New Year's Comedy at The Cabot

Dave Rattigan returns to host another loaded lineup of Boston comedians as The Cabot Performing Arts Center (formerly The Cabot Cinema), 286 Cabot Street, Beverly celebrates the first anniversary of “the new Cabot” at the Thursday, December 31 New Year’s Eve Comedy at the Cabot. Showtime is 9 p.m., with doors opening at 8. Tickets are available at the theater during evening business hours, or by linking to TheCabot.com or ScampsComedy.com.

Presented in conjunction with Scamps Comedy Productions, New Year’s Eve Comedy at the Cabot was the first major event at the theater after it reopened in late 2014, and drew nearly 500 people to see five comedians who brought the house down with laughter. This year, the expectation is for more of the same.

“We’ll close out the year with a lot of laughs, and gear up for what promises to be a hugely successful 2016,” said J. Casey Soward, executive director for The Cabot. “We’re starting late enough for people to enjoy dinner before the show, and ending early enough for them to be home before midnight, or stay downtown for a nightcap.”

This year’s event features a diverse and talented lineup of Boston comedians including Mark Riley, Chris Pennie, Mike Murray, Abhishek Shah and Rattigan.

Beer and wine will be served.

Beverly resident Rattigan, who performed at the 2014 New Year’s Eve show, returns. He has had his comedy played on XM-Sirius Satellite Radio, Nickmom.com, RooftopComedy, and SlackerRadio.com, and headlines clubs, fundraisers and corporate shows. He’s performed at a Boton-themed fringe show at the Kilkenny Comedy Festival in Ireland, the Boston Comedy Festival, Hampton Beach (N.H.) Comedy Festival, and the Women in Comedy Festival. He’s also appeared in TV commercials, the feature film Heavy Times, and has written humorous columns for the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Northshore Magazine, and others. His company, Scamps Comedy Productions, has helped raise more than $1 million for good causes.

Riley is an energetic Boston headliner, a favorite at Kowloon Komedy, Nick’s Comedy Stop, and Giggles. A former professional ice hockey referee (he spent a very short time in the NHL) who also ran a Gymboree, he now plays at top rooms in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Atlantic City. Among those he’s performed with: Steven Wright, Joe Rogan and Lenny Clarke. He headlines colleges and corporate shows as well, and has worked as an actor in commercials and industrial films.

Murray, a.k.a. “The Deaf Comic,” was hearing impaired until the age of 40. His cochlear implants brought him into the hearing world and onto the comedy stage where he shares his unique experience with laughter and an infectious smile. Sharing experiences and observations from childhood to parenthood, Murray blends story telling with one-liners that have audiences laughing all over New England. He’s been seen at Comix Foxwoods, The Comic Strip in NYC, The Comedy Connection and Catch a Rising Star.

A life-long full-time bachelor and full-time single dad, Pennie pulls humor from his dysfunctional family and offbeat view of the world to entertain audiences around New England. He was a finalist in CMTs Next Big Comic contest, the Plymouth Rock Comedy Festival, Dick Doherty’s Beantown Comedy Riots, and the Funniest Comic in New England contest at Mohegan Sun Casino. He has also performed at the Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta, the Hampton Beach (N.H.) Comedy Festival, and the Boston Comedy Festival.

A native of India, Shah is an engineer by day, and one of Boston’s fastest rising comedians at night. He’s a regular on the New England club scene, as well as performing at fund-raising comedy nights and in the standup show How Men Think (Or Do They?). He won the “Emerging Talent Award” at the Massmouth Storytelling Contest in Massachusetts, and was featured in the O’Dark 30 Radio show in Austin, Texas. He’s been featured in newspaper stories in the Quincy Patriot Ledger and the Harvard Crimson.

For more information, go to TheCabot.com or ScampsComedy.com.