Top Latino Comedians Do A New Year's Eve Benefit Women in the Arts

On Thursday, December 31, head to Brava Theater for the "4th�Annual Brava's New Year's Eve Comedy Fiesta: Latino Power Edition," a benefit comedy show featuring host Marga Gomez, with headliner Lydia Popovich, plus Monica Palacios, Baruch Porras-Hernandez,�Betty Pazmi�o and Chris Storin.

This is the Mission District's one-stop New Year's Eve destination for stand-up comedy lovers, dancing fools, feministas, radical dudes, non-binary ballers, and progressive party animals.�Big laughs and good times will be in store for everyone (except Donald Trump!)
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On the brink of the most bizarre presidential election in U.S. history, it is time for all cheeky brown people to come to the aid of sanity by building a hilarious wall of punch lines for everyone to enjoy (except Donald Trump.) Leading the charge as Comedy Fiesta's host is�Marga Gomez, voted "Best San Francisco Comedian" by�SF Weekly,�Bay Area Reporter�and�San Francisco Bay Guardian.� Headlining the night will be�Lydia Popovich�(Comedy Central, Punchline SF.) Special guests will include�Chris Storin�("Reyes of Comedy" with Paul Rodriguez); Los Angeles based Chicana LGBT comedy icon and playwright�Monica Palacios�(Culture Clash, GO Magazine's annual '100 Women We Love');�Baruch Porras-Hernandez�(KQED Arts, Bawdy Storytelling, The Moth) and witty local party starter,�Betty Pazmi�o (My Dinner with Betty, SF Carnaval.)�

Immediately following the comedy performances will be "Brava's Countdown Dance Party" to ring in the New Year with free champagne, no-host bar, munchies, party favors and dancing until 1 a.m. Proceeds will benefit�Brava�Theater Center.
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Marga Gomez�has been named "Best Bay Area Comedian" by the SF Weekly, Bay Area Reporter and The SF Bay Guardian. Gomez has been featured on HBO, LOGO, Showtime, Comedy Central, PBS, and has appeared at numerous comedy festivals including San Francisco Sketchfest, Montreal's "Just For Laughs" and "The Edinburgh Fringe Festival." Being half Cuban she spends her time apologizing for Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.���

She is also the author/performer of eleven�solo plays.�Robin Williams once called her�"Amazing... A lesbian Lenny Bruce."��Gomez's critically-acclaimed 2015 show, "POUND" premiered Off Off Broadway at Dixon Place and played to full houses in San Francisco for six weeks at Brava's Studio.�She was recently featured on the KGO TV special "Profiles of Excellence" for her Bay Area artistic contributions and her community involvement.� Gomez is a tenured "Brava Artist in Residence," a solo performance teacher and the creator and curator of Brava's New Year's Eve Comedy Fiesta.�
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Lydia Popovich is a nationally touring comedian based in San Francisco. Her anecdotal humor and vivid storytelling make her a unique voice in a sea of dick jokes. She's a favorite performer at Rooster T. Feathers, Punch Line SF, Punch Line Sacramento and Cobb's Comedy Club. Her television appearances include "Creepy KOFY Movie Time" and Comedy Central's "Drunk History." In 2014, she won second place in the She Devil Comedy Competition and has performed at many comedy festivals including SF Sketchfest, Boston Women's Comedy Festival, Cape Fear Comedy Festival and most recently at "Funny or Die's Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival 2015." She has opened for Maria Bamford, Aisha Tyler, and more. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters once touched her arm and said, "Hey, you're pretty funny." The only things Lydia loves more than comedy are Dolly Parton and brunch.

Chris Storin was born in Oakland California and raised in San Leandro. This Bay Area native has made crowds laugh from Los Angeles to Japan! His unique life stories of growing up "half-breed" with a dad who was a farmer from Oklahoma and a feisty Latina mom from New Mexico paired with his energetic style truly captivates. Storin has shared the stage with the likes of Anjelah Johnson, Doug Benson and Eddie Griffin. He's opened for Dave Chappelle, Paul Rodriguez, and currently tours nationally with "Last Comic Standing" winner Felipe Esparza. He recently got to fulfill a personal dream by bringing his comedy to the troops overseas.

Monica Palacios is a Los Angeles based and internationally known hip chick and creator of stand-up comedy, solo shows, plays, screenplays, short stories, poems, essays and blogs about the Latina/o LGBTQ experience. Palacios will return to San Francisco after performing two sold out nights of her latest work "San Francisco, Mi Amor!" at the Galeria De La Raza in November 2015. In 2012 Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared "Monica Palacios Day" in Los Angeles to honor her three decades of groundbreaking Chicana lesbian performance. Palacios is also an original member of the trailblazing Latino Chicano comedy troupe Culture Clash (along with Marga Gomez.) National and international scholars have critically engaged her work in academic journals, books, dissertations and conference panels. Palacios was awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Rockefeller Fellowship from the Chicano Studies Institute at UC Santa Barbara. She was named as one of GO Magazine's 100 Women We Love 2015. Palacios performed her work in progress, "San Francisco, Mi Amor!" at the Galeria De La Raza in November and is promoting her new play, "I Kissed Chavela Vargas."

Baruch Porras-Hernandez is a comedic writer, performer, storyteller and regular host for KQED Arts. He's performed in shows all over the bay area including "Dr. Zebrovski's Hour of Power," Tender Bears, Radar Productions, Queer Rebels, Flor y Canto, Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, The Marsh, and SOMArts. His work has been published in several anthologies. He is a Lambda Literary Fellow in poetry. He's told stories with The Shout, Bawdy Storytelling and has won the storytelling competitions: The Moth L.A., and The Story Show Down in Oakland. He is the voice of the SHIPWRECK Live Erotic Fan Fiction Competition and Podcast. He also runs the San Francisco Queer Open Mic. He was born in Toluca, Mexico and likes gummy bears.

Betty Pazmi�o will return to Brava's New Year's Eve Comedy Fiesta for her encore appearance. Betty has been the Mistress of Ceremonies for many Latino community-based events, such as the Encuentro del Canto Popular, Loco Bloco, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, and SF Carnaval. Betty's one-woman show, "My Dinner with Betty," played to a sell-out audience in March 2014 at the BRAVA Theater Center.

Brava! For Women in the Arts celebrates its 30th year as a professional arts organization dedicated to cultivating the artistic expression of women, youth, LGBTQ, people of color, and other underrepresented voices...BRAVA's producing history includes award-winning new work by Artists In Residence, Rhodessa Jones & Cultural Odyssey, Marga Gomez, Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe, and Lisa Mezzacappa; the Bay Area premieres of "Solitude" by Evelina Fernandez & Latino Theatre Company and the Off-Broadway hit, "Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical" as well as the annual events Baile en la Calle: The Mural Dances and our year end fundraiser, Brava's New Year's Eve Comedy Fiesta. Brava's current artistic programming includes traditional and contemporary music festivals, a variety of film festivals, contemporary and experimental theatrical productions, international comedy shows, lectures and professional dance productions -- making BRAVA one of the most eclectic and multi-faceted arts venues in the Bay Area.

BRAVA's resident youth programs include the long-standing SF Running crew, pairing youth with professional mentors and hands on opportunities for technical theatre training; Cuicacalli Escuela de Danza, traditional and contemporary dance training for youth; and SF Youth Theatre, offering high quality instruction integrating drama, dance, music and stagecraft. Brava is committed to providing affordable space for artistic development and presentation and quality professional arts training for underserved youth in the San Francisco community.

"4th Annual Brava's New Year's Eve Comedy Fiesta: Latino Power Edition," will take place at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 31 at Brava Theater, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco. Reserved seating $35-50. For tickets or information, visit www.brava.org.