Mark Christopher Lawrence Comedy Night at The Guggenheim to Support GenerateHope 10.18.2024 8p.m.

San Diego, CA (For Release) - Actor, comedian and producer Mark Christopher Lawrence and Prayer Dudz are proud to present Comedy Night at the Guggenheim Theatre supporting Generate Hope. The show, scheduled for Friday night, October 18, at UC San Diego Park & Market, will include headliner James P. Connolly, feature act The Show with Adam and Sean, opening act Sue Shirey, and musical guests Tricia Lynn Naval and Joyce Mendez. The evening kicks off with a red carpet networking hour featuring photos with the comics at 6:30 p.m. and showtime is 8:00 p.m.

Founded in 2009 by Susan Munsey, LCSW, and a grassroots group of concerned San Diegans, GenerateHope gives survivors of sex trafficking a real way out. They operate the only long-term, comprehensive safe housing and complex trauma recovery program for survivors in San Diego County. Their goal is that each survivor can develop new social, education, and vocational strengths, reintegrate into community, and walk powerfully into their future. GenerateHope operates a 6-bed Recovery Home and a 6-bed Transitional Living Home in San Diego, as well as a third home in Northern Colorado. All homes provide therapeutic, educational, and life skills support. To date over 160 survivors have found refuge with the organization, receiving the resources needed to break the cycle of vulnerability.

Best known for his series regular role as Big Mike on the NBC TV series CHUCK, Mark Christopher Lawrence is an international headliner who has worked with the likes of Sinbad, Jerry Seinfeld, Rodney Dangerfield, and Jeff Foxworthy. He has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for his work on the short film “The Flourish” and his co-produced short “$TACK$” and appeared in the PurFlix mini-series “Fragment: Oblivion.” Mark is also Co-Executive Producer and host of the new clean comedy series Pure Laughter, now showing on KPBS and available on the KPBS APP.

A former U.S. Marine who attended Harvard on a Marine Corps ROTC scholarship, James P. Connolly got his comedy start when he was ordered to write jokes for a Colonel. Since that beginning, he has appeared on America’s Got Talent, Comedy Central, HBO, in the Netflix series, “Larry Charles: Dangerous World of Comedy” and can be heard daily on SiriusXM Comedy Channels. His Dry Bar Comedy Special was released in 2022.

Billed as “The greatest band you’ve never heard of,” Featured Act The SHOW with Adam and Sean has performed at such venues as the Chance Theater in Orange County, The Stage in Burbank, and the Loft Ensemble in Los Angeles. Featuring San Diego native Adam Chambers and Omaha product Sean Durrie, the duo perform  as the house band in a monthly show in LA called Another Late Night Comedy Show with Mike Perkins.

A recently divorced former desperate housewife living in beautiful Coronado, CA,  Sue Shirey has been doing comedy for 15 years and is lead singer in the band The Suenamis. She is the founder and director of the James Shirey Foundation in memory of her son James who passed away in 2009 and has held many comedy fundraisers to benefit her foundation.

Musical act Tricia Lynn Naval and Joyce Mendez bring the sweet sounds of ukulele and powerful vocal harmonies to venues ranging from the Olde Ye Plank in Imperial Beach to Quigley’s Fine Wines in Downtown San Diego. Their “reggae-fied” covers of popular tunes turn their performances into a visit to an island paradise.

“I am honored to once again be supporting GenerateHope with our show at UC San Diego Park and Market,” says Mark Chirstopher Lawrence. “This is an organization that is doing amazing work for a critically underserved population in our community, and I encourage everyone to come out and learn what they do and how you can help. We’ll ‘bring da funny,’ and you bring the energy. You’ll go home feeling good about what your attendance has done for this group, and you’ll have a ‘holarious’ time doing it.”

Tickets for Comedy Night at the Guggenheim are available at the link. For information about GenerateHope, or to donate, visit generatehope.org. To learn more about UC San Diego Park & Market, visit the website at parkandmarket.ucsd.edu. For information about Mark Christopher Lawrence, visit his website at MarkChristopherLawrence.com.