Zydeco Jed

IONA

IONA has been at the forefront of the Celtic Music revival since the band’s inception in 1986. Founded by Barbara Tresidder Ryan and Bernard Argent, IONA has evolved over the past 20 years into what is probably the most comprehensive pan Celtic band in the world. IONA’s mission: to present the rich musical elements of all the Celtic cultures — Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Manx, Cornish, Breton, Asturian and Galician, blending them into a tapestry that resolves in the New World, as evidenced in Appalachian, Cape Breton and Cajun cultures. 

“This is the real stuff as far as Celtic goes, and these are authentic, versed musicians…The members of IONA look to be story tellers, song collectors (and) explorers. A trip to IONA is a fascinating journey.” Music Monthly Regional Review of Branching Out by Kyf Brewer 

Stand-up comedian Shaun Eli has rightfully been called one of America’s smartest comics. Whether it’s a story about dining with a vegetarian or successfully fighting a parking ticket, master storyteller Shaun Eli shows you that there’s hilarity in the ordinary if you approach life with a comedic warp. Job interviews? Serving on a NYC criminal jury? How about the Ten Commandments? For just about anything he’s experienced he has a hilarious story at the ready. Shaun has been profiled in The New York Times.

With a sense of humor that’s both cheerful and universal Shaun has headlined shows on five continents. His jokes have been quoted everywhere from the New York Post to Forbes to Readers Digest to Healthcare Finance News. In both Reform Judaism magazine and the Christian Science Monitor, where he was the subject of the cover story. He’s been featured on CareerBuilder.com and CNN, in local papers like the Scarsdale Inquirer and the Asbury Park Press and in the college papers the Yale Daily News and the Daily Pennsylvanian. Even in The Journal of Irreproducible Results, a scientific humor magazine. Yes, there is one. And his group The Ivy League of Comedy^sm was the subject of a front-page story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

More than just smart, funny and clever, Shaun is determined to express his opinion passionately, not surprising for someone who wrote his first satirical essay at age ten. When profiled in Fortune magazine “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno quoted one of Shaun’s jokes, citing it as an example of the type of “smart comedy” he’s happy to include in his opening monologue. Jay and other late-night hosts have used Shaun’s topical material in their monologues for more than a decade.

Drawing on his vast wealth of clean, clever material Shaun quickly became one of New York’s brightest, funniest, most in-demand stand-up comedians. When he takes the stage other comedians stop and watch.

Outside the world of comedy Shaun was a world-class athlete in two obscure sports (rowing and dragon-boat racing), worked as a lifeguard instructor and is an instrument-rated pilot. He is also an award-winning economic forecaster who once sold his car to a hitchhiker.

Shaun is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. You can watch his videos and read some of his writings, including satirical political essays and hundreds of jokes he’s written for late-night television, on his web site BrainChampagne.com where his slogan “Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for Smart Minds^sm ” rings true.