Meet Ty Colgate | Comedian & Event Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ty Colgate and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ty, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As a stand-up comedian, some of the earliest advice you get is to either start an open mic or start a show. There are a couple of obvious reasons for this: you get guaranteed stage time (which is is like gold when you first start out) and you can network with all kinds of comics in your city and traveling through your city. However, as time went by and I started to get people on board that weren’t comics, but just really appreciated comedy and wanted to work in it, we shifted towards larger events.

Fifth Place Comedy was always supposed to be a rowdy, independent, and self-aware show, but it slowly evolved into an event production company that handles private and public events for clients that want something memorable and with an edge.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Fifth Place Comedy, at the end of the day, is an event production company that specializes in comedy. We’re not the first to do this, but we are the first to embrace the indie side of comedy and produce things we believe in and want others to see. We don’t want to give people the usual show that has the same comics you can see anywhere in the city. We want to give them a curated line-up or a headliner that doesn’t work in the Atlanta area often. We want to produce a show that everyone on our team would want to see over any other thing going on that night.

This philosophy of putting on a show we would want to see, though simple, has always worked. Back when we used to produce shows for a theater in Ponce City Market, we were told by many people that would frequent the other shows that ours always felt different and professional and I want to keep that going at every venue we do.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, first off you gotta show them the home runs. We’d have to do breakfast at Buttermilk Kitchen at least one time during the week, but I’m not opposed to every day. Lunch at Lee’s Bakery and Zunzi’s would definitely be in the cards. Dinner at Kimball House, Iberian Pig, or Little Trouble.

As for some good hang-out spots, Stone Mountain is always a safe bet or Shooting the Hooch. It’s definitely worth showing them Piedmont Park and walking through Midtown. Grab some drinks from Sister Louisa’s or Georgia Beer Garden, then at some point get them to a show MixDeity Media Studios or Terminal West.

Honorable Mentions:
Chastain Park
Laughing Skull
Johnny’s Hideaway
5 Pace Inn
Ponce City Market

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shelby Paige, for her love, support, and being right about most things.

Website: www.fifthplacecomedy.com

Instagram: @fifthplace.comedy

Facebook: Fifth Place Comedy

Image Credits
Photos by Shelby Paige Photos featuring: Ty Colgate Mike Falzone Mark Kendall Jason Hulsey