Tammy Pescatelli in "Comedy Big Shots" at the Adler Theatre -- April 15.
Saturday, April 15, 8 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
On April 15, the laughs at Davenport's Adler Theatre will be multiplied by four when the venue hosts the touring sensation Comedy Big Shots, a night of hilarity boasting sets by People's Choice Award nominee Thea Vidale, Night Court's Marsha Warfield, Living Single's John Henton, and former Quad Cities resident and national comedy sensation Tammy Pascatelli.
Originally from Perry, Ohio, Pescatelli arrived in the Quad Cities in 1990 with plans to only stay for the summer before taking a fall internship in New York. Instead, she landed a job waitressing at local comedy club The Funny Bone, and was soon performing her burgeoning standup set for the Davenport venue on a regular basis. Over the five years Pescatelli eventually stayed in the area, she was also a headliner at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, appeared in the locally filmed horror comedy Beauty Queen Butcher, and co-hosted a morning show on the former WPXR-FM “Power” 98.9. After leaving the Quad Cities in 1995, Pescatelli embarked on a professional touring career as a standup performer, booking gigs in comedy clubs during 36 weeks of her first year on the road. An acclaimed set at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival captured the attention of the Hollywood Reporter, which led to a spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as well as numerous weekly appearances on the 2004 season of NBC's competition program Last Comic Standing, for which she was a finalist on the show's second and third seasons.
In 2010, Pescatelli won Comedy Central's Standup Showdown, and the following year, she co-created, executive produced, wrote, and starred in the WE reality show A Standup Mother, which introduced viewers to Pescatelli's off-stage life as a mother, wife, and comedian. Her comedy special Finding the Funny was subsequently released on Netflix in 2013, and was selected among iTunes editors' "New and Noteworthy" selections, eventually hitting number three on the iTunes charts. Pescatelli's other credits include a starring role in the 2020 film That's Amore, an appearance on Tom Selleck's CBS drama Blue Bloods, and another album hit with 2019's #TBT: Throwback Tammy, which debuted a iTunes' number-two position.
Joining Pescatelli in the Comedy Big Shots tour, Vidale is perhaps best known for her role as Thea Armstrong-Turrell in the ABC sitcom Thea, for which she became first African American female comedian to have a television series named after her. Vidale was consequently nominated for a People's Choice Award as Favorite Female in a New Series for the sitcom, was regularly a judge on the BET comedy competition Comic View, and has performed on numerous sitcoms including Ellen, The Wayans Bros., The Drew Carey Show, and My Wife & Kids.
A native of Chicago's South Side, Warfield is best known for her 1986–92 role of bailiff Roz Russell on Night Court, and also co-starred in the Emmy-winning sitcom Empty Nest. Warfield also appeared in feature films such as D.C. Cab and Mask, and has guest-starred on TV series including Family Ties, Cheers, Living Single, In Living Color, Moesha, and Touched by an Angel. She also, in 1979, won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition over such competitors as Dana Carvey and A. Whitney Brown.
Best known for his roles as Overton Wakefield Jones on the FOX sitcom Living Single and as Milsap Morris on the ABC/UPN sitcom The Hughleys, Henton was a stand-up comedian in the Cleveland area before he won the 1991 Johnny Walker National Comedy Search. Additionally, Henton has made guest appearances on a number of other TV series, including One on One, The Parkers, For Your Love, Hannah Montana, and Love That Girl!
Comedy Big Shots lands on the Davenport stage on April 15, admission to the 8 p.m. show is $38-87.50, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting AdlerTheatre.com.
