Western Carolina University

Above: The Southern Fried Chicks, featuring (from left)
Trish Suhr, Beth Donahue, Etta May and Sonya White.

The Southern Fried Chicks Comedy Tour will make an appearance at Western Carolina University at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

Starring Etta May and featuring Trish Suhr, Beth Donahue and Sonya White, the Southern Fried Chicks Comedy Tour is an all-female show about four different women from the South.  The Old South, the New South and the Deep South come together as the Southern Fried Chicks give their hilarious take on life, love and the pursuit of happiness, said JoAnna Blauw, publicist for the comedy tour.

Etta May, the starring comedienne, is the reigning Queen of Southern Sass when she takes the stage, Blauw said.  Born and raised in Bald Know, Ark., May grew up along nine older brothers, who referred to her as “the human sacrifice.”  May met her husband, Delbert, an aspiring truck driver, and “their eyes locked in a love look,” said Blauw.

After meeting her husband, Etta had three boys and two girls.  “That’s where my comedy comes from,” said May.  “I just wait for my husband or kids to do something stupid, and then I write it down.”  May has won the “Stand-Up Comic of the Year” American Comedy Award and has appeared on “Oprah,” “Comic Strip Live” and “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Sonya White, originally from Virginia, combines Southern charm with big-city smarts, said Blauw.  White has appeared on CBS’s “Star Search” and NBC’s “Last Comic Standing 4.”  White’s other credits include Oxygen’s “Girls Behaving Badly,” Fox Network’s “Nightshift” and Family Channel’s “Big Brother Jake.”  Dead-on impersonations and appropriate sound effects enhance White’s observational comedy, said Blauw.

Trish Suhr began her stand-up career in Los Angeles after moving from Middlesboro, Ky., leaving her family’s funeral business.  Suhr has become a regular performer in the longest running all-female comedy show, “Pretty Funny Women,” and is featured on “The Southern Belles of Comedy” DVD.  Suhr is a co-host of The Style Channel’s “Clean House” and has appeared on Oxygen’s “Girls Behaving Badly.”

Beth Donahue is from Nashville, Tenn., and is a self-proclaimed “recovering everything.”  Donahue’s material is brutally funny and incredibly honest, and she doesn’t joke about anything that everyone hasn’t done, thought about doing or wish they could still do, Blauw said.  Donahue’s television credits include “VH-1 Stand Up Spotlight with Rosie O’Donnell,” “Evening at the Improv” and Showtime’s “Comedy Club Network.”

Tickets for the event cost $25.  Senior citizens’ tickets cost $20, and students and faculty’s tickets cost $15.  Tickets can be purchased online at http://wcufapac.ticketsxchange.com/.

For more information about the comedy show at Western Carolina University, contact the Fine and Performing Arts Center at (828) 227-2479.

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Last modified: Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007