FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Kevin Kopjak | Charles Zukow Associates 415.296.0677 | [email protected] CLICK PHOTO TO DOWNLOAD HI-RES VERSION AWARD-WINNING COMEDIAN AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, RITA RUDNER, RETURNS TO FEINSTEIN’S AT THE NIKKO! TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY! APRIL 28 & 29, 2017 SAN FRANCISCO – Following a sold-out engagement in 2015, Feinstein’s at the Nikko is thrilled to welcome back award-winning comedian and New York Times bestselling author, Rita Rudner, for two performances only – Friday, April 28 (8 p.m.) and Saturday, April 29 (7 p.m.). Beloved around the country for her endless wit, Rudner will perform a night of hilarious comedy guaranteed to keep audiences laughing until their sides hurt! Tickets for Rita Rudner range in price from $40 – $60 and are on-sale now and available by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketfly.com. A house-filling favorite in Las Vegas since she opened as one of the hottest tickets in town in June 2000, Rudner is known for her epigrammatic one-liners. Over the course of a 15-year run she sold almost two million tickets and became the longest-running solo comedy show in the history of Las Vegas. She was named Las Vegas’s Comedian of the Year nine years in a row and in 2006 received The Nevada Ballet’s Woman of The Year Award. Rita’s first solo HBO special, Rita Rudner’s One Night Stand, was nominated for several awards, as was her eponymous English BBC television show that later appeared in the USA on A&E. Rudner’s two one-hour specials for HBO, Born to Be Mild and Married Without Children, were ratings standouts and she performed all over the country, filling Carnegie Hall in New York three times and the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles twice. In 2008 Rita Rudner: Live From Las Vegas was PBS’s first ever stand-up comedy special. Rita Rudner has written five books; her bestselling non-fiction titles, Naked Beneath My Clothes Rita Rudner’s Guide to Men and I Still Have It…I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It, plus the novels Tickled Pink and Turning the Tables. The audio version of Naked Beneath My Clothes received a Grammy nomination. Rudner is a frequent collaborator with her writer/producer husband of twenty-eight years, Martin Bergman. The couple’s first produced film script was Peter’s Friends. The film, starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Kenneth Branagh, Imelda Staunton, Stephen Fry, and Rita, won the Evening Standard Peter Sellers Award for Comedy and was nominated for the Goya Award for Best European Film of 1994. Noted London Times’ critic AA Gill recently hailed the movie as his favorite ever British film. Bergman and Rudner’s last film, Thanks, premiered at the 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival, won several awards on the film festival circuit and was bought by and frequently aired on Showtime. In 2003, Rudner launched from Las Vegas her first syndicated daily TV show, Ask Rita, which featured a panel of celebrities lightheartedly attempting to solve personal problems submitted by members of the public; it ran for two years. For her work on the show, American Women in Radio and Television awarded Rudner a Gracie Allen Award for Best Program Host. Rita helped write the 2001 and 2003 Oscar shows with Steve Martin and the 2002 Oscar broadcast with Whoopi Goldberg. Rita Rudner moved to New York at the age of fifteen to become a dancer on Broadway. She appeared in several shows, including the original productions of Follies and Mack and Mabel. It was while in Annie on Broadway that she began exploring the comedy clubs of Manhattan. In the early ‘80s, Rudner took a full-time leap from chorus lines to punch lines and was soon a regular guest on both Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show. In 2009, Rita, Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow joined forces to perform a fundraiser for President Obama and the Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid. In 2012, Rita and Martin wrote and performed The Rita Rudner Show for BBC radio in London. Rita also appeared in the Showtime comedy special Rita Rudner and Three Potential Ex-Husbands. In January 2016, Rita appeared at the Laguna Playhouse in the new play by David Ambrose and Claudia Nellens entitled Act 3…, alongside English actor Charles Shaughnessy and under the direction of her husband. She and Martin have previously collaborated on two plays which they co-wrote – Room 776 and Tickled Pink. In June 2016 Rita was invited and honored to speak about her career and technique in comedy at Cambridge University, England. Located within Hotel Nikko (222 Mason Street, San Francisco), Feinstein’s at the Nikko presents a wide range of entertainers from stage and screen all within an intimate 140-seat cabaret setting. There is a $20 food and beverage minimum per person inside the showroom which guests can use towards cocktails as well as a variety of small plates crafted exclusively for Feinstein’s at the Nikko by Executive Chef Philippe Striffeler, through Restaurant Anzu. Cheese and dessert platters will also be available in the showroom. All seating at Feinstein’s at the Nikko is cabaret style and available on a first-come, first-served basis within the section purchased. Guests who purchase the prix-fixe dinner at Restaurant Anzu will receive a complimentary section upgrade (subject to availability) and get to choose their exact seat locations within the upgraded section. For additional information on Rita Rudner, visit: www.ritarudner.com. For additional information on Feinstein’s at the Nikko, visit: www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com. # # # ABOUT MICHAEL FEINSTEIN The two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated Michael Feinstein is considered one of the premier interpreters of American standards. His 200-plus shows a year have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace. More than simply a performer, Feinstein has received national recognition for his commitment to celebrating America’s popular songbook and preserving its legacy for the next generation. ABOUT THE MICHAEL FEINSTEIN GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK INITIATIVE Founded in 2007, The Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative is dedicated to increasing the appreciation for the Great American Songbook and preserving it through educational programs, Master Classes, and the annual High School Vocal Academy and Competition, which awards scholarships and prizes to students across the country. For interview or photo requests, please contact: Kevin Kopjak | Charles Zukow Associates | [email protected] | 415.296.0677 .