver this season. He made a couple of big time catches late last season where he got most of his snaps. His biggest game came against the New England Patriots in Week 15 where he hauled in four passes for 28 yards and touchdown. He finished with eight total receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown last year.

Payton had good things to say after practice yesterday too noting that ‘85’ is a number us fans are going to know in 2024.

“I thought he’s had a good week,” Payton said of Krull. “I said, ‘If you didn’t notice, everyone in the media was looking down at their rosters to see who [No.] 85 was.’ I said, ‘Someday soon, they’re going to know who 85 is.’ He’s looking sharp.”

This is a very nice development considering the concern everyone has over the return of oft-injured Greg Dulcich. His hamstring issues have plagued his entire career and the Broncos are not messing around with his progression back to the football field this time around.

“He’s close,” Payton said of Dulcich’s return from injury. “He’s had all the work done. We’re encouraged. I think you’ll see him sooner than later, and we want to be smart.”

It seems like Dulcich’s entire time spent on injured reserve has been meeting with experts to help him resolve this nagging issue. Payton confirmed that this rehab is continuing even to this day.

“Well, no,” said Payton. “The trips back and forth [is] relative to checkups. His rehab has gone well. It’s not going to be we don’t see him until training camp.”

While many fans disparage the situation with Dulcich, I’m feeling a lot more encouraged this time around. If his hamstring gives way again when he returns to the field, then its likely he’ll need to hang ‘em up. However, if that happens it won’t mean that he and the team didn’t do everything they could to give him a chance to make a career in the NFL.

With the glimpses we’ve seen of Dulcich, it is worth the effort. The guy is explosive and could be a major x-factor on the field if he remains healthy. I’m rooting for him.

However, with Krull’s emergence it gives Denver a bit of breathing room knowing they have a capable guy to pair with Dulcich this season. That is something they definitely needed.

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