Three years on, Luna Moth Zine Fest is back and bigger than ever. There are more vendors (“tablers” in the parlance), and workshops covering storytelling, crowdfunding, game drawing and community care. The festival also has its first group of paid sponsors, plus a new and larger location in Manchester, after two years in Salem.
It’s a big leap for an event that began when cartoonist April Landry grew frustrated with long drives to similar events, so she decided to do one in her home state. Landry named the festival after a species of moth that’s native to the region and found in the wild, seemingly in defiance of nature.
“It’s very strange that something that vibrant and almost tropical-looking lives in New England,” she said. “It’s a magical-looking thing, a little mythical, so it’s a way to say New England-based and New Hampshire-based while also giving it this ethereal vibe. It’s a little special.”
For anyone wondering, zines are small circulation booklets — comics, word art, ephemera, covering all manner of topics. They’re self published, rather than commercially, and exist “for self expression, art, storytelling, information sharing and pure creative joy … passion projects for humans, by humans,” according to a festival press release.
“The great thing about zines is that anybody can make a zine, and anybody can put whatever they want in a zine,” Landry said. “There’s no publisher telling you, ‘you can’t do that’ and no editor telling you can’t do anything. There’s literally no barrier between your idea and getting it out into the world with zines.”
Landry entered the zine world after she designed a Dungeons & Dragons world to play with friends. “Once the game night was over, I felt like the work was wasted, so I figured out a way to put it in a book … facts about different monsters, their hit points, where to find them, things like that.” She called her first-ever zine Things to Fight and Places to Fight Them.
Artists are often drawn to zines as an extension of their other forms of self-expression, or as a way to distribute their work.
“It’s very liberatory,” Landry said. “There are people who are making art all the time and don’t know what to do with it, or don’t have a way to get it out there. Finding zines and making zines is typically a way to do that.”
For others, they’re a tool. One person told Landry they fold a zine together on Sunday, then write in it like a diary for the week. “When they’re done, they don’t print it, they don’t make copies, they just put it on the shelf,” she said. “It’s just a way for them to get thoughts out of their heads … something that’s both outward and inward.”
There are more than 70 tablers showing their wares at this year’s event. Katherine Leung, based in Vermont, is doing Zine Fest for the first time. Leung’s Canto Cutie zine explores the experience of Cantonese people living in America. Like many other vendors, Leung’s table will offer other art products like prints and enamel pins.
“The unifying factor is that in some way, shape or form, they make zines,” Landry said. “One vendor’s zines are about learning how to knit, and there’s someone who makes coloring books … it’s a mix across the board, but in some shape or form these people are writing or publishing something themselves that they want other people to read and look at.”
Another new vendor is Silas Denver, who works using the name Sweater Muppets. “They are only now just getting into zine making, and all the stuff they’ve been putting out is cutting-edge and incredible stuff,” Landry said. “It feels really vital, and I’m so excited to have them.”
Landry said Zine Fest’s “four amazing sponsors” are Goosepoop, a Portland, Maine, game studio whose work includes the RPG Laundry Punks; Wrong Brain, a Seacoast collective celebrating “unconventional, under-represented & emerging arts”; the Boston Comics Foundation and Xomik Bük, a comic book collective.
Come with an open mind and eagerness to engage at the all-ages event, Landry urged. “What makes Luna … so popular with people is the culture there and the vibes. It’s one of these places where you can go and talk to interesting people who have like-minded interests, and they’re approachable.”
Luna Moth Zine Fest When: Saturday, April 18, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Where: YWCA, 72 Concord St., Manchester More: lunamothzinefest.bsky.social
As the Hayley Jane Band’s third show of a tour-opening weekend began in Delaware in late March, the group played their leader to the microphone, and she began “Daydream,” a perfect choice. The singer danced dervish-like while belting out lyrics with celebratory verve, lost in a moment of ecstasy.
This happens every performance, dating back to when she fronted Hayley Jane & the Primates, a band born in her days at Berklee College of Music. She hypnotically sways, twists, throws her long hair to the sky, then grooves to the microphone, channeling rock and soul standard bearers like Janis Joplin and Lydia Pense.
“In these moments, I’m awash in pure unadulterated joy,” she wrote in February 2025. “Letting the music flow through me. Nothing can touch me when I’m in that enveloping womb of frequency. I couldn’t care less what it looks like to anyone. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Hayley Jane and her current lineup of guitarist Jackson Bower, keyboard player Parker McQueeney and the combo of Sam Lyons and Tom Gladstone on drums and bass return to Shaskeen Pub on April 11 for a show with Espejismo Band opening. It’s a hometown gig for Hayley Jane, who moved to nearby Litchfield a couple of years ago.
Their most recent album is 2021’s Late Bloom, and the single “One More Day” arrived in late 2024, but there’s new music on the way. “The first song we put together is called ‘Origami Ghost,’” Hayley Jane said. I got to paint this beautiful picture over this awesome funk song … there’s a lot of funk.”
She described another new one called “Hope” as big and anthemic. “It’s got a late 2000s emo, Dashboard Confessional vibe,” she said. “I don’t know how to explain it because I’ve never been good at describing genre. I should take a music history class or something.”
Or probably not. The charm with her music, both in the Primates and in her new band, is it’s a moving target.
“I love rock ’n’ roll, I love exploratory jams, I love letting the boys cut loose,” she said. “I love storytelling, old blues, Taj Mahal and I love drama. So I don’t know how to talk about genre, because that’s not where I’m coming from.”
When Hayley Jane and the Primates reunited for the 2022 Northlands Festival, it was a one-off show.
“We’ve all got lives and babies, everybody’s in their 40s now,” she said. “They were kind of like, ‘Hey, we’re not really looking to tour,’ and I said, ‘That’s fine.’ So I found some guys that were really looking to get out there.”
The Hayley Jane Band will return to this year’s Northlands Festival at the Cheshire Fairgrounds in Swanzey June 19 to June 21. They’re also at another familiar gathering, Strange Creek Campout in rural Greenfield, Mass., May 22 to May 25. Fans will hear some older material originally meant for her old band, due to appear on an upcoming record by her new one.
“Justin Hancock of the Primates was my co-writer for years; I didn’t want these songs to disappear, so it makes me really happy that they’re going to be going on this album,” she said. “I’ve been touring with this band now for two years, and so we’re finally getting into that comfort zone.”
At one point while she was swaying, shouting and singing her way through “Daydream” that Sunday in Delaware, Hayley Jane quoted a line from the Monkees hit “Daydream Believer.” It was a fitting nod to a time in music for which she has a clear affinity. When compared to a dancer at a tie-dyed Grateful Dead concert, she took the compliment with glee.
“I carry that spirit and the energy of the ’60s and ’70s,” she said. “It’s in me, just embedded. My parents listened to the music, like my dad was really into CCR and Janis [and] that whole time always called to me. I always feel like maybe in a past life I was there.”
Hayley Jane Band When: Saturday, April 11, at 9 p.m. Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester Tickets: $15 at ticketleap.com
• Helping: To benefit TBI charity A Better Way to Help, Resurrection Blues Review features blues, rock and soul from Chambers-DesLauriers. The band is led by three-time Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year winner Annika Chambers and guitarist Paul DesLauriers, who was motivated to the cause after surviving a traumatic brain injury. Area favorites Nardia & The Blues Express open. Thursday, April 9, at 7 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $35 and up, tupelohall.com.
• Blending: Upper Valley-based acoustic duo The Lion Sisters grew up singing and playing together. With Josi and Lily on fiddle and guitar respectively, they offer lovely blood harmonies on charming originals like “Family Gold,” along with covers of folk songbook classics like Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” and the sweet John Denver tune “Leaving On A Jet Plane.” Friday, April 10, at 7 p.m., Pembroke City Limits, 134 Main St., Suncook, thelionsistersmusic.com.
• Heritage: Sons of a jazz piano legend carry on his legacy as the Brubeck Brothers Quartet. Chris and Dan Brubeck have made music together for more than 50 years. Along with guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb, they released the LP LifeTimes, a tribute to their father with reimagined songs like “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” six months before Dave Brubeck’s death in 2012. Saturday, April 11, at 8 p.m., BNH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $23, ccanh.com.
• Jamming: Begun at Berklee and evolving into a New Hampshire band, the history of Slack Tide includes members who just walked on stage to join, but they’re a decidedly disciplined jam outfit. Led by guitarist Chris Cyrus, who grew up on Jack Johnson and Sublime along with psychedelic rockers like The Doors and the Dead, they stretch the genre’s definition with skill. Sunday, April 12, at 1 p.m., Harpoon at Queen City Center, 215 Canal St., Manchester, slacktideofficial.com.
• Southerly: A recurring roots music series at an Epsom microbrewery continues with Paper Wings, a Nashville folk duo, performing in the upstairs listening space. West Coast natives Emily Mann and Wila Frank became friends at music camps and festivals, ultimately heading to Music City. Their bluegrass-limned songs will appeal to fans of Lucinda Williams and the Be Good Tanyas. Tuesday, April 14, 7 p.m., Blasty Bough Brewing Co., 3 Griffin Road, Epsom, $25, cocatickets.com.
Landscapes and architecture among works at gallery opening
Glimpse Gallery in Concord will have creations for sale from six artists at its upcoming month-long show, done in a range of media from acrylic and oil to volcanic pumice and flakes of titanium. And it will serve as a museum of sorts for a local architect to show the process and product of his profession.
Many artistic moods are shown on the collected canvases. Andrew Freshour’s ink and watercolor works are fanciful and fun, from the playful gourmand at the center of “A Menagerie of Petite Treats” to the movement and flow of “Celestial Pilgrimage,” an array of storybook characters ascending to the clouds.
A few more are classical, one resembles a playing card, and the rotund caricatures in “Tea’d Off” and “La Reine du Gateau” are also delightful.
“You truly never know what you’re going to get when you come into Glimpse,” gallery owner Meme Exum said with a laugh. “These are clearly conversation starters, or stoppers … all perfectly framed and matted.”
Schenectady, New York-based artist Jeni Follman’s evocative landscape oil paintings are a focal point of the show, Exum continued.
“She’s one of those artists that just has such a style that is intrinsic to her,” Exum said. “She’ll have a large piece in the foyer, and in the second room in the gallery, hung salon style.”
The gallery’s curator Christina Landry-Boullion will display some of her monochromatic charcoal works, a departure from mixed media works shown at past Glimpse shows like “Lavender Peony,” “Blueberries” and “Mac Apple.” “Not what you see on her portfolio,” Exum said, “but these three large charcoal white, varying grays and black pieces.”
Painter Abigail Wade grew up in rural New Hampshire, but her impressionistic landscapes move beyond country life. “Morning on the Mississippi” captures a spare copse of trees surrounded by a curve in the river, “Lying Awake” has a brilliant urban skyline, while a “No Entry” sign at the center of “Green Fields” offers an ironic counterpoint to an idyllic snapshot.
Lizzy Berube fully embraces nature and the outdoors in her oil and acrylic paintings. “A Piece of Sky” has the perspective of someone lying in tall grass, staring up at clouds over water that look like a majestic mountain. “Time to” Go evokes a hiker’s staircase, while “Deja Blues” is a lovely meditation on rocky coastal waters.
The shows happen six times a year and run for a month, while alternating months are spent preparing for the next. One of the most compelling artists in the April show is Adam Sloat, who grew up in a house filled with art and music transfixed by Monet, Jackson Pollock and comic books.
Sloat hints at Joseph Cornell’s assemblage and Van Gogh’s texture, as he employs a variety of exotic media in his pieces, with frame materials also vital along with the painted surface. “Space Babies: Iteration One” is a vibrant example that aligns with Sloat’s artist statement goal for his art to be “a gateway for the viewer to create their own stories for what they see.”
Finally there’s architect William Exum, Meme’s husband, who will show the process behind a house built on the shore of Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, last year. “It’s engaging with design,” Meme said, adding the display has four sketches of the design surrounding a high resolution of the finished product.
“It shows people how architects plan out every detail when they get a well-designed house, not when they get a cookie-cutter big mansion,” she said. “From an artistic standpoint, I love the collaboration of details throughout the design.”
April 9 – May 9 show opening When: Saturday, April 11, 5-7 p.m. Where: Glimpse Gallery, 4 Park St. (Patriot Building), Concord RSVP: contact@theglimpsegallery.com
Featured photo: First Light Niskayuna, NY by Jeni Folmann.
An update on the local comedy scene plus interviews with Craig Ferguson and Jenny Zigrino
From Adam Sandler to Sarah Silverman and Seth Meyers, many talented comedians have come from the Granite State. New Hampshire continues to be an incubator for standup comedy and also has plenty of showcases, including a sparkling new one opening soon in Manchester.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s the Queen City was a hotbed for a second wave of comedy that included future SNL stars and buzzy joke-tellers who now reign both on social media and in the nation’s comedy clubs. They were drawn to a weekly comedy night at Shaskeen Pub.
Run by three comics, it began as an open mic and stayed that way until 2015.
At that point one partner moved the open mic to Murphy’s Taproom. The Shaskeen switched to a showcase, run by Nick Lavallee and Dave Carter. It welcomed a new breed of comics like Dan Soder, W. Kamau Bell and Sam Jay. It also gave big names and rising stars with weekend shows in Boston an extra New England stop.
Drew Dunn’s first comedy sets came at the Shaskeen’s open mic. He’s now a touring comic, headlining clubs from Foxwoods to San Diego. On March 30 Dunn began a weeklong run in Las Vegas at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, atop the bill for three nights and opening for Garrett on the other four.
A few jokes about the sitting president helped win over a tough crowd. “I don’t think Trump is Christ-like, but it’d be funny if Christ was Trump-like,” he said, retelling the loaves and fishes tale in perfect voice. “I could feed a lot of people with this fish, it’s a big fish, it’s a beautiful fish, it’s a Bran-zino, it’s a very delicate fish.”
As his early success grew, Dunn was a regular performer at the Shaskeen. During a sit-down interview in the outside lounge of Garrett’s club following his opening night show, the Nashua native remembered those days with fondness, along with praise for Lavallee.
“It was probably the best show on a Wednesday anywhere in America for a good stint there,” he said. “Nick was a great tastemaker … ahead of the game on picking some of these guys that are huge names now. He was booking Tim Dillon when he had a few thousand followers, but he just saw how great he was.”
Five years ago Dunn moved to New York City, like many comics with their sights set on the next level in the business. When he arrived, the contacts he’d made performing at the Shaskeen were crucial for him getting booked at a very competitive NYC club.
“This is such a business of connections and having people believe in you,” he said. “My recommendations for the Comedy Cellar were Mark Norman, Soder, and Joe List. Two of those guys I had worked with at the Shaskeen Pub, or at least crossed paths with them there.”
While he was booking shows, including more than a few in the basement of his North Side house, Lavallee was also doing standup and making a name for himself. For much of the decade he traveled a path much like Dunn’s, touring the country and doing area shows at clubs like Rob Steen’s Headliners.
Combining doing and booking comedy with a full-time community media job wore on him, and it also clashed with his newfound sobriety, so Lavallee retired from standup. He and Carter closed out their Shaskeen run in 2021 with a series of shows and a sense of hope.
“When Dave and I passed the torch,” he said, “we wanted to see the comedy scene in Manchester grow. We wanted to leave behind a legacy that was like, ‘Hey, you can do this.’ If you put in the work, you can get great talent from New York, L.A., Chicago, anywhere to come to Manchester.”
It then continued in new hands. Initially Ruby Room Comedy took over. It’s now run by Sam Mangano, who also books pop-up Don’t Tell shows in the state, and is doing well. “Wednesday nights have good crowds and comics,” he said recently. “The past few months have been busy, with repeat faces in the crowd.”
Nick Lavallee. Photo by Michael Witthaus.
Lavallee moved on to music, making pop culture action figures, and boosting his hometown as the Chicken Tender Capital of the World. He still missed the business, though, and with the recent opening of a complex on Canal Street anchored by Harpoon Brewery, he decided to return to comedy, this time strictly as a booker.
In late February Lavallee began teasing a new venue, and shows presented under his Wicked Joyful brand. Located in the Queen City Center, the 130-seat Queen City Center Showroom will open on April 17 with a veteran comic from his Shaskeen days, Jenny Zigrino (tickets $29 at eventbrite.com).
Lavallee also plans to book shows in a 500-seat space known as Studio A, and mentioned that depending on demand there might be a late show on April 17. Zigrino’s comedy star rose in New England, including many Shaskeen shows, which makes her a great choice to debut comedy at Queen City Center.
“My roots in New Hampshire … run pretty deep,” Zigrino said by phone recently. “I worked in Bedford when I was younger, and my mother lived in Manchester briefly. So I am very familiar with the town, and I love it. I’m excited for what Nick is going to be doing with Wicked Joyful, trying to bring in more arts entertainment.”
In mid-March Lavallee walked around the Queen City Center, showing off the two performance spaces along with a Wicked Joyful retail store that will open soon. There, he’ll be selling bespoke action figures, attire and other items in a room with an original booth from Manchester’s Puritan, the birthplace of “tendies.”
He’s looking forward to booking shows, but stressed that he’s no longer interested in doing comedy himself.
“I fell out of love with it,” he said, adding that the realization happened during the pandemic. “When no one was doing it, I had time to look at the things that mattered to me most.”
Comedy, he could see, had become an unhealthy ego-stroking exercise. “Because of sobriety, the person I evolved into wasn’t getting on stage and saying disparaging things about myself that may or may not be true.” With that understanding, he continued, “I could focus all that energy into my creative outlet.”
Returning as a promoter also offers a chance to restore the community that grew during the Shaskeen days. “I don’t mean community of comics, though they’re a part of it … it’s the regulars who’d show up, would tell their friends about it, would go to work talking about it the next day.”
His old partner will be a presence but not operationally involved.
“I want Dave to bask in the community that he built and consistently served for seven years, that truly loved him and the work that we did…. I want him to enjoy it,” Lavallee said. “That’s the best kind of family reunion you could go to, and I think he deserves that.”
The new endeavor has Lavallee energized for exciting things.
“Despite the great work that other rooms are doing, even the one we left behind,” he said, “I think there’s room to build up community and bring culture into Manchester through laughter and positivity. That’s what I’m most excited about.”
It’s helpful to recall that this began with a gaggle of wannabe funny people looking to sharpen their comedy muscles. That energy, along with the successful comics it’s produced (and continues to produce), is still here. In fact, the comedy scene in the region is arguably bigger than it’s ever been.
Manchester’s current longest-lived open mic offers proof that’s it’s both exciting and promising.
On a recent Friday night, a dozen or so comics, some more seasoned than others, gathered in the back room of Strange Brew Tavern to work in front of a crowd of nearly 50 people. Most had a “tight five” — standup code for the abbreviated set all comics must master to move forward in the trade.
All came from the Strange Brew’s Laugh Attic open mic night. Launched five years ago in June, it’s become a hub for aspiring comics and even a few veterans who use it to work on new material. It’s also launched a few to greater success, like Owen Damon, atop the bill that Friday and doing a 10-minute set.
Damon, no relation to the famous actor, is 21, and began coming to Laugh Attic in his teens. His success arc echoes Drew Dunn’s rise from open mics. Damon is now in Chicago, getting work in Midwest clubs with bits like the one about his Fox News-watching grandma who thinks Pilates is a terrorist group.
The Friday crowd laughed at the young comic’s jokes about sharing his Kindle account with his mom, and her shocking taste in racy books, why all service workers should be tipped like strippers (“I’m throwing a dollar at my barista”), and how a person’s milk preference is a clue to their religion — “almond is astrology.”
Danny Pee and Mike Dupont co-hosted, each doing their own five-minute sets. Danny Pee began coming to the Strange Brew when it started, looking to scratch his comedy itch. He did a solid set, landing with funny observations, such as his belief that fast food and smoking are basically the same vice.
Both cigarettes and cheeseburgers make you smell bad and feel ashamed enough to hide the noxious habit from your spouse, he noted. “I keep an extra shirt in the car,” he said. “I change into it after going to McDonald’s, so my wife doesn’t pick up the stink.”
That the open mic began as live entertainment was returning helped him make the leap into standup. “I’d been holed up, watching YouTube videos, thinking, ‘Where can I find that thing under my nose that I’m very interested in right now?’ This was one of those things,” he said. “I went, and never stopped showing up.”
Laugh Attic was launched by Ben Davis, who handed it over to him in 2024. Davis “really brought it up out of nowhere” and looked to him as someone a bit older and thus a dependable choice to keep it going; plus, he wanted it. “I think that he saw in me this desire to be there; I really hadn’t missed one open mic.”
The event has attracted interest from Rob Steen, who’s been doing comedy shows in New Hampshire longer than anyone. He’s showcased a deep lineup of comedy talent, including booking both Dunn and Lavallee early on, by keeping an eye on events like Laugh Attic, along with the recent explosion of open mics.
“Rob’s been through several times,” Danny Pee said. One open mic comic got booked at Chunky’s, a Steen venue, after he mentioned in his set that he worked there. “A light bulb went off for Rob … I don’t know how the set went or anything, but that was something that transpired from one of his most recent visits.”
Even with Steen’s network, large events and small open mic nights seemingly popping up everywhere, there’s room for more in the state’s comedy scene. Lavallee is excited to add another element to the mix with Queen City Center Comedy, with more bookings due to be announced.
“If there’s anything I missed from comedy, it’s producing a killer show,” he said. It’s something he did in both music and comedy for a big chunk of his 15-20 years as an entertainer. “Knowing I had the opportunity to do it again here, I jumped on it because, again, that’s the thing I miss the most.”
He sees his role as restoring the energy he and Carter created, while shining a light on a brand of comedy that he believes is mostly missing in the area. “Rarely do you see cutting edge … someone on their way up, before they do the Wilbur,” he said. “The shows that I produce here are going to fill that void.”
A week of comedy open mics
Check developing comedians at local open mic nights. They’re also a magnet for working comics looking to try out new material in a low-risk environment. Recently, several new ones have sprung up in Manchester.
Monday Jokes On Cue at Wow Billiards (2 North Main St., Concord) 8 p.m. Hosted by Joe Nahme (Facebook: @growupjoe Instagram: @jokesoncue)
Tuesday Moka Mic at Moka Pot (8 Hanover St., Manchester). 8:30 p.m. Hosted by Alex Lachance (facebook.com/alex.lachance)
Wednesday BAD BRGR (1015 Elm St., Manchester). 7 p.m. Hosted by Mike Skowronek (Facebook & Instagram: @mikesmidminute)
This Must Be the Mic at Hop Knot (1000 Elm St., Manchester) 8 p.m.. Co-Host Tucker Sampson (Instagram: @thismustbethemic) This is a mixed mic, with poets, musicians and occasional drag performances before the mic start.
Thursday Laugh Attic at Strange Brew Tavern (88 Market St., Manchester). 9 p.m. Hosted by Danny Pee (inktr.ee/dannypeecomedy)
First and Third Thursday at Candia Road Brewing (840 Candia Road, Manchester) 6p.m. Hosted by Pete Trubble Morse (Facebook: @gravelhound00)
Full circle moment
Comedy at Queen City Center with Jenny Zigrino
Just over a year into her comedy career, Jenny Zigrino came to Manchester for the first of many times to do standup at Shaskeen Pub. She met Nick Lavallee there, and the two bonded over his connections to Zigrino’s home state of Minnesota.
The friendship endured, and Zigrino performed frequently at the Shaskeen over the years, including several times when it switched from open mic to comedy showcase in 2015. She remembers the era with fondness, and is excited to return to Manchester for the first show at Queen City Center on April 17.
“I’m honored to be doing it. I’m excited,” Zigrino said by phone recently. “I have so many starting out roots in New Hampshire. … My first filmed comedy sets were at the Shaskeen, and still on my YouTube.” After several years in L.A., she now lives in New York City, though she’s back in SoCal frequently for work.
One project that will send her back west is a play, co-written with Caleb Zeringue, about an obscure but crucial Revolutionary War figure. Zigrino’s a history fan who once led tours on the Freedom Trail in Boston, and she performs History Tonight shows dressed up as King George III, including one in Cambridge April 15.
The Drill Master is about Friedrich von Steuben, an openly gay Prussian captain who met Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane in Paris. Experienced officers were needed for a disorganized army, so they asked him to join as an unpaid, unranked volunteer. Bored with Europe, von Steuben agreed.
“He comes over, befriends Washington, and people absolutely love him,” Zigrino said. “He basically whips everybody into shape and teaches them how to be an army … we probably don’t win the war without him, and we still use a lot of the training that he brought to America in the army today.”
The play is filled with laughs and a lot of inconvenient historical facts, like Alexander Hamilton’s more than friendly relationship with John Lawrence. “In the National Archives, you can read the letters, it’s crazy,” she said. “Hamilton wrote, ‘You think that me getting a wife is going to make me love you any less?’”
The staged reading, May 3 at L.A.’s Elysian Theatre, will be a star-studded affair.
“We’ve got a … killer cast,” Zigrino said. “Bobcat Goldthwaite is going to be George Washington, we’ve got Gianmarco Soresi, Cameron Esposito, Lady Bushra, Dylan Adler… they’re going to make it so good.”
Zigrino is also writing a romance novel, and she’s convinced that more men should read them.
“They’re literal manuals on what women want. For once, read the instructions,” she says onstage. “It’s not that hard. We just want you to say that you burn for us and to call us a good girl and to be a grumpy cowboy billionaire that also is sometimes a gay hockey player and you’re a werewolf vampire that might kill us.”
She’s also readying a new comedy special. Like Jenny Z, released on Comedy Central’s YouTube channel in 2023, it’s fan-financed on GoFundMe and Zigrino’s quirky, pretty much PG-13 OnlyFans site. “I have pictures of me in lingerie dressed as King George,” she said. “I’m having fun with it.”
The show is about “starting over” after a challenging period in her life that included the death of her sister, a breakup, and health issues that were ultimately resolved with GLP-1. She lost 60 pounds as a result, but emphatically did not lose her commitment to body positivity. She’ll preview the show in Manchester.
“It’s called Afterbirth,” she said. “The idea is that you come into the world, and all this crap is behind you … but it’s not really. You’re covered in blood, and you’re gross, and that’s what happens when you start over. You’re just kind of like a little newborn baby covered in placenta.”
Wicked Joyful Presents: Jenny Zigrino When: Friday, April 17, 6:30 p.m. Where: Queen City Center, 215 Canal St., Manchester Tickets: $28.50 at eventbrite.com
Comedy talk with Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson.
Years before he took over the Late Late Show or made his name as an actor alongside Drew Carey, Craig Ferguson was a standup comic. Ferguson’s first forays as a funny man were an outgrowth of his hazy days as a musician. He was drafted into the job, primarily because he had the proper mix of brave and crazy to work a punk crowd.
“They’d get me to go up when they were changing the equipment for the acts, or trying to resuscitate their guitarist, or something,” he recalled. “I would do five to 10 minutes between the bands. Then I kind of moved into it, but the very beginning was just being a loudmouth in punk rock bands.”
Ferguson brings his current Pants on Fire tour to Concord’s Capitol Center on April 12. Shortly after leaving late night in 2014, he hosted the game show Celebrity Name Game and won a couple of Daytime Emmys. In 2021 he did the same with ABC’s The Hustler, and last January he began hosting a TV version of Scrabble.
He likes the game show format because its prep requirements are pretty easy. “You learn how the game works and then you just play,” he said. Beyond that, “It’s very improvisational, it’s very engaging, and then there’s the whole thing of you’re giving away somebody else’s money, which is just icing on the cake.”
Is Ferguson a bit nostalgic for his late night days? “No, I don’t miss it really,” he said. “I’ll tell you why. I mean, I did it for a long time, and I’m proud of that show. I’m glad I did it. I think we managed to do something a little off the beaten track, but by the time I was done I was ready to go.”
Ever the good sport, Ferguson agreed to answer seven seminal questions about his career in comedy.
When did you realize that you were funny?
I’m not entirely convinced that I am, to be honest. I guess when they keep asking you back. So maybe in the punk rock days when you go up between the bands and nobody attacks you, you must have something going on. I think that must have been it.
What made you decide to be funny in front of people,beyond the bits between bands?
I never did decide to do that. It was kind of like I would be asked in increments to do things like that. I never really made a decision. It wasn’t a career path for me. I didn’t think, well, here’s my ambition, I’d like to be a stand-up comedian. I didn’t really have that. It was through kind of a series of unfortunate events.
Who were your inspirations, comics and things that you looked at as good examples?
Well, Billy Connolly was like Jackie Robinson for me. He was the first guy I ever heard or saw that sounded like us and was from a similar background. Billy’s about 20 years older than me, but he was becoming famous in Britain in his early 30s. I was in my early teens, so it was just perfect for me because he was the naughty comedian that would say naughty words, and I loved Billy. I still do. I guess in America it was the great American stand-ups of Richard Pryor and Robin Williams and George Carlin and Redd Foxx, and Eddie Murphy as well. Eddie Murphy’s stand-up. Eddie Murphy’s the same age as me, and I would watch. He was young when he was doing stand-ups. This guy’s amazing, and he was the same age as me. He still is amazing, but when he broke through, it was hard to overstate how important he was at that time.
How did your first set go?
You know, I’ll be honest with you. Again, it was in the before time, so I’m not entirely sure I remember my first set. There were a few very bad ones. I remember doing a show at a punk rock club in London. It was a festival of Scottish punk bands, and there was a bunch of Cockneys there. I thought it would be funny if I wore a kilt, but I was very frightened of the audience. They noticed that my knees were knocking. They were literally shaking. I was so nervous. You could see my knees because I was wearing a kilt. They started a chant, this Cockney chant. They were all shouting, His knees are knocking! His knees are knocking! It was an exercise in humiliation. Yeah, I think humiliation.
Was there a moment when you realized you could succeed at it?
Not particularly like that. When I talk to other comedians, they understand this. When it went really bad, like that gig at the Scribner where the audience were chanting, His knees are knocking, and I died on stage. When I came off, it was a weird kind of like, Oh man, I want to do that again. Comedians understand that it’s hard because you’re like, Why would anyone want to do that again? But you kind of do. I don’t know what it is. I want another crack at it. It’s weird.
Was there a time when you felt like giving up?
No, I don’t really think so. I think that it’s all part of the, especially now, I just kind of roll into it. It feels like I belong there. I’m very comfortable doing what I do. I like doing it. It’s relaxing for me in another way to be on stage.
What’s your favorite part about doing stand-up, Craig?
I think the immediacy and the organic nature of it. The fact that it’s not the same show every night. That it is an analog experience. It’s not, you know, I’m a 20th-century boy. I mean, I have a phone and I have a computer, but I like being in the dark with the audience. It is a visceral kind of immediate, authentic feel to me that I’ve never fallen out of love with.
Craig Ferguson When: Sunday, April 12, at 7 p.m. Where: Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord Tickets: $49 and up at ccanh.com
Upcoming comedy events
Thursday, April 9 Mae Martin: The Possum at Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com) 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 10 Mystery lineup at Don’t Tell Comedy (Art Gallery, Dover, donttellcomedy.com) 7 p.m. Bob Marley (also April 11 & 12) at Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org) 7:30 & 9 p.m.
Saturday, April 11 Frank Santorelli, Amy Tee at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, chunkys.com) 8:30 p.m. Amy Tee at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 8 p.m. Mark Riley, Steve Scarfo, Jolanda Logan – Pittsfield VFW (3 Loudon Road, Pittsfield, ovationtix.com) 7 p.m. Lenny Clarke at Zorvino Vineyards (226 Main St., Sandown, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 12 Craig Ferguson at Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com) 7 p.m. Randy’s Cheeseburger Picnic (Trailer Park Boys) at Jewel Music Venue (61 Canal St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14 Wrong Hill To Die On (game show) at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m.
Wednesday, April 15 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m.
Thursday, April 16 Andrew McGuinness, Greg Boggis, Ryan Gartley at SoHo Asian Bistro (49 Lowell Road, Hudson, comedyonpurpose.com) 7:30 p.m. Garrison Keillor w/ Richard Dworksy at The Music Hall (23 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 7 p.m. Amy Tee, Matt Berry and Mark Scalia, at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, londonerrywomensclub.org,) 7 p.m.
Friday, April 17 Steve Sabo at Black Bear Vineyard (289 New Road, Salisbury, eventbrite.com) 6 p.m. Jenny Zigrino at Queen City Center (215 Canal St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 6:30 p.m. Brian Glowacki & Jeff Koen at Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, tupelohall.com) 8 p.m. Bean Shooter Comedy Party at Ya Mas Greek Tavern & Bar (275 Rockingham Park Blvd., Salem, eventbrite.com) 9 p.m.
Saturday, April 18 Hasan Minhaj & Ronny Chieng Debate to the Death at Casino Ballroom (169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach, casinoballroom.com) 7 p.m. Mike Hanley at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, chunkys.com) 8:30 p.m. Brad Mastrangelo at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 8 p.m. Frank Santorelli & Friends at Inn on Main (200 N. Main St., Wolfeboro, headlinersnh.com) 7:30 p.m. Steve Bjork at McCue’s Comedy Club (580 Portsmouth Traffic Circle, Portsmouth, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. 603 Comedy Night atJack Burke, Kindra Lansburg, Tony Moschetto, Tristen Hoffler, Kaile Krenzer Sunstone Brewing (298 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 19 Frank Santos Jr. R-Rated Hypnotist at Marker 21 (33 Dockside, Wolfeboro, eventbrite.com) 6 p.m. Michael Palascak at Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 4:30 and 7 p.m. Late Nite Catechism at Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, etix.com) 2 p.m.
Wednesday, April 22 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m.
Thursday, April 23 Steve Sweeney, Johnny Pizzi at Cello’s Farmhouse (143 Raymond Road, Candia, eventbrite.com) 10:30 p.m. James Austin Johnson (SNL) at Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, etix.com) 8 p.m. Lenny Clarke – Vanderbilt Room (48 Lowell Road, Hudson, eventbrite.com) 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 24 Mystery lineup at Don’t Tell Comedy (Local Studio, Manchester, donttellcomedy.com) 7 p.m. TTTom Clark (CL Thomas) at Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 7:30 p.m. Juston McKinney (also April 25) at Rochester Opera House (31 Wakefield St., Rochester, rochesteroperahouse.com) 7:30 p.m. Attic Roasts at Strange Brew Tavern (88 Market St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 Tim McKeever at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, chunkys.com) 8:30 p.m. Jim Breuer at Colonial Theatre (Main Street, Laconia, etix.com) 8 p.m. Steve Scarfo at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 8 p.m. Hi, I’m Mike Comedy (Michael Freeman) at Henniker Brewing Co. (129 Centervale Road, Henniker, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m.
Wednesday, April 29 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m.
Thursday, April 30 Amy Tee at Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 7 p.m.
Friday, May 1 Share It With the Class: A Teacher’s Comedy Show at Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org) 7:30 and 9 p.m. First Friday Comedy Night at Waterhorse Pub (361 Central St., Franklin) 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 Amy Tee at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, chunkys.com) 8:30 p.m. Tim McKeever at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 8 p.m. Tyler Hittner at Rockingham Ballroom (22 Ash Swamp Road, Newmarket, bandsintown.com) 7 p.m.
Monday, May 4 Queen City Improv at Stark Brewing Co. (500 Commercial St., Manchester, queencityimprov.com) 7 p.m
Wednesday, May 6 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m. Mike Rainey at BLEND603 (82 Fleet St., Portsmouth, eventbrite.com) 7:30 p.m. Mother of a Comedy Show w/ Christine Hurley, Kelly MacFarland, & Kerri Louise at Flying Monkey (39 Main St., Plymouth, etix.com) 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 Mike Koutrobis at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, chunkys.com) 8:30 p.m. Matt Barry at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m.
Friday, May 15 Brian Glowacki at The Music Hall (23 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 16 Matt Barry at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester, chunkys.com) 8:30 p.m. Next Stop Comedy –Mystery Comics at Earth Eagle Tavern (350 Route 108, Somersworth, eventbrite.com) 7:30 p.m. Rob Steen at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m. Jim Bishop at McCue’s Comedy Club (580 Portsmouth Traffic Circle, Portsmouth, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 17 Bored Teachers Comedy Tour at Colonial Theatre (Main Street, Laconia, etix.com) 8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m.
Thursday, May 21 Caitlin Peluffo (also May 22 and May 23, two shows each day) at Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 7 p.m. Mary Beth Collins, Adam Groppman, Steve Scarfo, Amanda Cohen at SoHo Asian Bistro (49 Lowell Road, Hudson, comedyonpurpose.com) 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 22 Jody Sloane, Rob Steen, Jolanda Logan at Over The Moon Farmstead (1253 Upper City Road, Pittsfield, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 23 Mike Koutrobis at Headliners Comedy Club (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) 8 p.m. Carolyn Plummer, Matt Mcarthur, Spencer Cannistaro, Ron Richards, Kevin Brady at Sunstone Brewing Co. (298 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, eventbrite.com) 7 p.m. Steve Bjork, Ryan Gartley, and Jack Lynch at Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, tupelohall.com) 8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 27 New England Comedy Showcase at Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy) 9 p.m.
Thursday, May 28 Sh*t Faced Shakespeare at BNH Stage (16 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com) 8 p.m.
Friday, May 29 Becky Robinson at Casino Ballroom (169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach, casinoballroom.com) 8 p.m. Josh Day, Sarah May, Alex Williams, Mike Dupont, Danny Pee & Krister Rollins at Strange Brew Tavern (88 Market St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 30 Jim Colliton at Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 5:30 and 8 p.m.
Jon Butcher and Diane Blue join together at Tupelo
Collaborations make the rock and blues world go ’round. Like Shades of Blue, led by psychedelic guitar hero Jon Butcher and singer Diane Blue, also a talented harmonica player. The band includes a rhythm section of AJ Vallee and John Ryder on drums and bass, along with guitarist Chuck Farrell.
Farrell, the force behind revival band Once An Outlaw, made the group happen.
“He put together a combo and said, ‘I’d like to have you and Jon Butcher featured in front,’” Blue recalled recently. “The first time we performed together, it was undeniable chemistry on stage. We were like, ‘We should make this a thing.’ Now it’s a thing.”
There is inspiring give and take between the fiery Stratocaster playing of Butcher, a New England Music Hall of Fame inductee, and Blue’s soulful singing. The two move between blues rockers like “Born Under A Bad Sign,” Bill Withers’ soulful “Use Me” and a blistering rendition of Hendrix’s “Red House.”
Another set highlight is a revved-up duet of the ’60s nugget (later a Grand Funk hit) “Some Kind of Wonderful.” Butcher will use the song to introduce Blue on harmonica and ask her how she learned to play it. “Nothin’ to it, you just suck and blow,” she’ll reply with a laugh, adding, “that’s what an old blues man told me, anyway.”
The real story about that goes back to Blue’s beginnings as a performer, singing in her living room with guitar player Paul White and later cutting her professional teeth in Newport, Rhode Island, venues like the Blues Café. She took up the mouth harp at White’s behest.
“‘Honk on this and see what you can do,’” she recalled White telling her. “‘Because there are a lot of chicks who can sing, but you’ll differentiate yourself from the crowd if you have something special that you can offer … see if you can get good at it.’ So I tried, and I just kept trying. I’m still trying.”
Blue got a big boost when Ronnie Earl caught her in a coffee shop in the early 2010s and invited her to sit in at his shows. In 2014 she became the first female member of the Boston blues legend’s band.
“What struck me was her ability to sing anything, from Sam Cooke to blues,” Earl said in a 2025 Blues Blast story. “She has a natural voice, a beautiful voice.”
She’s still with them, but performing with Shades of Blue is different.
“My job is to sing and to make sure that he’s OK on stage,” she said of Earl. “John Butcher and I have a mutual respect; we egg each other on to really strut our stuff. This is a chance for me to shine with a very strong backing band and all the encouragement to be the star of the show.”
Some of Blue’s solo cuts are in the set, like a rocking cover of Carol Fran’s Louisiana jump blues nugget “Knock Knock,” from her 2019 LP Look For The Light. The high points, however, happen when Butcher and Blue trade off. Bo Diddley’s “Mona” and “Spider In My Web,” a growling blues song written by Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, are good examples.
After doing just a few shows last year, Shades of Blue’s calendar is filling. A Tupelo Music Hall show on April 4 will be a twofer, with high-kicking harp player and singer James Montgomery sharing a band.
“James and I have co-billed on some of these Chuck Farrell productions in the past,” Blue said. “What usually happens is I do a set, and then he’ll do one.”
Shades of Blue w/ special guest James Montgomery When: Saturday, April 4, at 8 p.m. Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry Tickets: $45 at tupelohall.com
