The election is over. Let’s laugh.

The third annual Laugh Festival hits Santa Barbara at the perfect time, but for A. Luis Moro, it’s just the latest effort to bring comedy to the area and get people’s minds off the serious.

“Comedy heaven is what I call Santa Barbara,” festival founder A. Luis Moro said. “We’re that version of comedy. This is the no-hate comedy town.”

Moro emerged as the face of comedy in Santa Barbara after starting the festival, which kicked off Wednesday night and runs through Saturday.

He’s an entrepreneur, filmmaker, mortgage broker, author and father of two girls, Kylie and London, who both attend Santa Barbara City College.

His organization partners with nonprofit organizations such as the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, New House Recovery, the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara, Noah’s Anchorage Youth Shelter and others to bring comedy fundraisers all week.

Year-round, he stages two comedy shows a week — Thursday nights at The Red Piano and Friday nights at the Java Station.

The idea for the Santa Barbara Laugh Festival began a few years ago with a special comedy tribute to the one and only Carol Burnett by the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. Moro helped write, direct and co-produce the event, which raised $250,000.

Moro, a Montecito resident, said he was inspired by comedians such as Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor and George Carlin. He first performed standup while in college and has been making people laugh with his witticisms and light take on laugh ever since.

One of his friends is Abe Powell, who, with wife Jessica, created the community volunteer response team the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade. The group formed as a result of the Montecito debris flows in 2018, which killed 23 people in Montecito.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. It was a dark time, and there was an air of depression.

“I decided I was just going to start doing comedy shows again,” Moro said.

Powell said he met Moro about 15 years ago when they were on a PTA green committee.

“The Santa Barbara Laugh Festival couldn’t come at a better time,” Powell said. “After a hellish election season, people need a chance to unwind and a little reminder of our shared humanity.”

He said he and Moro have been through some crazy times, and both of them appreciate the value of a good, hearty laugh, especially when things get tough.

“They say laughter is the best medicine for a reason, and I think we could all use a healthy dose right now,” Moro said.

Teresa Kuskey, director of the performance dance group La Boheme, said she has known Moro for more than a decade.

“Luis communicates love for a community and humanity through comedy, through laughter,” Kuskey said. “There’s nothing better than a good laugh.”

She said Moro “leads with love,” and that he has given up-and-coming comedians a place to practice their art.

Moro, born in Cuba, also holds special comedy events during Pride Month in June and a comedy music festival in March. He invites comics from all over the country to perform at his weekly events at the Red Piano and Java Station. Anyone who has performed in Santa Barbara is eligible to perform at the Laugh Festival.

“We’d like our festival to be a segue for a comedian to get to the Netflix world,” Moro said.

Moro himself does standup occasionally, although he doesn’t perform at the Laugh Festival because he wants to give the stage to the comedians coming to Santa Barbara.

“There is a comedy scene here,” he said. “There’s comedy everywhere. The funniest person in the world is us. You, me. We’re the joke. The joke’s on us. We take things so seriously. We get so serious about nothing, literally nothing.”

Comedy, he said, unites people, and the goal of the Laugh Festival, even if they have disagreements, is to make people laugh.

Click here to view the schedule all week and a list of comedians for the Santa Barbara Laugh Festival.