Joke WRLD Comedy Festival coming to St. Pete this weekend

Jake Frombach first introduced Joke WRLD on YouTube five years ago. The Austin, Texas-based channel, which features comedy “highlights,” exclusive interviews and news segments, has amassed more than 750,000 subscribers. 

Frombach is preparing to host the inaugural Joke WRLD Comedy Festival in St. Petersburg Friday and Saturday. The event will be based at Coastal Creative, at 2201 1st Avenue S. Activities will also take place at Steep Station (2235 1st Avenue S.), the Off-Central theater (2260 1st Avenue S.) and Spitfire Comedy House (1920 1st Avenue S.) 

More than 80 standup comedians from around the country are scheduled to appear. Additionally, nine podcasts will be filmed live at the festival. 

It all started with a passion for sports and comedy. 

Frombach, 28, played Division 3 football at the University of Mount Union in Ohio. During his time there, he also began to perform standup. Frombach would participate in open mic events and competitions. 

While he dreamed about becoming a professional comedian, Frombach had plans to pursue a marketing career in Los Angeles or New York. However, he graduated in 2020, right after the Covid-19 pandemic began.  

Positions in the corporate and comedy industries were hard to come by. Frombach would end up becoming an Instacart shopper to help make ends meet. This allowed him to listen to podcasts on a daily basis. Over time, Frombach became immersed in a variety of comedy content. 

“I was making connections like ‘if you’re a fan of this guy, then you’re probably a fan of this other person’,” he explained. “There’s really no connecting community when it comes to comedy. So, I started off just wanting to build a community of like-minded comedy fans.” 

More so, Frombach recognized that he could develop a platform that focuses on comedy news. This led him to create “highlight” segments akin to sports media. Matthew Broussard was the first comedian Frombach interviewed. 

Over the years, Joke WRLD would keep growing. Currently, the channel has over 2,000 videos. To celebrate its fifth anniversary in April, Frombach began planning the Joke WRLD Comedy Festival.

“A festival was always a dream and a comedy club was kind of our other big goal,” he said. “I think a festival is a better stepping stone first to get to that club. Also, getting involved in a festival has made me realize maybe that the club thing isn’t the way to go.  You’re worrying about ticket sales, booking people and requests from agents and all that stuff all the time. Maybe we can just keep on reporting on it.” 

For Frombach, the inaugural event is a way to “push ourselves to be something larger than just a YouTube channel that talks about comedy.” 

Many of the comedians scheduled to perform already have connections to Joke WRLD. The lineup includes performers who have appeared on podcasts, platforms and shows including Kill Tony, Dad Meat, Stand Up on the Spot and Roast Battle. 

“It not only gives the people who come to the festival a chance to laugh and experience live comedy and find new comedians that they like, but it also gives the comedians on our lineup an opportunity to hang out with one another, network with one another and perform in front of a new crowd and gain new fans,” he said. “These comedians have given me and our company so much by doing stuff that we get to report on.” 

Choosing St. Petersburg for the venture was not a difficult decision. Frombach spent a few years in Tampa growing the channel. In 2024, he attended the Tampa Bay area-based Sunshine Comedy Fest. 

“We were covering it and doing interviews,” he explained. “The comedians said that they had a really fun time and liked the area, but it was a little spread out.” 

Some of the venues were located more than an hour apart, Frombach added. For the Joke WRLD Comedy Festival, the entrepreneur wanted to keep all the activities within a short walking distance. 

“It’s kind of a homecoming story,” he said. “Although the channel was technically created in Cleveland, Ohio, all of the major progress was made in Tampa that allowed us to be able to move to Austin and hire two full-time employees to help me out. This place definitely means a lot in the history of Joke WRLD.” 

Joke WRLD Comedy Festival website