LOS ANGELES, July 25, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Funding Mortgage Division and Southern California Gas Company presents "Comics For The Cause," to benefit The Youth Project, http://www.helpnothassle.org">http://www.helpnothassle.org. For one night only, Jay Leno will be joined on stage by popular comedy all stars Tammy Pescatelli, John Heffron and Alonzo Bodden, seen on Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, The Tonight Show and more, as well as meet fans at a pre-show VIP event at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons on August 7, 2012. Rock Comic Mark Eddie will serve as host.
John Heffron has appeared on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central_Presents Comedy Central Presents">Comedy Central Presents, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno_%281992_TV_series%29 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992 TV series)">The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and won the second season of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Comic_Standing Last Comic Standing">Last Comic Standing and placed third on the third season of Last Comic Standing. John worked as a sidekick to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Bonaduce Danny Bonaduce">Danny Bonaduce on a highly rated Detroit morning show on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKQI WKQI">Q95-5 and provided commentary on the 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VH1 VH1">VH1 TV series My Coolest Years: My First Time, and other VH1 shows. He toured with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Murphy Charlie Murphy">Charlie Murphy and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rogan Joe Rogan">Joe Rogan in Maxim and Bud Light's Real Men of Comedy tour in the fall of 2006. In 2007, he made his debut hosting his own Internet broadcast on http://www.nowlive.com/JohnHeffron">NowLive.com and currently hosts Heffron and Reep on ToadHop Network. Heffron released a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game Board game">board game, That Guy Game and three CDs: Good Kid, Bad Adult (2005), The Better Half (2006), and Kid With a Cape (2007).
Tammy Pescatelli won http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central Comedy Central">Comedy Central's Standup Showdown in 2010 and finished in the finals for seasons Two and Three of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Comic_Standing Last Comic Standing">Last Comic Standing. She performed several times on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno The Tonight Show with Jay Leno">The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and appeared on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonnie_Hunt_Show The Bonnie Hunt Show">The Bonnie Hunt Show, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Call_with_Carson_Daly Last Call with Carson Daly">Last Call with Carson Daly, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Miller#CNBC_show Dennis Miller">Dennis Miller, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Unleashed Comics Unleashed">Comics Unleashed, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balderdash_%28game_show%29 Balderdash (game show)">Balderdash, GSN's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PokerStars PokerStars">PokerStars, TBS's Very Funny at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_Factory Laugh Factory">Laugh Factory, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central_Presents Comedy Central Presents">Comedy Central Presents: Tammy Pescatelli-Half Hour Special and on other networks such as CMT, E!, VH1, MTV, and A&E.
Alonzo Bodden's comedy break came in New Faces of Comedy at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. 10 years later he won season Three of Last Comic Standing. Since then, he's appeared on: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien show, The Late Show with Craig Kilbourne, The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show and Comedy Central. He has traveled with the USO entertaining troops from Iraq to Greenland, has hosted numerous TV series including 101 Cars You Must Drive on Speed channel and America's Worst Driver on Travel Channel. He has appeared in a couple of films including Bringing Down the House and Scary Movie 4 and was the voice of Thunderon in the Power Rangers movie. He is a regular on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Comedy Congress, and his latest TV project is a Showtime Special, Who's Paying Attention..
And special guest, Jay Leno, acclaimed TV late night show host, admired stand-up comedian, best-selling children's book author, much-in-demand corporate speaker, lovable TV and movie voice-over artist, pioneering car builder and mechanic, and philanthropist...it's no wonder that he is widely characterized as "the hardest working man in show business."
For one night, these incredibly talented comedians descend on Santa Clarita to raise awareness, raise money and make people laugh, all to benefit the SCV Youth Project. "Such a great line-up. Great to see everyone getting together for such a good cause. Happy to help," Comedian John Heffron said. "It's all coming together so incredibly well and I am honored that all of this talent is coming together just for us. All I did is ask. That's pretty awesome," Executive Director, Kim Goldman, stated when asked about how this event came about. "In tough economic times, we need all the help we can get in order to continue to provide free services to teens; this event is going to be amazing for so many reasons," Goldman said. Kim Goldman, the sister of murder victim Ron Goldman from the infamous OJ Simpson trial, is a nationally recognized victim advocate and has been running the Youth Project since 2005.
The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Project is celebrating 12 years of successfully providing free services to teens in the Santa Clarita Valley. Since their doors opened in 2000, the Youth Project has assisted more than 34,000 local families, including 29,000 youth and 5,500 adults. In 2011/2012, with services on six high schools and seven junior high campuses, the SCV Youth Project provided more than 8000 hours of service to the young adults in the Santa Clarita Valley with serious life challenges, including depression, suicide, grief/loss, peer pressure, bullying and drug/alcohol abuse, said Kim Goldman, executive director.
"The generosity of the comics is amazing and what a great new event for Santa Clarita. They always say that laughing is good for the soul, this time it will also be great for our kids," Board President, Jerry Citarella stated.
ABOUT THE FUND RAISER
EVENT: Comics For The Cause
DATE: Tuesday, August 7, 2012
TIME: 6:00pm VIP Pre-Party, 6:30 Doors Open, 7:30pm Show Starts
LOCATION: Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons
TICKETS: $65 and $45, $35 Add-On for VIP Party, hosted by Galpin Santa Clarita (limited to 100 people)
SPONSORSHIPS: Sponsorships are available from $500 to $3,000 Current sponsors at time of print:
Headlining Sponsor: Pacific Funding Mortgage Division and Southern California Gas Company
Opening Act Sponsor: Marcy James of GEM Mortgage, Estate Realty Group, Advantage Disposal, QM Design Group, A. All Bright Painting & JRL Electric Supply Inc.
VIP Party Sponsor: Galpin Santa Clarita
Media Sponsors: KHTS Hometown Station, The Magazine of Santa Clarita
Event Sponsors: Nancy Starczyk of Realty Executives, Red Temple Music, Morgan MacDougall Productions, Infinity Wealth Management , Gregg Goodman Farmers Insurance, Northwestern Mutual, Martin Rodriguez of Pacific Funding, Tom Hough, CPA.
ABOUT THE SCV YOUTH PROJECT
The SCV Youth Project helps kids facing such serious issues as drug/alcohol abuse, anger, divorce, peer pressure, grief/loss, suicide, depression, etc. The Youth Project offers free, bilingual, one-to-one or group counseling, distributes FRY cards (which lists emergency numbers) and leads a variety of specialized youth programs. For more information, about the SCV Youth Project, visit www.HelpNotHassle.org.
Contact:
Kim Goldman
(661) 803 6632