The first 13 editions of the US Comedy Arts Festival were held annually at the
Wheeler Opera House and other venues in
Aspen, Colorado. The primary sponsor of the festival was
HBO, with co-sponsorship by
Caesars Palace (the primary venue),
TBS,
GEICO Insurance,
Twix candy bars and
Smirnoff Vodka. In-between, HBO had started a spin-off version simply named The Comedy Festival, which was held in
Las Vegas,
Nevada, since 2006, in collaboration with the
Anschutz Entertainment Group. The Aspen event folded in 2007 once HBO exited the festival business, considering the expenditures too high. TBS picked up the Las Vegas event in 2008, and organized a follow-up edition that year, also arranging for other comedy festivals in collaboration with
Just for Laughs. In turn, Aspen replaced the festival with similar events, the
Aspen RooftopComedy Festival and the Aspen Laff Festival. ==References==