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Dave Russo, winner of the 2000 Boston Comedy Festival Stand-Up Comedy Competition, will perform 9 p.m. tonight at the Farinon Center snackbar, while rock band Red Engine Nine will give a concert there 9 p.m. tomorrow.
The free events are sponsored by Lafayette Activities Forum.
“His innovative material and energetic style made him the hit of the 2000 Boston Comedy Festival,” reported The Boston Globe. “After a week-long series of competitions, Dave Russo was the last contestant standing in a field that started with 75 comedians. Before a standing room-only crowd, Russo was named Boston’s Best New Comedian.”
Russo also was second runner-up in the 25th Anniversary San Francisco International Comedy Festival Comedy Competition. “Any one of the finalists could do a headliner set in town — or even on Letterman or Leno — so polished was the material and delivery,” according to Jane Ganahl of the San Francisco Examiner.
Russo was a featured performer for Boston’s ESPN Sports Awards and John Havlicek’s celebrity fishing and golf tournament, and one of five performers featured on UPN’s two-hour Comedy Special. Described as an “over-the-top, unique, non-offensive wise aleck,” Russo has acted in stage productions such as Time of the Cuckoo and The World, as well as commercials for Dunkin’ Donuts, Nabisco products, and Filenes. He recently was written about in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and The Comic Bible (New York).
Red Engine Nine’s single “Disease” made its national debut on the WB show “Felicity.” The group was nominated for Top Pop Band, Song of the Year (“Wishing to Elvis”), Album of the Year (Wishing to Elvis), and Top Vocalist (Domenick Carino) at the 9th Annual Asbury Music Awards.
“On Red Engine Nine’s sophomore album, Wishing To Elvis, they outdo themselves,” writes Hipnosis Magazine. “The boys from the Jersey shore put together another masterpiece. “
Red Engine Nine’s “The Tree Song ” finished in fifth place out of 100 for Garageband.com’s final countdown. It was one of two bands to showcase live at the first-ever Indie Music Forum held at the legendary S.I.R. Studios in Manhattan.