Pop-Up Comedy Club Takes Center Stage

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Break out the belly laughs for a star-studded series of comedic events hosted by Santa Cruz’s own comic and MC extraordinaire, DNA, during the month of July at The Center Street Theater in downtown Santa Cruz. With help from some of the Bay Area’s most talented funny people, DNA, who put on the Santa Cruz…

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Bill Maher Broke My Funny Bone

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The heckler quickly learned Bill Maher came to the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium prepared. No joke. Well, it was a joke but it was also true and awed the cheering sold-out house and hushed the heckler instantaneously with a single blow. You had to be there. And you should have been. There’s a sobering hilarity in Maher’s…

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Q&A: Comedian Sammy Obeid

Sammy Obeid has the world record for most consecutive days of playing comedy shows.

Sammy Obeid decided two years ago to do stand-up comedy for 1,000 consecutive days. If all goes according to plan (no panic attacks, measles, etc.), his Tuesday show at the Blue Lagoon will be number 829. The show is part of a new weekly comedy showcase hosted by local comedian DNA. We caught up with Obeid on the phone before a show at the Laugh Factory in Long Beach, Calif.

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Q&A: Paula Poundstone

Paula Poundstone's shoes have been writing her jokes for years.

Poundstone rose out of the stand-up scene in Boston, and came to national attention with her TV appearances and award-winning HBO special in the late ’80s. These days, she is a frequent panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, an avowed asexual and an unapologetic crazy cat lady. We caught up her via a phone interview as she prepares to perform at the Rio on Friday, March 1, 2013.

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