by: JK Clarke
What’s better than a night of standup comedy? Why a night of standup comedy for a cause, of course. Sunday, September 28 at Gotham Comedy Club saw a hilarious effort to raise funds for the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care via comic and actor Alyse Kenny’s monthly charity event, “It’s a Charity Thing!”
Christian Finnegan
Each month comics perform to raise funds for a different charity, and this time it was for the NY Zen Center Contemplative Care, “a nonprofit corporation, that offers contemplative care training so that people can care in mindful and compassionate ways in medical centers, hospices, people’s homes, and in their everyday caring relationships . . . in order to create a more courageous and harmonious world, to provide compassionate care to the sick and the terminally ill, and those who care for them [and also] to create a supportive, loving environment for people who face their illnesses or end of life journey’s.”
Eddie Brill
The event featured bringing-down-the-house sets by the hilarious professional comics Christian Finnegan and Eddie Brill (from the Late Show with David Letterman), along with several others, helmed by host extraordinaire, the terrific comic Jimmy Failla. What’s more, special guest Vincent Pastore, of both HBO’s The Sopranos and the Broadway production of Bullets Over Broadway, raffled off a collectible piece of Soprano’s memorabilia (a t-shirt signed in the name of Pastore’s Sopranos character, “Big Pussy”).
The evening was a terrific success and left all satisfied and laughing, proving once again that charity events need not be presided over by a lifeless banquet.
It’s a Charity Thing! produced by Alyse Kenny – Monthly at Gotham Comedy Club 208 West 23rd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues). www.alysekenny.com www.gothamcomedyclub.com
