New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Zeiterion Performing Arts Center brings four Boston-based comedians for one epic night of stand-up in Boston Comedy Jam on Thursday, April 5, at 8:00 p.m. Veterans Lenny Clarke and Steve Sweeney headline the line-up that also includes Christine Hurley and Sal Votano for a night of laughs. Tickets range from $20 to $29 and can be purchased by calling 508-994-2900, online at Zeiterion.org, or at the Zeiterion Box Office. Group sales are available for groups of 10 or more and can be purchased by calling 508-997-5664 x123.
Comedians Clarke (Rescue Me, Are You There Chelsea?) and Sweeney (Me, Myself & Irene, There’s Something About Mary) are nationally recognized for their renowned stand-up and hilarious appearances in movies and television. They each take center stage with comedy juggernauts Hurley, known as “Queen of Boston Comedy,” and Votano who have kept the city in stitches with their comical and relatable takes on life in Massachusetts.
About the comedians:
Veteran Boston stand-up comedian Lenny Clarke has an oddly calibrated act — his material and his perspective is very much in an old-school Don Rickles vein, but his attitude is very much that of a quick-witted young comic. This contrast comes wrapped in a conversational, deceptively genial delivery, with just brief moments of clowning. Clarke is also unpredictable in a very good way on stage — you don’t know where he’s going to go next. It’s never the same show twice.
Dubbed by one admirer “the undisputed King of Boston comedy,” Steve Sweeney embodies, almost literally, the city he calls home. A master of dialects and character voices, Sweeney can riff on everyone from Dorchester church ladies to Beacon Hill pols to certain radio personalities who seem a little too old to be peddling rock and roll to younger generations. In fact, while Sweeney has played to national audiences many times throughout his 30-year career – not only by touring as a stand-up but also through roles in sitcoms and movies – he is so thoroughly Bostonian that he merits his own stop on the Freedom Trail.
Known as the “Queen of Boston Comedy,” Christine Hurley is a married mother of five children, which provides her with much of her material. She’s appeared on Nick At Nite, CBS and NESN, and she was selected to be part of “Comics Come Home” in 2015 at the Boston Garden where she shared the stage with Steven Wright, Jimmy Fallon, Lenny Clarke, Ray Romano and Louis CK, hosted by Denis Leary.
One of Boston’s rising stars, Sal Votano performs clubs, corporate, benefits and private shows with some of Boston’s top comedians like Steve Sweeney and Lenny Clarke. He was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Giggles comedy competition and the 2010 Plymouth Comedy Festival. His one-liner style comedy about growing up in Lynn, marriage, being a builder and owning a liquor store will surely make you laugh.
The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide New Bedford and the region with performing arts programming of excellence that inspires, educates, engages and entertains. Tickets are available for purchase at www.zeiterion.org, by calling 508-994-2900, or in person at the box office at 684 Purchase Street, New Bedford, Mass. Zeiterion Box Office hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and two hours before each performance.
