Many Thanks to our new FSA Volunteer, DAVA, who works at the TLC Medical Center in South Pasadena, and ran an amazing food/toy drive for FSA over the holidays.
Dava
Dava is a is an emergency and general practice veterinary technician and a compassionate vegan, focused not only the welfare of animals, but on human rights. She’s currently enrolled as a student at the Aveda Institute of Los Angeles, and upon graduation would like to form a non-profit organization teaching the trade of cosmetology to women who have been victims of sex trafficking. Dava is inspired by being surrounded by amazing people and animals who “make me realize how much of a difference we can all make if we just make an effort”.
Thanks again, Dava! We’re so happy to have you involved with FSA!
Previous Events:
Gimme Shelter – A Benefit for L.A. Animals
When: Sunday 04/14/13 7:30 PM (Doors open at 07:00 PM)
Where: The Hollywood Improv, at 8162 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90046
Ticket Price: $25.00
Show Type: Stand Up
Description: A benefit for Friends of Shelter Animals hosted by veteran comedian Allan Havey featuring top-notch comedians and a silent auction. Guaranteed to make you smile!
Dom Irrera
Dom Irrera: Nominated, six times for an American Comedy Award, Dom Irrera’s stand-up material was honed in a multi-generational Italian household in South Philadelphia with his mother, sister, grandmother, uncles and cousins all under one very big roof. A great-grandmother even lived across the street. Together there were three floors and four generations of family. His first big break was his performance on Rodney Dangerfield’s “Nothing Goes Right” comedy specials for HBO. In 1989 Irrera’s own HBO “One Night Stand” earned him his first CableACE award for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. In ’95 he won a second CableACE for the Showtime stand-up series he hosted, “Full Frontal Comedy”. That same year he received a second CableACE nomination in the writing category for his work on Comedy Central’s animated series, “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist”. He also starred in a solo stand-up special for HBO in ’92 titled “Command Performance”. He has performed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, “The Late Show with David Letterman”, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, “The View”, and has made several appearances on “Oprah”. Recent credits include an all-new stand-up special titled “Comedy Central Presents”, which aired on the cable network this past summer. As an avid sports fan, he hosted four seasons of Comedy Central’s irreverent football show, “Offsides”, where he conducted hilarious on-the-field interviews with football greats. He also hosted Comedy Central’s “Behind the Scenes at the American Comedy Awards: specials in ’98 and ’99. Irrera was a series regular on the ’98 Fox comedy “Damon” starring Damon Wayans and his guest-star credits include “Seinfeld” (he played an annoying prop comic needling Jerry in the memorable episode), “Becker”, “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “King of Queens”. In addition, Dom voices the character Ernie, the demolitions expert, on Nickelodeon’s “Hey Arnold”. His film work includes a featured role in Robert Townsend’s “Hollywood Shuffle”, a cameo in the Coen Bros. Film, “The Big Lebowski”, “The Fourth Tenor”, starring old pal Rodney Dangerfield, and he played himself in the Rodney Dangerfield / Dom De Luise film, “The Godson”. Dom has performed at Montreal’s prestigious “Just For Laughs Festival” and the “Cat Laughs Festival” in Kilkenny, Ireland (he’s made more appearances at both festivals than any other American comic). He also has performed at the “Melbourne Comedy Festival” in Australia, and at “Edinburgh Festival’s” Assembly Hall. It was there that he received the “Herald Award” for artistic excellence.
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman: Funny, irreverent, fearless, hardcore: all can be used to describe actress/comedienne Sarah Silverman and her unremitting style of humor. Silverman has built a career tackling controversial subjects head-on. While most might only scratch the surface, Silverman dives right into the murky depths of race, religion and sex–though she doesn’t explore them as issues per se, her blase, seemingly prejudiced outbursts serve to effectively deflate taboos, her winsome, coltish looks excusing her “offenses.” Silverman first appeared as a Not Ready for Prime Time Player in 1993, but immediately got herself into trouble with the NBC censors. One of her first bits was a commentary on the regular spot Weekend Update, where she joked about her desire to have an abortion, only to discover that she was only thirsty. More trouble ensued for Silverman behind the scenes, and soon found herself out of a job. S
he returned to performing stand-up, while appearing in episodes of Seinfeld (1996-1997), Star Trek: Voyager (1996-1997), The Naked Truth (1997-1998) and a recurring stint as writer Wendy Traston on The Larry Sanders Show (1996-1998). Meanwhile, Silverman landed a regular gig as Alison Kaiser on the Fox show, Greg the Bunny (2001-2002). She also made more prominent appearances in films: Evolution (2001), starring David Duchovny and Julianne Moore; Heartbreakers (2001) with Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt; and School of Rock (2003), the Jack Black vehicle about an out-of-work rocker who impersonates a grade school substitute teacher, in which she plays the shrewish girlfriend of Black’s doormat roommate (Mike White). Though she has appeared many times on screens both large and small, Silverman has always returned to her first love: stand-up comedy. She inked a deal with HBO to write, produce and star in her own comedy special airing in late 2003.
The deal with HBO, however, was shelved, but a deal with Comedy Central for a sketch show was scheduled to begin shooting in summer 2005. Meanwhile, Silverman was one of dozens of comedians vying to tell the dirtiest version of an old Vaudeville joke in The Aristocrats (2005), a documentary produced by Penn Jillette, the gregarious half of comedy team Penn & Teller. Though the joke contains no real punch line, the point has been to tell the most egregious version to unsettle new initiates. Silverman, of course, pushed the enveloped by pretending the joke isn’t a joke at all, resulting in one of the more disturbing versions in the film. After she competed in a couple tournaments on Celebrity Poker Showdown (Bravo, 2003- ), Silverman was in episodes of Entourage (HBO, 2004- ) and Pilot Season (TRIO, 2004-2005), and voiced characters on the animated series, Drawn Together (Comedy Central, 2004- ) and American Dad (Fox, 2004- ).
She finished a busy 2005 headlining her own comedy concert film Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, in which she unleashed some of her edgiest live stand-up routines, skewered the controversy that Aoki fanned and included several humorous musical interludes in which she demonstrated a clever talent for creating scatalogical lyrics, as well as an impressive singing voice. The same year she had a brief turn as a TV producer in the big screen adaptation of the Broadway sensation “Rent” (2005).
Andy Kindler
Andy Kindler: Andy Kindler is known in comedy circles as a troublemaker. Originally from New York, and now complaining from California, he annoys people all over the world.
Andy is a frequent guest and correspondent for The Late Show with David Letterman. Each summer at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal he delivers the State of the Industry address to a packed ballroom filled with comics and Hollywood industry types. He is infamous for his scathing attacks on the world of entertainment, including the previously taboo practice of making fun of his fellow comedians. Just as the comedy boom of the nineties was imploding, Andy wrote the “Hack’s Handbook” for National Lampoon. This “how to” guide satirized and exposed tired comedy formulas.
Andy was recently seen as a judge on the 7th season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. He is the star of two half-hour Comedy Central Presents specials and currently recurs on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place and Fox’s upcoming animation Bob’s Burgers. He was also a regular comedy litigator on The Root of all Evil. Other noteworthy credits include the HBO Young Comedians Special, Late Night with Conan O’Brian, The Daily Show, Dr. Katz Professional Therapist, Home Movies and The Larry Sanders Show. Andy is often recognized for playing the life-affirming character “Andy” on the CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond.
Jerrod Carmichael
Jerrod Carmichael: Jerrod Carmichael is an LA based standup and performer originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has been crafting his standup for over three years and this year was featured in Variety as being one of the top ten comics to watch, as well as being one of the New Faces at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival.
Jerrod is a regular around some of LA’s favorite standup shows, including Meltdown, The Improv, Laugh Factory and many alternative rooms.
Allan Havey
Allan Havey: Allan Havey is considered one of the best stand-ups working today. According to the NEW YORK TIMES he is “cocksure, irreverent, and very funny”. Originally from Miami, Allan arrived in New York City in 1978 and became a regular in clubs around the city after “passing” at the famous IMPROVISATION. In 1984 he was cast by LORNE MICHAELS in THE NEW SHOW, working with STEVE MARTIN, JOHN CANDY, BUCK HENRY, GILDA RADNER and a host of others. He made his “late-show” television debut in 1986 on LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, and made his tenth appearance on the show in October, 2010. In 1989 Allan was handpicked by HBO to be one of the initial hosts of The COMEDY CHANNEL, which later became COMEDY CENTRAL. He created, hosted, and produced NIGHT AFTER NIGHT WITH ALLAN HAVEY, which ran for three years and became a cult classic. During this time he also wrote and starred in two comedy specials for HBO; both were nominated for CABLE ACE AWARDS. He has made numerous appearances as a commentator on COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMAN, and hosted THE ALLAN HAVEY SHOW on COMEDY WORLD internet radio. Allan’s television work includes SEINFELD, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, UP ALL NIGHT, THE SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM, MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE and THE OFFICE. On MTV’S PUNK’D his punking of KANYE WEST made the top ten “best pranks in television history”. In 2006 he was cast as a lead in the ROB ROY THOMAS sitcom FREERIDE, which aired on FOX TELEVISION. In 2012 he guest-starred (alongside MELISSA LEO) on the Emmy Award winning show LOUIE. As a film actor he has appeared in HANCOCK with Will Smith, THE INFORMANT with Matt Damon, ROUNDERS with Ed Norton, INTERNAL AFFAIRS with Richard Gere, CHECKING OUT with Jeff Daniels, and the Jerry Seinfeld documentary COMEDIAN. Allan’s standup has been represented at the JUST FOR LAUGHS COMEDY FESTIVAL in Montreal, the KILKENNY COMEDY FESTIVAL in Ireland, the ASPEN COMEDY FESTIVAL, COMIC RELIEF IV AND V, and the NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL. He has toured Australia and Europe, and currently headlines in clubs and colleges across the U.S. His animated series, TRAILER HITCH can currently be seen on CINEFIX.COM. His one-man show GOD’S CAMERA is being produced by BRIAN KOPPELMAN and DAVID LEVIEN.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Greg Fitzsimmons: Mixing an incisive wit with scathing sarcasm, Greg Fitzsimmons has achieved success as a stand-up, Emmy Award winning writer and host on both radio and TV. A regular with David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jay Leno, Greg has made more than 50 visits to “The Howard Stern Show”. He also hosts “The Greg Fitzsimmons Show,” on Sirius XM’s “Howard 101” and twice a week puts out the hugely popular “FitzDog Radio” Podcast.
Greg hosts a series on The Speed Channel called “Pumped” and is a frequent panelist on “Chelsea Lately”. His 2011 book, Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons, climbed the best-seller charts and garnered outstanding reviews from NPR and Vanity Fair. Greg is taping a new One-Hour standup special this summer.
Greg spent five years as a panelist on VH1’s “Best Week Ever”. He has two Half-Hour Specials on Comedy Central, and in 2008 Greg made his entire family proud hosting the 25th Annual “AVN Adult Movie Awards” on Showtime.
Writing credits include HBO’s “Lucky Louie”, “Cedric the Entertainer Presents,” “Politically Incorrect w/ Bill Maher”, “The Man Show” and many others. On his mantle beside the four Daytime Emmys he won as a writer and producer on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” sit “The Jury Award for Best Comedian” from The HBO Comedy Arts Festival and a Cable Ace Award for the MTV game show he hosted called “Idiot Savants”.
Friends of Shelter Animals 