If you’ve seen Bert Kreischer do his thing, it’s easy to understand that his touring comedy festival was basically assembled as a sort of “summer camp” for his fellow performers. The guy usually does stand-up with his shirt off; his collegiate career was the inspiration for the National Lampoon flick Van Wilder; and his new movie, The Machine, tweaks the true-to-life tale of a younger Kreischer getting wrapped up with the Russian mafia and a drunken train robbery.
So, yeah, he likes to party, and he has some pretty good stories. He’s hoping the Fully Loaded fest will add to that collection.
“The idea for the tour is based off what we did during the pandemic, when we were playing drive-in movie theaters and I was having so much fun, I wished I could bring my friends with me,” Kreischer tells the Weekly. The multicomic tour took off for two weeks last summer, with Kreischer planning activities for the cast and crew between shows at ballparks and small arenas. “It was a blast, and everyone loved it, so this time it’s four weeks. And based on the first week, it’s a home run. The comedians are loving these venues and the activities. We got a pontoon boat for Father’s Day.”
When the show lands at T-Mobile Arena on July 12, Kreischer’s co-stars will include Stavros Halkias, Andrew Santino, Lewis Black, Big Jay Oakerson, Ralph Barbosa, Maddy Smith, Cipha Sounds and Carter Cruise. The only downside of the Vegas performance, if there is one, is that the heat prevents the tour from hitting an outdoor venue— but the friendly confines of T-Mobile should be plenty comfortable.
“Arenas are always the better shows from the comic’s standpoint, but the outdoor shows are the ones I love the most, because it breaks all the rules for them,” Kreischer says of his comic colleagues. Outdoor stand-up just isn’t common. “They’re always nervous or a little scared when there’s no ceiling, but after they do it, it’s like, holy crap, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever been to.”
The group shows are a nice change of pace for the perpetually busy Kreischer, whose packed schedule will only get more crowded now that his first feature film has reached the screen. The writers’ strike hit the pause button on a handful of TV and movie projects he’s been working on, but he says he’s confident things will get going again soon.
“They’re all exciting for very different reasons,” he says. “I can’t really talk about any of them, but one is an indie project, one is with a really big dude who reached out the day film premiered and said, ‘I wanna do a movie with you,’ and one is with my best friend. And the TV project is going to be a blast.”
Kreischer’s good-natured party-animal brand of comedy is in demand like never before across multiple mediums, so you never know when you might catch him again in Las Vegas. “When things slow down for me, I would love to do that, to play Vegas more,” he says. “Everyone tells me I have to slow down, but they only say that to entertainers. No one says that to the guy painting houses.
“But I genuinely love Vegas. I’m who Vegas is built for. And that’s exactly what this tour is, bringing great comedians to Vegas and getting loose.”
BERT KREISCHER’S FULLY LOADED COMEDY FESTIVAL July 12, 7 p.m., $35-$130. T-Mobile Arena, axs.com.
