Volunteers prepare for Ypsi PRIDE Day
May. 13, 2010 · 7:09 a.m.
Each year, residents in and around the city of Ypsilanti carry on a tradition started by a group of community members enrolled in a city leadership program, a sort...read more
Bicycles zoom as flowers bloom
Apr. 30, 2010 · 2:11 p.m.
The weather has turned, the trees are budding and the flowers are popping out of the ground; time for a cruise through town. But don’t be so quick to hop in the...read more
Sheriff Clayton visits Ypsilanti Township
Apr. 29, 2010 · 12:59 p.m.
About 50 Ypsilanti Township residents gave the Washtenaw County Sheriff Office their input about law enforcement in the community Tuesday evening.
The information...read more
Local photographer raising funds for Ypsi Project exhibit
Apr. 20, 2010 · 2:20 a.m.
Ypsilanti has many faces, and Erica Hampton wants to share a few of them with you.
Over the past year, Hampton created the The Ypsi Project, a series of portraits...read more
Savoy taking shape as live music venue
Apr. 17, 2010 · 2:38 p.m.
Ypsilanti's newest concert venue is preparing for its grand opening weekend April 23, more than a month after its soft opening March 13.
Formerly Club Divine,...read more
Michigan native Vince Averill performed at the Riverside Arts Center with Jesse Popp, Matt McCarthy and Greg Johnson Friday evening. Tickets for tonight's show are still available.
Show wrappes up tonight at Riverside Arts Center
Jan. 24, 2009 · 12:37 a.m.
The Riverside Arts Center is not your typical venue for stand-up comedians, but Michigan natives Vince Averill and Jesse Popp have made their way back to the Great Lakes State to bring a little stand-up comedy to Ypsilanti.
Averill and Popp returned to their old stomping grounds in southeastern Michigan where they got their start in comedy before moving to New York City in 2006.
Averill grew up in Milford and graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in geography and tourism. Popp grew up in Garden City.
“We haven’t been back to perform in a long time,” Averill said before Friday night’s show at the RAC.
The guys said they decided on the Riverside Arts Center because the space was available and they liked the area.
“I’ve always liked Ypsi, for its good and its bad,” Averill said.
Averill said he got into comedy after graduating with his degree.
“I graduated from Eastern and realized with a degree in geography I couldn’t do much but go to work and sleep,” he said. “That’s when I started taking classes at the Second City.”
Popp and Averill met at the Heidelberg in Ann Arbor and the pair decided to make the move to New York. The two have been on Comedy Central and toured countless spots in the Big Apple.
Popp and Averill came back to Ypsilanti with friends Matt McCarthy and Greg Johnson in tow.
McCarthy has appeared on Comedy Central’s “Just for Laughs” and several commercials including McDonald's, Verizon and Guinness. He also made it to the top five in the Doritos’ make-your-own-commercial contest “Crash the Superbowl” for his commercial "New Flavor Pitch." The winning commercial will have the chance to have their ad aired during the game.
Johnson’s weekly show in NYC was awarded the ECNY award, formally the Emerging Comics of New York Awards, for Best Variety Show in 2008.
All four comedians will be performing again tonight at 8 p.m. at the RAC. Averill said more than 100 tickets have already been sold, but there are still some available. Tickets are $12 at the door.
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