Comedian Chris Cope headlines Riffs Comedy Club this Saturday, March 7, inside the Hard Rock Hotel, and it marks his debut performance at Lake Tahoe.

I have to laugh at Cope’s bio because it has a historical slant to it saying his persona, “commands audiences by blending FDR’s likability and Churchill’s penchant for substance abuse with their German counterpart’s aspirations for global domination.”

Man, that is hilarious. Cope does have an approachable demeanor about him blending a sharp wit and he also has a penchant for storytelling that both disarms and delights.

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I bet he takes that and includes it in his bio.

Cope has a biting sarcasm about him and a decade’s worth of experience working crowds of a wide variety, enabling him to adapt mid set often improving going off script to mold his act to the desires of his audience.

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Cope’s ability to endear himself to any audience makes him a comedy club favorite nationwide.

In 2011, Cope and two other comedians formed the college comedy tour “The Good, The Bad, and The Sloppy.” Cope currently tours with them at colleges all over the U.S., and recently “GBS” was nominated for “Best Comedic Act” in the college market in 2012.

I feel his debut is going to be a good one.

Riffs Comedy Club hosts shows at 8 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, visit harveystahoe.com.

Amir K returns to Improv

Comedian Amir K is back at the Improv inside Harveys Lake Tahoe this week and brings with him a plethora of voices and great material that goes with it.

Amir has been on the CW’s “MadTV,” the MTV prank show “Jerks With Cameras” and appeared in Ben Affleck’s blockbuster hit, “Argo.” And that was his first flick too.

Born Amir Kamyab in Tehran, Iran (and raised in Southern California), Amir spent countless hours of stage time perfecting his craft gaining a formidable reputation with his storytelling and improvisational style.

His background also played a huge part in his comedic development with his multi-cultural upbringing (being fluent in Farsi and Spanish) that lead to being known for his incredible accents and impressions.

In a relatively short amount of time Amir won OC’s Funniest Stand-Up Comedy Competition and was a performer on the CBS “Diversity Showcase.” Following that he was a finalist on NBC’s “Stand-Up for Diversity Showcase” and won Tommy T’s Stand-Up Comedy Competition over in the bay area in addition to winning the 100 comic Ultimate Laff-Down Stand-Up Comedy Competition in Southern California.

It’s ironic that Amir even went into showbiz even though as a kid he liked being able to make his classmates laugh but a career in comedy? He was in real estate for awhile and in fact doing very good in fact had his own company too.

The only good thing to come out of the Great Recession was Amir leaving real estate and following his true passion of entertaining people and making them laugh.

Oh man, that would have been total drag had Amir’s comedy career been placed in escrow and then falling through leading him back to being a salesman of another career.

Amir is excellent and what he does now and is only getting better.

The Improv at Harveys takes place at 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. For more information, visit http://www.harveystahoe.com.

Lowell at Tahoe Loft

One of the most consistent entertainers ever is comedian/magician Chipper Lowell who’s at the Tahoe Loft through this upcoming Tuesday.

I first met him when he had a one-man show at the Horizon Casino (now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino).

Lowell has been on the road since he was 5. His folks traveled the country doing the circus circuit performing coast to coast so he learned the ropes about showbiz while other kids his age were playing in the sandbox.

His father was a professional clown and stage actor while his mom performed as an ‘iron jaw’ act hanging by her teeth high above the cheering crowds below.

The family was very popular and in-demand especially being a husband and wife team. They performed all over the world and country as well. Talk about a unique home schooling program huh?

Lowell has also appeared on television in national commercials and on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “General Hospital,” “America’s Funniest People” and all seven seasons of “Masters of Illusion.”

He’s also racked up an impressive list of awards including “Best Specialty Act of the Year” (from Action Magazine), “The Chipper Lowell Experience” (which had a long run inside The Horizon Casino for two years).

The Los Angeles Times called Chipper “Frenetic, feverish and hilarious! A shameless crowd-pleaser!” Too many other goodies to list but I wanted to add he was named one of the “Top Three Live Stage Comedians” by the Sacramento Bee, alongside Lewis Black and Lily Tomlin in 2006.