The Ivy League of Comedy has great clean stand-up comedians for your fundraising event

If you’re looking for a great fundraising event idea you’ve come to the right website.

Having a stand-up comedy night fundraiser pleases everyone. Not everyone likes the same type of music but nobody hates to laugh. Our clean stand-up comedians are great for your fundraiser.

Clean corporate comedian Shaun Eli on stage at the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck, NY as the audience applauds
Click on the image to watch our full ninety minute comedy special, which includes a sneak peak backstage and Q&A with the audience (even the credits are funny)

Studies have shown that people value experiences more than we value possessions. The pleasure we get from buying something new wears off very quickly but pleasurable experiences live on in our memory.
A comedy show is a great, fun experience!

 

We’re experts at making a wide variety of audiences laugh and laugh and laugh.

We’ve appeared on late-night TV. Many of us have had our own comedy specials. Some of us have written for late-night television. Several of us are also published authors. We’ve been covered in The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Asbury Park Press, CNN, even the Christian Science Monitor. The least-experienced among us has been performing stand-up comedy for twenty years.

 

We emcee events.

We can help auction off items for sale and can push to drive people to your fundraiser’s silent auction. But most of all we’re great entertainers. From four Tonight Show hosts to charities to corporate and industry conference event participants, to theatre and comedy club audiences- they all love us. So will the guests at your fundraiser.

 

A typical comedy night includes dinner then a comedy show (dinner’s up to you- we provide the entertainment).

Our shows usually include three comedians for an hour and a half show, but we can make the show shorter or longer to meet your needs. We like the idea of having a three comedian show. All of us are national headliners- this isn’t a typical comedy club show with an inexperienced emcee, a barely more experienced middle act and a closer. We’re all headlining comedians. An advantage of a three comic show is diversity in style, energy, topics and viewpoint as well as in the backgrounds of the comedians.

 

Can we customize material for your group?

Shaun Eli posing at Broadway Comedy Club
Shaun Eli during a photo shoot for The New York Times

Sure. We do it all the time for corporate events- usually just a joke or two at the start that’s about the company. That’s enough to get their attention and remind them that the show’s about them. But it’s not really necessary. We’ve all been honing our material for years and we can choose what’s perfect for your audience. Comedians are generally very charitable people and we may already support your cause. We will choose the right comedians for your event. We work regularly with great comics, we’re friends with a lot of them and we know them well.

 

We’re not a franchise and we’re not a huge company that books musicians and jugglers and actors and fire-eaters.

We’re The Comedy Specialists and we work seven days a week. We’re the leading independent producer of clean stand-up comedy shows for theatres. The Ivy League of Comedy is carefully managed by a working comedian who has headlined shows on five continents and has been profiled in The New York Times. Our shows star only full-time pro comedians. There are no moonlighting dentists or accountants in our group. The Ivy League of Comedy’s Executive Director majored in marketing at Wharton and he will help you market your event. After almost twenty years in business, after working in corporate America for two decades (with some overlap with being a comedian), he knows how to market events. We’ve been around a long time and we’ve learned a lot along the way. And there’s no middleman taking a big cut for arranging shows. Our owner is almost always one of the comedians in the show.

Comedy is not like music where you can practice at home. Comedians need to get in front of audiences to keep in practice and improve. So you want full-time comedians performing at your event. One more thing about that- it takes years to become a good comedian. Telling jokes on stage is different from making your friends laugh. We’re not saying one is better than the other, just different. Like golf and baseball- both are sports that involve swinging sticks at balls, but they’re vastly different sports. Unlike musicians, who may start when they’re four or eight or ten years old, with very, very few exceptions people don’t start the process of becoming stand-up comedians until they’re adults. That’s why almost all of us at The Ivy League of Comedy are over forty- we’ve been at this for twenty-plus years.

 

Can we do an R rated type show for you?

We can but we don’t want to. Why have 90% of your audience love us but leave the other 10% uncomfortable? That’s not a recipe for success. Our instructions to comedians are clear: Clean shows. We’ve been at other people’s shows (not ours) where a comedian has asked the audience “We’re all adults, okay if I get a little dirty?” Nobody in the audience is going to risk embarrassment by saying no. Some people think dirty jokes are funnier (they’re not, they’re just dirtier). After the show the comedian will say “Well, I felt out the audience by getting edgier and they were fine. I even asked them and they said it was okay.” Our instructions to them are clear-   Do   Not   Do   That.    Even if the person seemingly in charge says it’s okay. It’s not.

Shaun Eli on stageWe’ve done shows at places like country clubs and here’s what happens sometimes- someone comes up to us after our clean show and says “You could’ve been edgier. We’re all adults here.” Our response: “Didn’t you have a great time?” “Yes, you were wonderful.” “Well, here’s what would have happened- there are a hundred people here. We tell a dirty joke, 95 people laugh, but then 10 people are still uncomfortable. Yes, they laugh if it’s funny but then some of them are uncomfortable for laughing at a dirty joke in what they see as an extension of their living room, and they feel bad. They complain. We avoid that. We have no reason to be dirty, so we’re not.”

So especially at a fundraising event that represents your organization- if someone suggests adult humor, tell them no. And then call us.

 

Additional information on how to hire stand-up comics for fundraising events

 

Let’s get started. To reserve a date or to ask questions- great advice is free- call, text or email:
Shaun Eli Breidbart

Comedian, Executive Director & Chief Chocolate Officer
The Ivy League of Comedysm
Liberty Comedy Corp.
phone (914) It’s Funny (914 487-3866)
Shaun {at} TheIvyLeagueofComedy {dot} com