Academy Award winner Steven Wright is a prototype comedian that many others continually try to follow. One of four children, Wright was raised in Burlington, MA. Upon graduating from Emerson College and holding a bevy of odd jobs, Steven attended an “open mike” audition and became a regular performer at Ding Ho’s Comedy Club and Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, MA.
It was during this time that Steven got his big break and was booked for his first “Tonight Show” appearance on Friday, August 6, 1982. The king of late night enjoyed the performance so much he invited Steven to appear again the following Thursday, a rarity on “The Tonight Show.” His back-to-back appearances helped put his fledgling career into high gear. The comic soon found himself performing his off-beat routines on “Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” and numerous trips back to “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”
Wright expanded his comedy career to include comedy albums, film and television appearances. His 1985 debut album, I Have A Pony, earned him a Grammy nomination. In 1985, Steven starred in his first HBO Special “A Steven Wright Special.” In 1989, Steven was honored with an Academy Award for Best Short Film for his film entitled “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings” in which he starred and co-wrote. Other stars of the film included “Roseanne’s” Laurie Metcalf and British comedian, Rowan Atkinson. In September of 1990, Steven starred in his second stand-up special for HBO called “Wicker Chairs and Gravity.” The special included stand-up from The Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto and a short film shot on location in New York and New Jersey.
Steven has been seen in numerous films including “Desperately Seeking Susan,” Mike Meyers’ “So I Married An Axe Murderer,” Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers,” and Nora Ephron’s “Mixed Nuts.” Steven was the voice of the DJ, K-Billy in “Reservoir Dogs” and starred with John Cleese and Jack Palance in New Line’s animated film, “The Swan Princess” as the voice of Speed, the turtle. Steve also appeared as a sitcom actor in MGM’s “Speechless” with Harry Shearer, and as a Mountie in the MGM release “Canadian Bacon”, opposite the late John Candy.
In 1999, Steven played a guest starring role in Albert Brooks’ film “The Muse” starring Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, and Jeff Bridges. In ‘98 he played a supporting role in Dave Chappelle’s “Half-Baked” and was a featured voice in “Babe 2: Pig in the City”.
Steven wrote, directed and stars in the 1999 short film, “One Soldier,” the story of a man obsessed with the unanswerable questions in life. The film was screened at numerous film festivals and can be seen on the Independent Film Channel.
Steven was also seen in the Jim Jarmusch film “Coffee and Cigarettes” and the film “The Aristocrats.”
New Jersey's jazz legacy takes center stage in A Tribute to Count Basie: The Kid from Red Bank. Performed by James Langton's New York All-Star Big Band, this high-energy concert celebrates the unmistakable sound and driving swing of Count Basie - music that still thrills and moves audiences today.
Rick Steves host
New Jersey Symphony
Blue-eyed soul pioneers The Righteous Brothers are back! With a string of #1 clas-sics, including the most played song in radio history, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Fee/in’, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield topped the charts in four decades. After Bobby’s death in 2003, Bill Medley con-tinued to perform to sold-out crowds around the world, but fans and friends pleaded with him to keep The Righteous Brothers alive.
Between 1925 and 1928, Louis Armstrong made a series of influential recordings with a studio group, the Hot Five, that changed the shape of jazz to come. To pay tribute to these legendary sessions, Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon will welcome the dynamic trumpeter and recent Juilliard graduate Andrew Stephens, along with a small group made up of some of New York’s finest traditional jazz musicians.
Rick Steves host
Nicholas Hersh conductor
New Jersey Symphony
"Ale Pak" is a popular, clean, and family-friendly Marathi stand-up comedy special by well-known comedian Mandar Bhide. The show features relatable everyday observations, nostalgia, and lighthearted humor rooted in Maharashtrian culture.
Dunbar Repertory Company presents Ntozake Shange’s FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, the groundbreaking “choreopoem” – a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. Directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, SR.
Amidst the chaos of the Iraq War, the Khachaturian family is trapped in a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, and one Marine’s split-second decision devastates the family. Years later, haunted by his time in Iraq and aided by a New Yorker journalist, the Marine seeks to reconcile with the Khachaturian matriarch. Anchored by unforgettable performances from Boyd Holbrook (A Complete Unknown, Narcos, The Morning Show), Hiam Abbass (Succession), and Kenneth Branagh, Atonement is a powerfully human true story about the immeasurable costs of war, exploring universal questions about guilt, redemption, and the nature of forgiveness.
A group of dads building a movement to support their trans and gender expansive kids are forced to make an impossible choice amid a shifting political landscape: stay and fight or flee the country.
A haunting yet life-affirming film about reframing pain and the radical power of choice. It follows grieving mother Iris Haim as she mourns the loss of her son in the aftermath of October 7th and forms an unexpected bond with Dr. Edith Eger—a renowned psychologist, author, and Auschwitz survivor—whose hard-won wisdom guides her toward transformation.
(NEWTON, NJ) -- The Newton Theatre presents Puss N Boots featuring Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson, and Catherine Popper on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 7:00pm.
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival (TIFF) has named filmmaker Luchina Fisher the first recipient of the Sandi Klein Creative Woman in Film Award, a new annual honor celebrating an exceptional woman whose work reflects the creativity, curiosity, integrity and commitment to social impact that defined Klein's life and her nearly two decades with the festival. The award includes a $1,000 grant. Fisher will receive the inaugural award at the TIFF screening of her film, The Dads, on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 2:30 pm at Teaneck Cinemas (503 Cedar Lane).
(EDISON, NJ) -- With a new dance studio year now underway for many dancers and families, registration is officially open for the LIT Tap Dance Experience, coming to Edison VFW Post 3117 on Sunday, November 8, 2026. Presented by Taplife Hero Foundation, LIT is a focused one-day tap dance experience built around technique, musicality, artistry, mentorship and community.
(FREEHOLD, NJ) -- Center Players presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play with four performances across two Sundays (November 8 and November 15, 2026). Performances are split between the American Hotel and Mattison Crossing.
(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- After its world premiere at Dances With Films LA (DWFLA), one of the nation's leading indie film festivals, Directors' Commentary will have its New Jersey Premiere at SModcastle Film Festival, hosted by filmmaker Kevin Smith. The film will screen on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 12:00pm.
