August 18, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Alys Stephens Center presents comedian Wanda Sykes at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. S., Birmingham. Tickets are $85, $65, $55 and $45; with a limited number of $20 student tickets. This show contains adult language and subject matter. The performance is part of the Alys Stephens Center's Beyond Comedy Series. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org for more information.

Named one of Entertainment Weekly's "25 Funniest People in America," Emmy-award winner Wanda Sykes entertains with her outrageous observations and biting humor. Her wry take on life, from chatty, unattended children to racist dolphins, keeps her audience breathless with laughter. Sykes' smart-witted stand up covers politics, gay marriage, karma, health care, racial profiling, being a woman and the perks of aging.

Sykes has starred in the hit films "Evan Almighty," "Monster-in-Law" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and the animated features "Over the Hedge" and "The Barnyard." She's the hilarious and bluntly honest best friend in television's "The New Adventures of Old Christine." As a performer and writer on "The Chris Rock Show," she won an Emmy Award in 1999 and was nominated for three more. In 2001, she won the American Comedy Award for Outstanding Female Stand Up Comic.

Her HBO special, "Wanda Sykes: Sick & Tired," was nominated for an Emmy in 2007. Sykes also wrote, produced and starred in Fox's "Wanda at Large" and can be seen in the Comedy Central special,  "Wanda Sykes: Tongue Untied." She appears on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Comedy Central's "Crank Yankers" as Gladys Murphy. Sykes starred in and produced the Comedy Central show "Wanda Does It," for which she tried various non-showbiz jobs. Her first book, "Yeah, I Said It," a hilarious collection of essays touching on life, family and current events, hit bookstores in 2004.