Doors at 7:30 pm; Show at 8:00 pm
Tickets are $15 - $20 Sliding Scale
Bay Area comedian and comedy producer, Lisa Geduldig (of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy™), and Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center joined forces in 2017 to bring the East Bay a new monthly (the second Thursday of the month) comedy series, Comedy at Ashkenaz!
Last Fall, we celebrated our one-year anniversary. Since launching the show, we have commemorated Black History Month, International Women’s Day/Women’s History Month, and Gay Pride; we had a political comedy night; and we raised funds for three organizations and causes (the Redwood Empire Food Bank which provided food to shelters in Sonoma County for residents displaced by the North Bay fires, RAICES: The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and Alameda County Community Food Bank).
The Thursday May 9th installation of Comedy at Ashkenaz! will be a Mother’s Day Comedy Show featuring a line up of Bay Area comedians who are moms (including a mom to a newborn): Diane Amos, Karinda Dobbins, Emily van Dyke, and Brandi Brandes, with de facto Jewish mother, Lisa Geduldig, as the MC.
Diane Amos is a San Francisco-based actress, improv artist, and comedian who is known as The Pine Sol Lady for having starred in their national commercials for over 20 years. She has appeared in numerous films including Nine Months, Copycat, Angels in the Outfield, EDTV, Twisted, and Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. Diane was a semi-finalist in Star Search, has been on A&E's Evening at The Improv, Lifetime's Girls' Night Out, and Comedy Central's Women Aloud. She has also been a winner on the game shows: Wheel of Fortune, $25,000 Pyramid, and Super Password. She was raised in San Francisco by two lesbian mothers and attended Washington High School in the Richmond District, where took an improvisational comedy class...and the rest is history.
Video clips
•Comedy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoVZQqz-8h8
•The Pine-Sol Lady Opens Up About Being a Struggling Single Mom www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF-W4-DmX9I
Karinda Dobbins is a Detroit native who was born into a politically active family of skilled storytellers and sharp wits. Her worldview was shaped by their accounts of protest, civil rights and empowerment, weighty subjects that were always leavened with humor. Whenever she heard the grown ups laughing long past her bedtime, she took that as her cue to sneak out of her room and eavesdrop while they entertained themselves with Richard Pryor records. She not only listened, she learned, and grew up to hold her own as a keen comedic commentator. Karinda has appeared at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and Comedy Central's Colossal Clusterfest. She has opened for Dave Chappelle, Trevor Noah, Michelle Wolf, Gina Yashere, and toured with W. Kamau Bell. Bitch Magazine said Karinda is one of "Six Hilarious Female Comedians You Don't Know Yet - But Should."
Video clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbii3f2PxRk
Emily van Dyke, originally from the Midwest, loves pools and telling inappropriate stories at BBQs. Emily has performed standup and sketch comedy in SF Sketchfest, was the winner of the Walk the Plank Comedy Competition, and her comedy dating show Flirting with Laughter won "Best Tinder Alternative" in San Francisco Magazine.
Brandi Brandes was raised in a Midwestern village that boasted both a potato chip factory and a mud race track. Over her 25 years in the Bay Area, she has jumped on to every experience that crossed her path and didn't present clear and imminent danger, from living in a residential motel on Market Street to teaching heavy metal to children, to putting a contemporary dance company on a world tour to writing music for a circus to making a person. The stories about it all have gotten stale to her family and friends, so it's time for Brandi to branch out to the stage. By day, Brandi is the Executive Director of Ashkenaz.
Lisa Geduldig is a local comedian and comedy producer who’s the creator, producer, and MC of a variety of comedy shows including Kung Pao Kosher Comedy™ - Jewish comedy on Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant (which celebrates its 27th year in 2019) and Comedy Returns to El Rio! (in its 11th year).
While Ashkenaz is an all ages venue, the comedy shows are not recommended for kids under 16.
