Columbia Falls native wins NBC comedy competition

Marty Bereta of Columbia Falls is a proud parent. His son Joe recently won NBC’s comedy competition, “Bring the Funny.”

Joe is a member of the comedy troupe The Valleyfolk, which has 290,000 subscribers on YouTube. The troupe over the years has produced a host of hilarious video shorts and shows, with subjects like “eating cake while singing” and “bidet trivia.”

Joe works with Steve Zaragoza, Elliott Morgan and Lee Newton. The four players beat out a stand-up comedian for the “Bring the Funny” title and a number of other acts.

They received $250,000 for the win.

Bereta graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 2000. He began his career in comedy writing shortly after graduating from Gonzaga University with a degree in broadcast studies.

Marty traveled to Hollywood to see the taping of the finale. He said audience members were sworn to secrecy until the show aired.

“Bring the Funny” features host Amanda Seales and model Chrissy Teigen, and comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Kenan Thompson.

Joe has been producing shows on YouTube for several years now, initially co-creating a show called “SourceFed,” a comedic take on the day’s news.

Valleyfolk has been together several years now and they were surprised they won — they expected finalist stand-up comedian Tacarra Williams to take the title.

“I was dumbfounded,” Joe said in a Valleyfolk podcast after the event.

He said his father always encouraged him to pursue a career in show business.

“If anyone has irrationally wanted me to have success in this industry, it was my dad,” Joe said.

Joe lives in California with his wife and two children. Episodes featuring The Valleyfolk are available on YouTube and all of the episodes of “Bring the Funny” are available on NBC’s website. Though one word of warning: If you skip to the final episode, none of the competitors actually perform on the show. The next to last episode, is the actual finale.