A few years ago I was talked into taking a two day workshop with funny lady, coach and yogi, Beth Lapides and her husband, partner, producer, Greg Miller.  I had no idea what to expect since I’d never taken any kind of performance class before.  I learned so much including the fact that comedy is telling stories in an unexpected way.  And I had a good time too!

So when Greg asked me to help them bring Beth’s new show, “100% Happy 88% of the Time” and a one day workshop, “The Comedian’s Way” to Tucson, I jumped at the chance. You can catch the show and workshop at the Club Congress.  You can also see her hosting “The Other Network” at The Loft.  Here are the details:

Beth Lapides is a paradigm-shifting cultural visionary. She’s the creator and host of ‘Un-Cabaret’, the legendary alternative comedy show that created a revolution in personal storytelling – and led to the current wave of storytelling shows around the country including Tucson’s own Odyssey Storytelling.

She has appeared on NPR, Politically Incorrect and Sex and the City. She’s the author of “Did I Wake You”, a critically acclaimed book of haiku and writes a column called “My Other Car is a Yoga Mat” for LA Yoga Magazine.

Wed. & Thurs. June 16 & 17, 7:30 p.m. – Beth Lapides curates and hosts “The Other Network”, a festival of the best un-aired TV pilots ever made introduced by their creators, including Conan O’Brien, Ben Stiller and Judd Apatow, starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Amy Poehler, Ray Romano and more at The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tickets $8.00 general; $7.00 Loft Cinema members. Double Feature Ticket (good for both nights):  $14.00 general; $12.00 Loft members at The Loft box-office, or call 520-795-0844.

Saturday, June 19, 7 p.m. – Beth Lapides performs her new solo show, “100% Happy 88% of the Time,” a turned-on tour-de-force that combines story, science and standup, multi-media, music and metaphysics at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Tickets are $15 at the door, $10 in advance at http://bethlapides.com.

Sunday, June 20, 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Beth Lapides and husband/partner Greg Miller lead a special one-day intensive session of “The Comedian’s Way”, a workshop for writers, performers and other humans at Club Congress. $20 at the door, $15 in advance at http://bethlapides.com.

For more info contact Greg Miller 760-327-4656 greg@uncabaret.com

San Francisco invades Tucson!  Mark you calendar for some Bay Area entertainment here in the Old Pueblo.

Sister Spit: The Next Generation

Friday October 2, 8:00 PM at Gallagher Theater, University of Arizona, Free and open to the public

Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hitting the road again, with a whole new all-girl lineup of zinesters, fashion plates, novelists, performance artists, slam poets and fancy scribblers. Inspired by the legendary Sister Spit Ramblin’ Roadshow of the 90s, Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hauling a vanload of killer underground female talent across the USA carrying on the tradition of rowdy, raucous literary adventure. Come and meet your new favorite performers!

Beth Lisick, author of the books Monkey Girl, Everybody Into the Pool, and Helping Me Help Myself. Nude performance artiste. Comedienne.

Ariel Schrag, comics artist who documented her queer youth in a series of graphic novels — one of which, Potential, is being made into a movie by Killer Films.

Sara Seinberg, poetic powerhouse. Creator of the multi-city K’Vetch Queer Open Mic. Artistic Director of the past three Homo-A-Go-Go festivals. Photographer extraordinaire.

Kirya Traber, slam poet superhero. Teacher of poetry to the youth. Organizer of performances exploring queerness, race and more.

Ben McCoy, performance artist, novelist-in-progress, force of nature. Whose writings have been made into the short films My Hustler Boyfriend and The Face of God.

Rhiannon Argo, skater, future librarian, present novelist. Author of the queer tour-de-force The Creamsicle, which takes you into the lives of pill-popping, pole-dancing, heart-breaking, gender-fucking young queers

Hosted by Michelle Tea, co-founder of Sister Spit and the muscle behind Sister Spit: The Next Generation. Author of a bunch of books, including the Lambda Award-winning Valencia, and the coming-of-age-on-drugs novel Rose of No Man’s Land.

And special guest Tania Katan.

More info: http://www.myspace.com/sisterspitnextgen,

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Mighty Real with Lynnee Breedlove and Silas Howard

Saturday, October 10, 8 p.m., Dinnerware Artspace 264 E. Congress St. Sliding scale $7 +, all ages show

An evening of dueling solo shows

Lynnee Breedlove is an improv comic. Silas Howard makes 50-Cent videos. Lynnee is funny and ugly. Silas is poignant and handsome. Always disarming, alarming, and keeping you on your rocker boot toes, both use multimedia performance to trace the queer history that made them the men they are today.

Lynnee Breedlove’s all new solo show, Confessions of a Poser is a comic look at the mystery of the purple dick, how to use legacies of cultures not your own, and how to kill things, eat them and still be a Buddhist. He’s been told, “Too many props for standup,” and “Too many punchlines for theater.” Buckets, knives, and body parts are still integral to the show. Although dickless himself, weirdly, his biggest fans are straight bio boys, DWD, Dudes With Dicks, probably due to his constant appropriation of straight non-trans male culture.

Opening for Lynnee is Silas Howard’s one-man-show, Thank you for Being Urgent, tale of a transman in the queer punk world of San Francisco, spilling into the crappy and exalted glitter of Hollywood, searching for true tales of fierce outsiders, re-imagining the mainstream, traversing serendipitous heights and punishing ironies, Thank you for Being Urgent chronicles burlesque dancers with dementia, tranny jazzmen and film executives, using archival photos, film clips, and monologue.

More info: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mighty-Real-Tour

You can catch Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed, (NBOJU), a madcap improv comedy troupe this Friday, August 7, at Revolutionary Grounds Books and Coffee, Fourth Avenue’s new(ish) coffeehouse (606 North 4th Ave, where Rainbow Planet used to be).

NBOJU was created in 2002 as an outlet for actors, comedians, and performers in the Tucson area. Founder Dana Cianciotto hoped to bring together a unique group of people from different backgrounds with different levels of experience to create a well rounded and eclectic performance troupe.

Over the years they’ve had a change of personnel but their commitment to zany comedic entertainment has stayed true. In addition to performing a 21+ show twice a month at The Executive Inn and Suites, and shows in different venues around town, they work with organizations and corporations to tailor shows and workshops for specific needs.

The show starts at 7:30 on the back patio. Get there early to grab a drink and a snack and then watch as they create quick paced games and scenes based on audience suggestion and participation.

It’s fun, funny and free although donations are happily and gratefully accepted.