Providence's pianos play happily, thanks to a tuner

This Just In

Ding Ho home

Comedy benefit adds second show

By CLIF GARBODEN | April 30, 2008

Jimmy Tingle

Opening a comedy club in a Cambridge Chinese restaurant was a laughable idea unto itself. But around 1978, comic (and occasional Phoenix contributor) Barry Crimmins persuaded Inman Square restaurateur Shune Lee to let him book himself and other stand-up acts desperate for a venue. Those acts came to include Lenny Clarke, Jimmy Tingle, Bobcat Goldthwait, Denis Leary, Paula Poundstone, Steven Wright, and lots of other high-profile quipsters.

Tingle (who organized this weekend’s events), Crimmins, and a collection of announced and surprise-guest Ding Ho alums will gather this Sunday and Monday for two reunion shows to benefit comedian Bob Lazarus, currently undergoing treatment for leukemia.

The bill will also include Lazarus himself, Wright, Clarke, Steve Sweeney, Mike McDonald, Tony V, Ken Rogerson, Chance Langton, Bill Braudis, pianist Martin Olson, and heaven knows who else. Advance tickets go for $40 to $50. (Interest is high; this was originally a one-night-only event.) Arlington’s Regent Theatre has donated the use of its auditorium for the festivities.

“The Ding Ho Reunion — A Benefit for Comedian Bob Lazarus, ‘One of Our Own’ ” begins at 7 pm on Sunday, May 4, and at 7:30 pm on Monday, May 5, at the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street (off Mass Ave), in Arlington. Call 781.646.4849 or visit regenttheatre.com for tickets.

Topics: This Just In , Entertainment, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, More

Be the first to comment / Add Comment

HTML Prohibited

Add Comment

Today's Event Picks

[MUSIC] Dashboard Confessional at Lupo's

ARTICLES BY CLIF GARBODEN

WILD ABOUT HARRY | December 09, 2009
What I want to do — what most photographers want to do — is write Harry Callahan a love letter. At the very least, he deserves an elaborate thank-you note for innovating or validating 80 percent of the successful photographs we ever took.

INTERVIEW: KEN BURNS | September 25, 2009
After watching The National Parks: America's Best Idea , it would be easy to conclude that it all could have been said a lot faster. Ken Burns disagrees — but he's not just being defensive.

HOLY LANDSCAPE! | September 24, 2009
At its core, Ken Burns's PBS 12-hour epic The National Parks: America's Best Idea (nightly on WGBH Channel 2 at 8 pm, from September 27 through October 2) is a selective, initiative by initiative, advocate by advocate, chronicle of the evolution of the National Parks system and the changing roles protected lands have played in American culture since Congress validated Yosemite in 1864.

MICHAEL RYAN: 1951-2009 | August 31, 2009
Every proper obit should begin with something long-winded and amusing. In this case, that's easy.

K IS FOR CLOWN | June 30, 2009
The lighter side of global annihilation

See all articles by: CLIF GARBODEN

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

NAKED BOSTON
Every year, Ol' Man Winter cruelly turns Bostonians' bodies into shriveled, cracked sacks of atrophied muscle and lumpy goo — not exactly fodder for Playmate of the Month.

THE QUEST FOR THE ULTIMATE FEMALE ORGASM
Let's talk about the female orgasm, and how for some women, it can be difficult to come by.

REVIEW: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
In recent screen-adapted crime fiction, detectives are heroes and children are victims. In the trilogy by the late Stieg Larsson, the child victim is the hero.

RAPPER SAM ADAMS NOW ON TAP
Something equally remarkable and unprecedented happened this past week: a virtually unknown white Cambridge MC named Sam Adams landed in the top hip-hop spot on iTunes with his debut EP, Boston's Boy .

AZAMA GRILL
As someone who dines out nearly nightly in Boston at every level — from highfalutin snob joints to decrepit diners — I'm often amazed at the lack of correlation between prices and love.

THE QUEST FOR THE ULTIMATE FEMALE ORGASM
Let's talk about the female orgasm, and how for some women, it can be difficult to come by.

NAKED BOSTON
Every year, Ol' Man Winter cruelly turns Bostonians' bodies into shriveled, cracked sacks of atrophied muscle and lumpy goo — not exactly fodder for Playmate of the Month.

THE CURSE OF THE BIG DIG
Call it the Curse of the Big Dig: virtually every politician with statewide significance who has over the years become intertwined with the Central Artery Project (as it is officially known) has seen his or her dreams of higher office dashed.

CHINA EXPERT SEES A NATION AT THE 'SHADOW-LINE'
Joseph Conrad wrote of a "shadow-line," an indistinct boundary between youth and adulthood that adolescents awkwardly straddle; one moment there is impressive poise and maturity, and the next, a slip into past boorish, immature behavior.

RETURN TO SENDER
Sure, we've all gotten an unwelcome fruitcake or fluorescent sweater in the mail, usually from a well-meaning and slightly out-of-touch relative. But few New England Jews could have been prepared for the surprise "gift" that recently arrived on their doorsteps courtesy of Georgia-based messianic former businessman Sid Roth.

HOT TOPICS

Harvard University , John Kennedy , Bill Clinton , Ed Davis , Boston Celtics , Federal Bureau of Investigation , John Kerry , U.S. Republican Party , Jimmy Carter , Mitt Romney

This Just In

Ding Ho home

Questioning the Legality of Straight Marriage

Whole Foods health-care boycott gathers momentum

Loan Groan

Toilet talk

A terror unlike the usual terrors