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Comedy at The Improv with Howie Nave: Jenny Zigrino, Chris Fairbanks perform this week at Lake Tahoe

Howie Nave
Special to Lake Tahoe Action
Jenny Zigrino performs at The Improv at Harveys Lake Tahoe this week.
Courtesy Photo |

Jenny Zigrino

This summer a slew of new faces has been seen in our comedy room, and Midwest comedian Jenny Zigrino continues the trend. While I haven’t seen her perform, I know she’s good because other respected comedians have said positive things about her — she has sarcastic wit, makes keen observations and gets people to blush in part because of her blunt honesty.

The performer made appearances on “Conan” and Comedy Central’s “@midnight,” and had a supporting role in the “Fifty Shades of Grey” parody “Fifty Shades of Black” with Marlon Wayans. Last July, the MassArt graduate was featured in the prestigious Just for Laughs Festival’s New Faces show and recently appeared in “Bad Santa 2” this past Christmas.



Zigrino dabbled in stand-up when she was just 16, splitting her time between Boston and Minneapolis. Now she spends most of her time on the road or at home in Los Angeles. Suffice to say she’s a rising star in Hollywood — Zigrino was featured on Oxygen’s “My Crazy Love” and she has a brand new album out (“JZ’s New Album”).

The comedian is a regular performer at the Women in Comedy Festival and has also performed at the New York Comedy Festival, Riot L.A. Comedy Festival, Great American Comedy Festival, Boston Comedy Festival and so many others. Welcome to Lake Tahoe!



Chris Fairbanks

When I first heard that newbie-to-Tahoe Chris Fairbanks was from Montana, my first thought was how long it took to make the necessary move to Los Angeles after exhausting his comedic opportunities in Big Sky Country. Obviously not that long because he’s now headlining comedy venues both in the states and internationally.

Fairbanks is kind of quirky and that has served him well — his humor was showcased on Comedy Central, “Conan,” “Last Comic Standing” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” On truTV, Fairbanks was a cast member and director of “World’s Dumbest” and the host of “Almost Genius.” His other credits include “@midnight,” FOX’s “Punchline” and the movie “Punching Henry,” starring J.K. Simmons and writer Henry Phillips. Check Fairbanks out on Judd Apatow and comedian Pete Holmes’ HBO series “Crashing.” He’s also on Amazon’s “One Mississippi” and the Comedy Central series “Corporate.”

The stand-up comic’s comedy album “Fairbanks!” was named one of Amazon MP3’s Top Ten. He also hosts the podcast, “Do You Need a Ride?” with Karen Kilgariff on All Things Comedy. They shuttle their guests to or from the airport (somewhat dangerously) in an ’08 Honda Accord mobile sound studio. Now that’s funny.

The Improv at Harveys takes place Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 9 p.m. Two shows are held on Saturdays at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Learn more at http://www.harveystahoe.com.


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