Comedy Studio Comic in Residence Interview -- Corey Manning

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Boston Comedy Showcase tonight at Club Oberon

If you’re looking through the club listing for a comedy show tonight, don’t skip the Boston Comedy Showcase at Club Oberon. You won’t find a stronger line-up in the city – Joe Wong (two Letterman appearances, Ellen), Corey Manning (Jamie Foxx’s Laffapalooza), Mehran (who hosts his own monthly shows at Mottley’s and Tommy’s), Lady Vain (NE Def Comedy Jam Showcase), Dan Crohn (who produced the Doug Stanhope show at the Hard Rock last year), and Shereen Kassam (SlumDog Comedy Tour).

Kassam co-produced the show, inspired by a conversation with a friend who had never been to a comedy show. “I immediately started bragging about the pool of amazing, talented comics we have in the Boston area and how many of them are blowing up and moving to NYC and LA,” she says. “I convinced him that he would not be disappointed if he checked out a local comedy show, and I was right.”

Kassam and co-producer Peter Norris wanted to find Boston comedians who had already broken or were on the verge, trying to capture an audience that might not think of coming out to a comedy show. “The goal is to give the audience such a great show that they will not only remember the night and the talent, but also fall in love with comedy and become faithful patrons to the comedy scene,” says Kassam.

The plan is to host a showcase like this every month at Oberon, as Kassam points out there are many more comedians she’d like to feature. She’d like to showcase the diversity of talent Boston has to offer, something exemplified by tonight’s roster. “The comedians on the line-up are smart, funny, and hit on real things/situations that they have encountered; each of these comics pushes against the boundaries in a witty, but bright manner,” says Kassam. “This show will encourage people to feel comfortable stepping outside of what they are used to.”

Random Notes

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Corey Manning: Comedy for Community and Scene

Give Corey Manning credit for making the most out of his opportunities, for the benefit of local comedy and the community. This weekend, he is on the road with Vanessa Fraction (HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, Barbershop 2) and Eddie Bryant (P. Diddy’s Bad Boys of Comedy) in Maryland. All through the week, he’ll be playing shows with them in the New England area, including a Monday night benefit for the Lotus Foundation at the Comedy Studio also featuring Chris Tabb, Just Al, Big Moe, Lady Zain, and DJ Reason.

Fraction and Bryant are up-and-coming headliners that probably wouldn’t have a ready place to play in Boston if Manning hadn’t created the opportunity. He met both of them a couple of years ago at the Bay Area Comedy Festival, and has been in touch with them ever since trying to work out a schedule to bring them to Boston and to work with them on the road.

Manning is genuinely impressed with both comics, especially Fraction. (He’ll also join the two for shows at Catch a Rising Star in Providence, R.I. on Tuesday and Macumba’s in Mattapan on Thursday). “Vanessa Fraction is the next Monique, honestly,” he says. “I’m really honored to be on a show with her, because she has that strong a potential.”

Manning started out working Dick’s Beantown Comedy Vault in 2002 not long after moving to Boston from North Carolina in 2001. He hosted his own nights at the Vault and then moved on to the Emerald Isle with Tabb to co-host Big Funny Sundays. Now he books his own shows and co-hosts Wake Up Live on Touch 106.1 FM weekdays from 6 AM to 7 AM with Andrea “Drea” Baptiste, and works with local schools, creating after-school programs with his Laugh and Learn. (According to Manning, the Lotus Foundation, which Monday’s show benefits, is the fiscal agent for Laugh and Learn).

Manning will be bring Fraction and Bryant to local schools this week as part of the program. Monday and Tuesday, they’ll visit Young Achievers in Jamaica Plain, Wednesday they’ll be at the Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester, and Thursday they’ll be at Winthrop Elementary, also in Dorchester.

“We’re going to different schools just to speak to the students about different things like pursing your passions, respect, thinking about their future, and how what they did at the elementary age ties into what they do now,” says Manning.

For more detailed information and tickets, call Manning at (617)851-5246 or visit www.CoreyManning.com.