Ding Ho Reunion For Laz

For those of you local to Boston and Greater Boston, there's a good deal coming Sunday and Monday that you should make an effort to attend.

It's a Ding Ho Reunion, to benefit comedian Bob Lazarus, who has been fighting a winning battle against Leukemia for the past year or so.

As Barry Crimmins put it, "Laz has been walloping the daylights out of leukemia, an unpaid, yet full-time endeavor. So the kids are putting on a couple of shows ..."

Spearheaded by Tony V and Jimmy Tingle, Sunday evening (4 May, and a second show has been added for Monday 5 May) at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA (in the heart of Arlington Center) is the Ding Ho Reunion, where you can catch Steven Wright, Barry Crimmins, Mike McDonald, Tony V , Ken Rogerson, Chance Langton, Bill Braudis, Jimmy Tingle, Piano Player Martin Olson, and, of course, Lazarus himself, as well as expected special guests.

And what is the Ding Ho?

It was the legendary comedy club in Inman Square, Cambridge, that launched stand-up comedy in Boston, and the careers of many performers you are familiar with.

From Cliff Garboden, in The Boston Phoenix;

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.

So, whether you want to end (or begin) the week laughing, get a fix for your compassion and generous spirit, or, if you just have a thing for people with Leukemia, the Ding Ho Reunion is where you want to be.

Be there or be square ...