Comedy at Ashkenaz! Our Last Show!
Doors open 7:30pm, Show at 8pm
Tickets are $15 - $25 Sliding Scale
Bay Area comedian and comedy producer, Lisa Geduldig (of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy™), and Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center joined forces a little over 2 years ago to bring the East Bay a new monthly (the second Thursday of the month) comedy series, Comedy at Ashkenaz!
On Thursday, January 9, Comedy at Ashkenaz will have its final show with an all-start line-up: Zahra Noorbakhsh, Lynn Ruth Miller, Lisa Geduldig, and Aundre the Wonderwoman.
In the past 2+ years, Black History Month, International Women’s Day/Women’s History Month, Gay Pride, and Mother’s Day have been commemorated; there has been a political comedy night; and funds have been raised 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).
Zahra Noorbakhsh is a Feminist Muslim, Iranian-American comedian and co-host of the award-winning podcast, #GoodMuslimBadMuslim. The podcast was listed as a “must listen,” by Oprah Magazine and was invited to the Obama White House to record an episode. She is a Sr. Fellow on comedy for social change with the Pop Culture Collaborative. In addition to her two sold-out performances of her stand-up comedy special “On Behalf of All Muslims” at the Golden Thread Theater in San Francisco, her solo performance of “All Atheists are Muslim: A Romantic Comedy,” was originally directed by CNN’s W. Kamau Bell. Reza Aslan says "always insightful, always subversive...Zahra's comedic romps disrupt an outdated narrative." Her writing is featured in the NY Times and on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. www.zahranoorbakhsh.com
Lynn Ruth Miller started doing comedy on stage when she was 70 years old. She was dubbed the New Joan Rivers of Fringe Comedy at The Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. Now 86, she made top 4 comedians in America’s Got Talent 2008, won People’s Choice in 2009, Branson Comedy Festival, the finals in Bill Word’s Funniest Female Contest 2009, and semi-finals in the SF International Comedy Competition and Star of the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2009. Lynn Ruth has been performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 2005. She is a regular at the SF Punchline and The Stand in Scotland and made the top 100 in the UK in Britain’s Got Talent. She won the TO&ST AWARD 2014 in Edinburgh for best Cabaret Edinburgh Fringe, 2015 Liberty Award, Leicester Comedy Festival; 2015 finalist Old Comedian of 2015; London. Lynn Ruth now tours the world doing stand up comedy, cabaret and burlesque. www.LynnRuthMiller.com
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 celebrated its 27th year in December 2019) and Comedy Returns to El Rio! which celebrated its 10th (or is it 11th?) Anniversary in May.
Aundre the Wonderwoman has garnered a reputation as a solid talent dishing up content-based comedy ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. This anti-death penalty lawyer by day/comedian by night is a keen observer of human behavior who will have you laughing at everything from disability to the politics of the day. Her credits include The Funniest Woman in Half Moon Bay, Oakland’s Funniest Comic on the Strip, and Winner of the Inaugural Russian River Comedy Competition. She was a semi-finalist in the 2005 San Francisco International Comedy Competition and in 2008 received the Stand Up For Justice Award for her work against the death penalty.
