AADP’s 11th Annual Comedy Show Benefit, Laugh for Lives 2018, will take place on March 23, 2018, at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco.
Pauline Yasuda
Pauline Yasuda was a finalist in the prestigious 44th Annual San Francisco Comedy Competition, placing 4th overall. She won the title of California's Funniest Female in 2013 and has toured colleges and clubs across the country. She has been a part of the Asheville Comedy Festival, Cleveland Comedy Festival, Burbank Comedy Festival, and the World Series of Comedy, just to name a few. You can see her on Season 1 of the Amazon Prime show, "Laugh After Dark."
Rick Gutierrez
Comedian Rick Gutierrez has been cracking up audiences across the country with his throwback takes on traditional family values and outlooks on marriage for years, but it's about time some higher ups in Hollywood finally got wind of his comedic talents. Rick can currently be seen in FUSEtv’s Fluffy's Food Adventures. The show premiered in 2015 and was the most watched program on the network. Rick’s one hour special, “I’m Not Mad, I’m Just A Parent,” produced by Gabriel Iglesias and LEG aired on NUVOtv and can be seen on Netflix. Rick's other television credits include NBC's "Friday Night Videos," BET's "Comic View” and Showtime's Latino Laugh Festival. He has appeared in 2 seasons of the Comedy Central series “Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution.” He has toured with Gabriel on his Unity Through Laughter and Fluffy Breaks Even tours and he is currently headlining clubs all around the country.
Tom Thakkar (Headliner)
Tom Thakkar is a comedian living in Brooklyn by way of Indiana..or so he says. He claims that he grew up the son of a deadbeat Indian dad and a Red Lobster-managing mom. Do we believe him...? Sure, Tom talked about these things on Conan, but he also called himself "HotGuy03" in a chatroom once, so who knows. His alibis include co-hosting Comedy Central’s “You Up” with Nikki Glaser, creating the podcast Stand By Your Band, and performing at Just for Laughs, Clusterfest, and Moontower. We've been watching Tom closely…when he was a finalist for NBC’s Stand Up For Diversity, when he appeared on Comedy Central's "This Week at the Comedy Cellar"…and we want to know, if he's so successful, why is he arguing with his landlord about whether the rodent in his closet is a rat or a mouse?
Atsuko Okatsuka
Atsuko is a stand-up comedian, actress and writer based in LA. Her credits include leading roles in the independent features LITTLEROCK (winner of Audience Award at Gotham Festival), FLOATING LANTERNS, WALLFLOWER, and guest stars on HBO’s ROOM 104, SCARY ENDINGS and a recurring role on AMBIANCE MAN for MOCAtv. Atsuko was named a Comedian To Watch in Vulture’s 2018 list & TimeOut LA’s 2019 list. Her pilot LET'S GO ATSUKO, originally based on her recurring live show at Dynasty Typewriter was previously in development at Quibi. She is also fluent in Japanese and Mandarin.
Ali Lu
As a first generation immigrant and frequent flyer, her experiences provide a unique lens on the world around her, while 25 years of being a musician scores it. She believes there is always humor to be found, even on the darkest of days, and that honesty will drive one's work to its most fulfilled and enlightened conclusion.
For More Information, click on comedian's photos!
HOSTED BY ROMMEL CONSLARA
Rommel Conclara is currently the San Francisco Bay Area correspondent and fill-in anchor for The Filipino Channel’s nightly news program Balitang America. His noteworthy Bay Area coverages include the NorCal wildfires to the Golden State Warriors championship runs. He has also been deployed across the US to cover national stories. In 2016, Rommel covered the Republican and Democratic Conventions in Cleveland and Philadelphia, respectively. In 2017, Rommel was in Washington DC when the US formally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to the Filipino World War II veterans.
Rommel's first news coverage for The Filipino Channel was on helping find a bone marrow donor for Ryan Manansala. It was through this story that he was made aware of AADP and the need for bone marrow and stem cell donors, especially for the Filipino community. Rommel says in honor of Ryan's memory he will be a lifelong advocate in helping spread more awareness around bone marrow/stem cell donations.
Nathan Mosher
Nathan is a comedian, poet, and singer-songwriter. He will be touring his show "Nathan Mosher is Injured" to the Orlando Fringe beginning on May 20. The show features music from his debut EP, “NATHANAEL”, available now on all streaming platforms.
The list of performers includes Steve Byrne, Andrew Orolfo, PK, DJ Sandhu, hosted by, Mark Shaw with special guests from the San Francisco community. Join us for a special after party in the city! More details to come, so check back with us.
Special early bird and advance group pricing are available now! Get your tickets while quantities last!
We are currently seeking sponsors for our event. If you are interested in becoming a Laugh For Lives sponsor, please email, Nittu, nittu@aadp.org
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About Laugh for Lives:
An old saying goes, “Laughter is the best medicine” and we certainly believe that humor is a strong medicine for the mind and body. Laugh for Lives is a comedy show benefiting Asian American Donor Program (AADP). Our primary goal of the event is not only to provide a stellar line-up of comedians for an evening of much-needed laughs but to elevate the awareness of our mission, helping save lives of patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases. The evening is designed to educate and encourage individuals between the ages of 18-44 years old, who are from ethnic minority communities to register as a potential bone marrow donor. Laugh For Lives is an AADP volunteer’s idea to help bring more attention about the need for donors to individuals from diverse communities.