Everyone needs a good laugh—and that’s what comedian and Rancho Mirage resident Max Mitchell is bringing to Oscar’s Palm Springs the last Wednesday of each month.
The creator and host of Last Laugh Wednesday, Mitchell described his comedy as “kind of dry and politically oriented. I tend to like controversy, but you know it pretty much runs the gamut.”
Mitchell added: “I like one-liners. I want to laugh every eight seconds.”
So who is he bringing to the stage with him?
“(The comedians) tend to be more like what I do, but not entirely,” he said. “Some of the acts have a funny style; they could almost just read the phone book and get laughs.”
On Aug. 25, Last Laugh Wednesday will be headlined by Zach Noe Towers, one of Time Out magazine’s 2018 Comedians to Watch. Towers has been on Comedy Central, Netflix and HBO Max; he also hosts E!’s Dating: No Filter. Selected as one of the new faces of comedy at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, he also starred in the feature presentation of Out on Stage.
Joining Towers on stage will be Mary Kennedy, Joe Dungan and special guest Paul Jacek.
Kennedy has been on HBO, Comedy Central and the USA Network, as well as Showtime’s Funny Women of a Certain Age. In comedy clubs, she’s played some of the best, including Caroline’s, The Comic Strip and Stand Up NY. She may look familiar from her role as New Fiona on Season 7 of Shameless. Dungan has done standup at clubs, colleges and corporate events, and he was the winner of the Clean Comedy Challenge at the legendary Ice House in Pasadena. He hosts a weekly YouTube talk show about people with unique stories, and once emceed a quinceañera for a dog.
Paul Jacek, from NBC’s Off Their Rockers With Betty White, is a comedian, actor, coach and tarot-card reader who was recently the spiritual adviser on Kevin Hart’s YouTube channel show What the Fit episode with Anna Kendrick. Jacek has written for Joan Rivers on How’d You Get So Rich? for TV Land, and is a regular at the world-famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
The fun continues on Sept. 29 with headliner Dana Eagle. Seen on CBS’ The Late, Late Show, Comedy Central, NBC’s Last Comic Standing and Comics Unleashed, Eagle has performed several times for the troops in Iraq. Her one-woman show was featured at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival with a sequel premiering at the Los Angeles Theater Festival. She has also written a book, How to Be Depressed: A Guide. The last line in Eagle’s bio: “Eagle began her career in musical theater but was asked to leave.”
When asked how she feels about working with Mitchell, Eagle circuitously answered by bringing up the COVID-19 vaccine: “I’m a gay bipolar Jew with a lazy eye—what’s a vaccine gonna do to me?” There was a brief pause. “I hope this doesn’t get out, because I tell my family I’m anti-vax just so that I don’t have to see them, but I’d get three more vaccines to do this show with Max.”
Sept. 29’s scheduled featured acts are Renee Percy and Wyatt Cote. Percy describes herself as “an award winning actor, writer, comedian and ninja.” (She does hold a second-degree black belt in karate, but to date, has won no awards for being a ninja.) Her first gig, at the age of 12, was as Pipi, a series regular, on Degrassi High. She has opened for the likes of Jeff Garlin, Preacher Lawson, Jamie Kennedy, Bill Burr, Yakov Smirnoff and Jay Leno, and has performed sketches on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Cote has four comedy contest wins and two network television appearances to his credit. His comedy career began as a teenager—while he was also a competitive surfer. Just one year short of a degree in biochemistry from the University of Hawaii, Cole decided to leave college to pursue comedy. How’s it going? Cote says he will not be returning to the University of Hawaii any time soon.
Upcoming headliners on the schedule include Julie Goldman (October), Nat Baimel (November) and Vicki Barbolak (January).
Mitchell’s credentials go beyond standup; he’s also the writer and director of two feature films, Get Your Stuff and Horror in the Wind. Both are gay-themed comedies that play to all audiences; he has similar aspirations with this series.
“The goal at Oscar’s is to serve the LGBTQIA community, but keep it open enough so that the straight community will enjoy the comedy as well,” Mitchell says. “Every show, I balance it. … I try to make it as diverse as I can.”
Last Laugh Wednesday takes place at 7 p.m. every last Wednesday of the month at Oscar’s Palm Springs, 125 E. Tahquitz Canyon Road. Tickets are $35 and include a $10 food/drink credit. For more information, call 760-325-1188, or visit oscarspalmsprings.com.
Sounds like fun – is this on the patio or inside?