Kids N Comedy Thanksgiving Show November 18, 2012

Kids 'N Comedy, New York's leading presenter of young comic talent, will present "Thanks, I Guess!," a Thanksgiving show, November 18 at Gotham Comedy Club, 208 West 23rd Street. Thanksgiving means being thankful for everything good in your life. But what about all those other things that we wish didn't even exist? In response to such pesky truths, six or more young comedians, ages 13 to 17, will wax eloquent about stinky subways, Chipmunk movies, barnyard slaughter, post-election letdown and everything else we're not so thankful for this holiday season.

Kids 'N Comedy maintains a high standard of creativity by an emphasis on new work.  It’s shows feature exclusive material and each show contains new writing by its young comedians that is created expressly for the varied topics of the shows. Kids 'N Comedy's monthly shows at Gotham Comedy Club offer a turntable of talented teens and 'tweens from the tri-state area.  In the company's shows, each comic performs his/her own material, which is screened to be free of profanity and abrasive or crude "low" humor.  They do, however, venture into edgy comic terrain:  politics, getting old, even death.  Laura Weiss wrote in Big Apple Parent, "This kid humor is quirky and often slightly mordant, with a sophistication that belies the comedians' youth.  Plus, these kids are hilarious."

"Thanks, I guess!" will feature Charlie Bardey, Valerie Bodurtha, Conor Carroll, Leo Frampton Joe O’Hare and others.

Charlie Bardey is an eleventh grader who grew up on the border of Chinatown and TriBeCa, which was good because he got to learn how to peddle counterfeit handbags while simultaneously acting posh. His mother's in marketing; his father's a forensic psychiatrist, thriving off of the lovely junction of crime, insanity, and punishment. He enjoys wearing sweaters from the 70s that are too big for him, dancing to Beyoncé and getting angry at award show results. He has two younger brothers, a thirteen year old and a three year old. Showbiz experience? "I have practiced 'Don't Rain On My Parade' in front of the mirror, like, 50 times." He speaks both English and chatspeak. His cat, Leo, thinks it's REALLY ADORABLE to sit on his keyboard when he's trying to write about himself. There is literally no food that can make him sick, including poisonous ones. His passions are disguises, laughing, social interaction and crunking. Sports? "Excuse me?"

Valerie Bodurtha hails from Stamford, CT and is a tenth grader at Horace Mann. Her mom is a reporter and her dad works in finance. She has three siblings and no pets ("Had a toad but he's dead now.") Her hobbies are belly dance, tap, Irish step dance, tuvan throat singing, improv, yoga, playing guitar, banjo, and ukulele, debate, basketball and fencing. She's been in nine plays and four dance concerts and has worked as a camp counselor. She speaks English and Hebrew and is learning Spanish. Her passions include preventing the spread of fast food corporations in other countries.

Conor Carroll hails from Brooklyn and is the son of a retired NYPD Sergeant and a Grant Consultant/Homemaker. His hobbies include drawing comics/anime, impressions and annoying his 16 year-old brother. He has been acting since he was four years old and has performed in commercials, movies ("Away We Go," "Phoebe in Wonderland," "Perfect Holiday"), TV shows and voiceovers. He's a seventh grader at Professional Children's School and something of a language lover: he's studying French, Russian and Italian. His pets include a Great Pyrenees named Luna and a Russian tortoise named Boris. He's allergic to incorrect grammar, puns and basic idiocy. His sports are Weight Lifting, Swimming and Channel Surfing.

Leo Frampton, an eleventh grader at Winston Prep in Manhattan, is the son of a teacher and a director of Art Therapy. His hobbies are video games, comedy and school. His siblings are two cats ("Not much words are exchanged, but the peer-pressure is palpable.") He has starred in a few school plays, but mostly it's comedy for him. His passion is comedy. His only sport is comedy.

Joe O'Hare is a tenth grader from Broad Channel, NY, where he attends The Scholars' Academy. His father works for Sanitation and his mother is a bartender. For hobbies, he writes that he is a volunteer firefighter at Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department. He's an only child; his pets are a dog and a cat. His passions are standup and being a fireman. His sport is wrestling and he has no allergies, bless him!

Host of the show is David Smithyman, the dry-as-a-bone Australian-bred comedian who is Emcee, Producer and Senior Instructor of Kids 'N Comedy. Smithyman's book,  "Young, Funny and Unbalanced: a Stand-Up Comedy Guide for Teens," was released this month and is available through Amazon (ISBN: 1478161752).  It outlines methods for summoning material organically out of your soul and explains the Kids 'N Comedy method of comedy training, which is an unconventional education for unconventional kids.