Good Cause to Laugh
Comedian Kevin Nealon hosts the Ice House’s 49th Anniversary Spectacular benefiting Hillsides Home for Children
By Carl Kozlowski 10/14/2009
It’s been a big year for the Ice House Comedy Club. Pasadena’s home for laughter marked the staggering milestone of hosting its four-millionth customer. America’s longest-running comedy club is preparing to celebrate its 49th birthday with a special show bringing together two generations of comedians to raise money for one very worthy cause — Hillsides Home for Children.
The night will be headlined by veteran comedian Kevin Nealon, who rose to fame as a cast member with “Saturday Night Live” — including two seasons in the Weekend Update anchor spot — before launching dual careers as a standup comic and part of the cast of the popular Showtime sitcom “Weeds.”
While Nealon alone could pack the house, as he proves regularly across town with his own weekly showcase at the Laugh Factory, the bill also features two of comedy’s hottest rising stars in Anjelah Johnson and Quinn Dahle.
Johnson became a YouTube sensation with an impressive string of celebrity impersonation videos before becoming a cast member for several seasons on the FOX network’s sketch series “MAD TV,” and is now graduating to movies with an upcoming role in the holiday comedy “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.”
Dahle, meanwhile, is hot off his September debut on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and will be bringing his deceptively low-key, sick and twisted take on life to the stage for a set as well.
In addition, YouTube sensation Hughes will be taking the stage with the outrageously popular act
that has scored her more than a million page views and a guest spot on CBS’ “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”
Rounding out the night is Grammy-winning folk singer Ian Whitcomb, one of the Ice House’s most popular acts in its earliest days, when it combined comedy with musical acts.
As a longtime community supporter, Ice House owner Bob Fisher chooses to give back with each year’s anniversary celebration. For the past decade, he’s donated all the night’s profits to the Hillsides Volunteer Network, a support group for the Hillsides Home, which provides a residential refuge for children suffering from abuse, neglect and mental illness.
“We’re honored to be the oldest comedy club in the US and probably the world,” says Fisher. “We’ve put together one of our most exciting anniversary shows in many years and are happy to be helping a wonderful cause in Hillsides. We think it’s like a fine wine, a great show from front to back.”
The 49th Anniversary Spectacular begins at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ice House, 24 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Tickets are $24.50 regular and $45 for VIP front seating. A pre-show silent auction takes place from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., with a live auction immediately following the show. Call (626) 577-1894 or visit icehousecomedy.com.
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