YPAC Presents Date Night: Comedy Night

The Yucaipa Performing Arts Center (YPAC) is excited to present Dante, Renée Percy, and Barry Neal w/ Special Guest Set by Sarah J. Halstead! These hilarious comedians will crack you up for our June Date Night Series. Join us on June 23rd for side-splitting laughs!

Headliner: Dante

Dante is one of the top stand-up comedians in the world. He has appeared on over 40 TV shows as a comedian. He was a cast member on season 5 of the NBC show Last Comic Standing. He holds the record for winning the most B.E.T. Comedy awards. Dante performs to sold-out crowds all over the world 40 weeks a year. He has also performed for more US troops than any other comedian except Bob Hope.  

As an actor, Dante has appeared in over 20 films and TV shows. He has been in many commercials and was the spokesman for Miller Beer. He had his own sitcom on B.E.T. called The Blackberry Inn. Dante wrote, directed, and produced multiple films with big stars that have done very well. Currently, he stars in the film Unfallen with Michael Madsen. 

Dante was a writer for Joan Rivers on the hit E! TV show Fashion Police. He also writes, directs, and produces many commercials.

Feature: Renée Percy

Renée is an award-winning actor, writer, comedian, and ninja*. She caught the acting bug at age 12 when she landed a series regular role on the wildly popular television series DEGRASSI HIGH. Since then, she has appeared on, and written for, numerous television shows (she’s appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, Nickelodeon, Disney, FX, and Comedy Central),  toured the country doing standup comedy, received a Canadian Comedy Award, the Phil Hartman Award, AND she is only one stamp short of a free yogurt at Pinkberry. She has opened for the likes of Jeff Garlin, Preacher Lawson, Jamie Kennedy, Orny Adams, Michael Rapaport, Bill Burr, Yakov Smirnoff, Arsenio Hall, Jim Gaffigan, and Jay Leno to name a few, and can be seen performing sketches on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Renée is now living the dream in Los Angeles and you can catch her performing live at The Comedy Store, The Improv, The Laugh Factory, and Flappers Comedy Club.
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Guest Spot: Sarah J. Halstead

Sarah J. Halstead is an actor and comedian. A native of Flint, Michigan, Sarah moved to New York shortly after high school, landing plum roles in theatre productions and network daytime dramas. She’s appeared in over 90 commercials, along with a slew of guest-star roles in both film and television. Sarah’s comedy special RVs and Cats is available on Amazon Prime and her comedy album is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and iTunes. She performs regularly at Los Angeles’ Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store, Hollywood Improv, and Flappers Comedy Club.

M.C. Barry Neal

Barry’s beginnings were unusual. After graduating from Northwestern University and completing a successful run in the famous Mee-Ow show (who’s celebrity members have included Julia Louis Dreyfus, Dermot Mulroney, George Newborn, Craig Bierko, Seth Meyers, and Ana Gasteyer), his brother dared him to go on stage at an open mic to do a routine. Barry was hit that night and knew that stand-up comedy was his next mountain to climb.

Barry learned from the best comedians in the country. Jerry Seinfeld was a regular. He watched people like Bill Maher, Ellen Degeneres, Paul Reiser, and Tim Allen just to name a few. Barry learned by not only watching these comics but by being a good listener when these comics would talk about comedy.

Barry’s style is clean, high energy, and relationship material was a hit in almost every market. He quickly moved up the comedy ladder and was on cable and network tv, from MTV, NBC, Comedy Central, and VH-1. Barry’s act was noticed by a production company that loved his Counselor of Love persona, and his act is currently being shopped as a sitcom called The Counselor of Love that Barry wrote along with his partner Dan Patterson, who was the creator and executive producer of Who’s Line Is It Anyway?