New York City - The New York Comedy Festival (NYCF) announced today a new partnership with the People's Choice Awards that will provide two unique opportunities for both comedians and fans to participate in this year's festival. For the first time ever, festival-goers will have the chance to vote on and present an official People's Choice Award during the "New York's Funniest Stand-Up" competition, an event that showcases the most talented newcomers and established comedians in New York. The winner of the competition will receive the prestigious crystal People's Choice Award and will be recognized during the 2010 People's Choice Award live broadcast on CBS.

Additionally, the People's Choice partnership offers aspiring comedians across the nation the opportunity to perform live as an opening act for one of the following NYCF's headlining comedians: Tracy Morgan, Artie Lange, Mike Epps, Bill Burr, Patton Oswalt or Mike Birbiglia. Performers can submit a three-minute comedy routine from Sept. 21 through Oct. 7 on www.peopleschoice.com. A NYCF panel will post the top three performers back on the site on Oct. 9 for fans to vote for their favorite and ultimately decide which comedian to send to New York to perform during the New York Comedy Festival. The winner will be announced on Oct. 23. In addition to performing in New York during the Festival, the winner is invited to attend the 2010 People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles.

"This event marks the first time that a People's Choice Award will be presented in a stand-up comedy competition," said Fred Nelson, President, People's Choice. "We are thrilled to empower fans to voice their choice alongside the experts and to provide another shot for performers to showcase their comedic talents on stage."

Continuing its offering of informative and entertaining panels, the New York Comedy Festival also announced today the addition of three stand-out panel discussions to the 2009 line-up. The first will be a discussion with the writers from Comedy Central's Emmy and Peabody Award-winning "The Colbert Report." The second will be a discussion with the writers from NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Both panels will provide an in-depth look behind the scenes of the late night shows. The final panel will examine the challenges and opportunities of writing for comedic television shows in the internet age. This panel will include Rory Albanese of "The Daily Show," Jim Downey of "Saturday Night Live," John Riggi of "30 Rock" and Al Jean of "The Simpsons."

The 2009 NYCF is presented in association with Comedy Central. The festival is produced by Carolines on Broadway and United Entertainment Group.

For more information go to www.nycomedyfestival.com.