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Ten months into being Portland’s Funniest Person, Ben Harkins can barely believe it’s almost time to pass on the crown.
“The part that makes it painful is realizing a year has already past,” Harkins says. “It feels like it goes by too quickly. You get so much out of it that the year just flies by.”
Helium just kicked off the 2025 competition, which will find Harkins’ successor from a crop of 250 local standup comics, with varying levels of experience. To squeeze that many comics in, Helium is hosting preliminary rounds of about a dozen comics for 17 nights over June and July. Armed with only their original material, the comics compete for the title of Portland’s Funniest Person and a $3,000 prize.
This is not to be confused with WW’s Funniest Five, our annual comedy competition that is chosen through a poll of local comedians and show producers and comes with a $0 prize (but a sweet showcase at Rev Hall).
Harkins has actually won both. Before taking the Helium competition last summer, he was named to the top slot in WW’s Funniest Five in 2019. The boon from being Portland’s Funniest Person has been much more pronounced, Harkins says, though the pandemic swept through just three months after his WW win and shut down indoor comedy for the rest of his reign.
Highlights of Harkins’ year as Portland’s Funniest Person have been opening for Beth Stelling, Kyle Kinane and Joe List, he says. Even after a new comedian gets crowned at the end of the summer, he plans to hold on to the confidence that came with the title.
“You do this a long time and you feel like maybe you’re wasting your time or you’re not that funny,” he says. “But when you have something like this, then you can’t really argue with that.”
GO: Portland’s Funniest Person at Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 503-583-8464, portland.heliumcomedy.com. Preliminary rounds through July 30. $20. 21+.