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2006/2/25-27 [Academia/Berkeley/DailyCal] UID:42003 Activity:nil
2/24    The Daily Californian Comedy Fest
        http://comedyfest.dailycal.org
        http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/02/24_dailycal.shtml
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comedyfest.dailycal.org
Laugh your socks off while helping raise money for a good cause. The Daily Californian is hosting its First Annual Comedy Fest Thursday, March 2 in UC Berkeley's Pauley Ballroom. Some of the Bay Area's hottest comedians are teaming up to support the Daily Cal's new diversity scholarship program by volunteering their time in this special benefit show. Members of the Northern California NFL Alumni Association are also joining hands to help support the newspaper's efforts to increase the diversity of its student employees. The NFL Alumni are making themselves available at a special pre-show reception, which begins at 6 pm The show starts at 8 pm Tickets are $10 for the show and $20 for both the show and reception. Attracting and retaining top minority students is an increasing challenge for the UC system. A lack of diversity among the student body is negatively impacting the diversity of students applying to the newspaper. The Daily Californian, the nonprofit student-run newspaper covering UC Berkeley, is actively taking steps to diversify its student staff in all areas of the newspaper. Please join us as we work to raise funds for the program, which will provide scholarships and both media and business training to top-notch students. Mix and mingle with the comedians and NFL Alumni before the show. Here's a quote from Asian Week about Ali Wong: "Native San Franciscan Ali Wong has been creating a heavy buzz in the local stand-up scene. With her hair in her trademark Chun-Li buns, Wong packs a punch of infectious enthusiasm and a dab of exhibitionism thrown in. Ruminating on everything from Chinese grandmothers on MUNI to white Haight Street men in dreads and why her consumption of fish sauce attracts men, Wong's unique brand of side-splitting raunchiness, ethnic accents and physical comedy will leave the seats wet." When Kings of Comedy star Steve Harvey first introduced Aundre the Wonderwoman to the comedy world, he described her as a "new comic with a funny way of saying things." An engaging and clever satirist, Aundre has been described as "The Queen of Nothing Sacred" and takes on everything from animal lovers to presidential politics. Aundre the Wonderwoman is an unforgettable performer, telling the truth in a funny way. She has performed with a wide array of comedy's hottest talents, including CARLOS ALAZRAQUI, JOHN ALSTON, DIANE AMOS, MELANIE CAMACHO, TED CARPENTER, DANA CARVEY, CARLA CLAYY, BRIAN COPELAND, SHUCKY DUCKY, WILL DURST, DOUG FERRARI, STEVE HARVEY, DONALD LACY, PAUL MOONEY, DAVID ALAN MOSS, DANA POINT, PAULA POUNDSTONE, BOB RUBIN, ROB SCHNEIDER, TONY SPARKS, JOHNNY STEELE, the late WARREN THOMAS and AISHA TYLER. Since her comedic debut at Steve Harvey's Comedy House, Aundre has been named "Oakland's Funniest Comic on the Strip," "The Funniest Woman in Half Moon Bay," and took first place in the First Annual Russian River Resort Comedy Competition and Piaf's Cabaret Competition. She was a semi-finalist in the 2005 San Francisco International Comedy Competition. A favorite from San Francisco to San Jose, you can catch her act at the best comedy houses, including The Punchline and Cobb's in San Francisco, Kimball's East in Emeryville, and venues throughout the North and South Bay. She performs throughout the country as well, bringing laughter to cities large and small, including Kansas City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, and Kona, Hawaii. Edwin Okong'o, The African Prince of Comedy, has defied conventional wisdom to become one of the funniest up-and-coming stand-up comedians in the United States. Born in Kenya, Okong'o moved to California over a decade ago. In 2000--after several years of writing jokes--he gathered the courage to get on stage. In the last six years, Okong'o has performed in, clubs, colleges and convention halls around the country. He has entertained at Bay Area premier clubs like The San Jose Improv, The San Francisco Punchline, Cobbs, Bourbon Street Comedy Club, Kimball's East and Rooster T Feathers. Okong'o was a finalist in the 2003 San Francisco International Comedy Competition--an annual contest that brought many Hollywood stars to fame. Whether he is performing in a college auditorium in the Bay Area or a small club in Butte, Montana, The African Prince of Comedy delivers endless laughter. Okong'o is currently a student at UC Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism. Local favorite Rob F Martinez was born and raised in the Mission District in San Francisco . His brand of comedy moves people in different ways, like the time when he performed at a hospital benefit show. He made sure everyone had a good time - yes, even the patients in the front row who drifted in and out of consciousness during his entire set. His hard work and tenacity have earned him respect from his peers and landed him appearances on NBC11 and KGO Radio. Rob was awarded the prestigious SF Punchline Dan Crawford Memorial Scholarship in 2004 and has performed with Brett Butler, Robin Williams, and Richard Lewis. From drunken bedtime stories to the homeless in San Francisco, he weaves personal experiences with oddball stories and exaggerations. Born in Latin America's bustling, cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Danny's and his parents and younger sister immigrated to San Francisco when he was 6 The Barbary Coast's mid 60s liberal and easy-going lifestyle played a heavy influence, although a consistent diet of super-hero comic books also played a large role in Danny's overall philosophy of life. A portion of the 1980s was spent on the East Coast, where Danny enjoyed melting into New York City and Boston. Being an avid sports fan and athlete, Danny also created a popular humor column for his soccer league newsletter. Additional artistic endeavors include a comedy series on Public Access TV. Danny performs at a variety of comedy clubs in San Francisco and surrounding areas, in addition to various venues when he performs as the 3-D spectacled, caped character: "Blinky the Rock God". Danny is the co-star and one man orchestra of the popular Howard Stone Show. One of his unique talents which he performs on stage consists of playing virtually any song, from Classical music to Rock N Roll, by simply drumming his cheek using a No. Danny is the author of the hilarious book: "I Didn't Want to Pay for a Rent-A-Car". Her mother was a pianist/composer and daughter of a prominent film director in India. Shyama's father majored in cinematography in college and performed standup in the early 80s, with Shyama in tow. She went on to perform standup herself in clubs across the country, from San Francisco, to Las Vegas, to New York. Shyama has appeared on A&E's An Evening at the Improv and Comedy on the Road, Lifetime Channel's Girls Night Out, Comedy Day in Golden Gate Park and was a featured performer in the LA Connection Improv Theater Group. She has one son, Brian Mas, an Account Executive with SF radio station Live 105. Lori Chapman has been performing stand-up comedy for the last seven years, wowing audiences from Park City, Utah, to Reno, Nevada to her hometown of San Francisco, California. A member of the sketch comedy group, Macaroni Art Theater, Chapman's likeability onstage is second only to her witty observations and hilarious stories of dealing with obscene phone callers, insulting websites and intense first dates. A regular at many Bay Area venues, Chapman is a sweet breath of fresh comedy that will blow your blues away. Bob Barry is a rare player in the Performing World: Someone who has done it all-with great distinction and singularity. Bob is an actor, stand-up comedian, director, improvisationalist and theatre founder. He is an accomplished writer and comedy editor who has delighted audiences for over 35 years. Bob has helped countless young actors through his effective self-confidence coaching style. In 1976 he and long time friend and comedy partner, Frank Kidder, who launched the first annual San Francisco International Stand-up Comedy Competition. A Comedy Competition participant himself in 1976, Bob soared up the ladder to a grand finish, not so far behind the winner that year, Dana Carvey. Bob Barry has shared...
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www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/02/24_dailycal.shtml
Rich Bunnell (left), '05, former editor in chief and arts editor of the Daily Californian, with Sanjay Patel, third-year student and former classifieds manager, in the student-run newspaper's offices at Eshleman Hall. Bonnie Azab Powell, NewsCenter | 24 February 2005 BERKELEY - Much to their chagrin, newsrooms around the country are overwhelmingly staffed by white, middle-class reporters and editors. The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley's award-winning, student-run newspaper, is no exception. Last year, only 1 of its approximately 115 employees was African-American, and just a handful were Latino. The Daily Cal, however, has decided to do something about it. The newspaper's ratio of underrepresented minorities (and robust Asian-American membership) generally parallels that of the overall student body at UC Berkeley. But "just because the campus is like that doesn't mean we can't do better," says Adeel Iqbal, Daily Cal editor in chief and president, and a third-year student. Iqbal's staff reached out to Berkeley student groups to discover what was behind the poor percentages, and heard from many that the Daily Cal was perceived as elitist. More significantly, perhaps, many potential staffers also faced a financial barrier. Currently, beginning Daily Cal reporters earn only $8 for an article, even one that may have taken eight hours or more to report and write. "A lot of students can't write for us because they have to make rent and cover their school fees," says Iqbal. To address that financial disincentive, the Daily Cal plans to launch a new diversity scholarship fund (goal: $50,000) that it hopes will entice a broader spectrum of applicants for both its editorial and business staff. Daily Cal First Annual Comedy Fest Tickets are $10 for the comedy show (8 pm) or $20 for both the show and the NFL alumni reception (6 pm). Both take place in the Pauley Ballroom of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Buy tickets On Thursday, March 2, the Daily Cal will host its first-ever comedy night, with all profits earmarked for the diversity fund. An impressive array of 11 Bay Area comedians has volunteered to amuse and scandalize audiences on the Daily Cal's behalf, including San Francisco resident Ali Wong, who riffs on local targets from Chinese grandmothers on MUNI to white Haight Street men wearing dreadlocks, and Edwin Okong'o, a Berkeley journalism graduate student better known as "the African Prince of Comedy." Also performing will be "Godfather of Comedy" Frank Kidder, who created the San Francisco International Stand-up Comedy Competition in the '70s and helped launch the careers of Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfield and Eddy Murphy, to name but a few. Before the show, several members of the Northern California NFL Alumni Association will mingle with ticket holders at a reception. Among the former football stars are Henry "Model T" Ford (Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns), Steve Kinney (Chicago Bears), and Gary Weaver (Oakland Raiders & Green Bay Packers). Although the details of the diversity scholarship fund have not yet been worked out "since there's nothing in the fund yet," Iqbal admits cheerfully the general plan is to set up several scholarships of around $500 to $1,000 to augment regular Daily Cal salaries. Adeel Iqbal Daily Californian editor in chief and president 'The skills that you learn here not only prepare you for a career in journalism, they prepare you for any number of careers. "We're looking for all forms of diversity economic, people with disabilities, even political," he says, laughing that campus Republicans definitely qualify as an underrepresented minority. Fund recipients will not be expected to write about their respective communities, Iqbal says, pointing out that although he is one of the Daily Cal's three Muslims, he does not feel confined to covering his religion on campus. Rather, scholarship recipients will be able to give better feedback about the accuracy of pieces that do touch on those communities, and provide an awareness of where sensitivities might lie. "The skills that you learn here not only prepare you for a career in journalism, they prepare you for any number of careers," says Iqbal. "We want to open up that head start to people who can really use it." UC Berkeley does not offer an undergraduate degree in journalism, although it is home to one of the country's top graduate schools for the field. Many joke that the Daily Cal plays the role of journalism boot camp, before students go off to the newsrooms and business departments of major media outlets around the country. Daily Cal alumni can be found at the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other places. Eight-six percent of the staff in those newsrooms are white, according to a 2005 national survey. Only 56 percent of their employees were African-American. In order for big media to increase its diversity, the places that prepare the troops journalism schools and student newspapers like the Daily Cal have to bulk up their ranks to create a trickle-up effect. "Everyone's talking about it, but it has to start at the base level," points out Iqbal. "If you don't have people who are trained, who will they hire?"