I’ve been picking away at this one for some time and had made a brief mention of it on the 2003 festivals page (here).

The Aspen (Colorado) Comedy Arts Festival ran, in 2003, from February 28^th to March 2^nd and was sponsored by HBO.

A BBC article had said that he’d hosted it and I found that a little strange. Although, as they mentioned, he’d done Jay Leno’s Tonight Show 3 times (and he’d been twice on Late Night With Conan O’Brien – here) it still seemed odd for a Brit to be the host of a fest at an upmarket ski resort.

Plus, I’ve not been able to find ANY photos of him there and many of the articles, mentioning that he’d been at Aspen, were written late 2004 and didn’t say which YEAR he’d attended.

Having then found that Ed Byrne had hosted (he’d been going there since 1999) and Rich Hall and various other people, I felt a bit happier. And then the evidence below mounted up:

• This rather broken Dancehouse page (here) was for a 2004 June 11^th Manchester gig but specifically says that he’d been in Aspen in February 2003.
• This 2004 BBC article (here) says that he hosted Aspen.
• This March 2003 Chortle article (here) mentions Aspen and the publication date means this HAS to have been the 2003 festival (and not 2004)
• Another March 2003 Chortle article (here) mentions that Jimmy and Bill Bailey were there
• An August 26 2004 article in the Express & Star (about the deal he’d landed to host Distraction US) described him as “already a hit in the US” and mentioned that he’d hosted the Aspen Comedy Festival.
• And this advert for a (2003 gig in Belfast) mentioned Aspen too.

At the time Jimmy was on his Charm Offensive tour (here).

Who else was there?

Without him featuring in images (and I had set my VPN to US and still no luck) it’s hard to tell who he met or even what days he had performed.

There are a bunch of trolls online that have a go about anyone that goes on Joe Rogan’s podcast and they tend to ask why Jimmy has appeared on JRE…it’s partly because he’s known Joe a LONG time. And he knew him from back when he was just a stand up (and not the host of the world’s biggest podcast).

The Getty Images links, below, all seem to be from parties:

• Joe Rogan – with hair (here)
• Maxim magazine party – (here)
• These images seem to be more TV/film based attendees but then repeat some of the Maxim shots – (here)
• Joe posted this throwback picture (here, on Instagram) of himself (at this festival) with Robert Schimmel who had died in a car accident in 2010.

Attendees included:

• Jimmy Carr
• Joe Rogan
• David Cross
• Lewis Black
• Doug Stanhope
• Susie Essman
• Mike Myers
• Carrot Top
• Al Madrigal
• Mike Epps
• Hank Azaria
• Drew Carey
• Jeff Garlin
• Chelsea Handler
• Kristin Davis
• Kim Cattrall
• Eric Idle
• David Alan Grier
• Robert Wagner
• Judah Friedlander
• John Goodman
• Kelsey Grammar
• Bill Bailey
• Norm McDonald
• Steve Martin
• Billy Crystal
• Catherine O’Hara
• Harry Shearer (The Simpsons)
• Robert Schimmel