Dead Panda Comedy

You’re reading this because Louis Cervantez aka Louis C Comedy has said negative things about Dead Panda Comedy, or its members, Luke Westberg & Michael Graham. We do not know what specific claims he has made against us, besides “gatekeeping” in the Reno stand-up comedy scene and somehow being misogynistic (ask the women of our scene, who is actually most guilty of misogyny). We will dispute the gatekeeping point in the article and share a timeline of events, detailing exactly WHY Louis C is dragging our name through the mud. Many comedy clubs let multiple producers run shows at their venue. When we did shows at Reno Improv, we were not exclusive. Anyone could’ve (and a couple did) produced a comedy show there, as long as Reno Improv approved of it. However, Louis is accusing us of gatekeeping because we have been chosen as the exclusive booker, for a restaurant with a stage. Whether a venue is open to many bookers or has an exclusive booker is strictly the venue’s decision. I underlined, bolded, and italicized the previous sentence because that’s where Louis’ entire argument against us falls apart. Any accusations from Louis are likely complete fabrications or grossly exaggerated accounts of minor infractions (nobody’s perfect), and we would love to respond to any of these other accusations in full.

Comedian Louis Cervantez aka Louis C in Reno, NV: A Timeline of Events

1. Louis C is allegedly “run out” of the 209 Stockton comedy scene for overly competitive behavior against other comics. (This is just what a couple of comics have told us, more info and sources are needed.)
2. Louis C opens a new room at The Arch in Reno in 2020.
3. Over the next 2 years, instead of starting more new rooms, Louis is accused of stealing or trying to steal rooms (Dead Ringer, The Emerson, Alturas Bar, etc.) from multiple show producers. (We do not know all the details, just that there were complaints.)
4. Louis C has falling-out after falling-out with various venues, producers, and comics for various reasons, including ins 2021 getting banned from two open mics in the span of a week for aggressive behavior against two women. Members of Dead Panda were not present at either of the events, but they were detailed on the Reno Area Comedians Facebook page. He also loses his room at The Arch berating a woman (and friend of the owner) whose husband had just died.
5. Dead Panda is regrettably one of the few remaining show producers that still works with Louis C. This is because we hadn’t witnessed his aggressive behavior first hand, weren’t (and still aren’t) aware of all of his infractions, and for fear of him taking revenge on us somehow.
6. Dead Panda starts a new show in January 2023 at Stateline Brewery in South Lake Tahoe through their exclusive event promoter Omni Entertainment. There was a show there pre-pandemic, but it has sat dormant since the original booker moved. It was wide open and fair game for years.
7. In December 2022 Louis C sees that Dead Panda is starting a show and instead of asking Dead Panda for a headlining spot, decides to go over Dead Panda’s heads to likely contact the venue and then contact Jess of Omni Entertainment. (This raised our eyebrows, but it is not crossing the line, and we still booked him.)
8. Omni Entertainment tells Louis C that Dead Panda are the exclusive bookers for the room. In Dead Panda’s opinion, this is where the conversation should have ended. (Omni shared these messages with us. Their messages and threats from Louis C can be found in this Google Photos album.)
9. Louis C proceeds to belittle Dead Panda Comedy and the Reno comedy scene. He presents himself as a superior alternative to Dead Panda.
10. Louis C then contacts Luke Westberg, and Luke books Louis on two shows for May 2023. One at Stateline Brewery and one in Reno as a favor, since one of Louis’ good friends from out of town is on the show.
11. During the January show, Omni Entertainment tells Dead Panda about Louis’ messages to her. Omni says that she never cared about booking comedians with “credits” as Louis had alleged. Dead Panda considers their course of action for a few weeks.
12. In February 2023, Luke accuses Louis through Facebook Messenger of trying to steal Dead Panda’s exclusive room and hurt their business. Luke tells Louis that he is no longer welcome on any Dead Panda shows. Luke says he would rather not make the incident public, but Louis C, not seeing the obvious cause/effect fault of his actions, says that he’s going to tell everyone about the incident.
13. Louis C accuses Dead Panda of “gatekeeping” a venue, even though it was the venue and Omni Entertainment who chose to work exclusively with Dead Panda for booking. The decision to not have other bookers working at the venue was never a request made by Dead Panda Comedy. (Not that exclusivity would have been a terrible thing to ask for during negotiations.)
14. Louis C threatens to message every booker and venue he works with to prevent members of Dead Panda from getting booked there. He does so (though we don’t know the extent of this). This possibly breaks a law known as “Restraint of Trade”, which prevents Dead Panda Comedy from conducting business as they normally would.
15. Dead Panda Comedy semi-publicly doxing Louis C (by posting this blog article on a website no one visits) to stop his unlawful attempts to destroy their comedy business and careers (if you can call them careers because we’re keeping our day jobs). Dead Panda is not going out of their way to contact venues or bookers about Louis’ behavior, unless they are defending themselves from a specific attack from Louis.
16. In May of 2023 Louis talks crap to a venue about his former podcast partner Brandon Straker, and more facebook drama ensues. This link is posted publicly on that thread.

 

Louis Cervantez aka Louis C Comedy is a funny stand-up comedian currently based out of Reno, NV. He has a nearly hour-long special “A Summertime Drug”, shot over the course of two nights in Elko, Nevada, available on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms. Seriously, check it out. You’ll be very impressed with the visual and audio quality! You’ll be in stitches, laughing at Louis’ masterful storytelling and punchlines that you couldn’t have possibly seen coming!