Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this post. I wanted to let all of the Workshops family and friends know that on Tuesday, February 11th 2025 our wonderful Jim Ross past away. We are heartbroken. He was so kind, generous, hilariously funny, and so supportive of his fellow students and friends. He was with the workshop since Harvey was alive. We shared so many fabulous and unforgettable times with Jim. There are so many incredible memories that we always treasure. His big boisterous laugh, his hilarious characters, his misuse of words and names on purpose in a scene, the Christmas party poem that we all looked forward to, and of course his Valentine’s Day poems. Every year we would have a Valentine’s Day poem contest that would always start “Roses are red violets are blue…”
And the students would write the rest of the rhyming poem. The winner would get their name put into one of the hearts on a pair of Valentine’s Day boxer shorts that hung on the wall. Jim’s name appeared on those shorts more than anyone else. So to honor him I would like to share one of my favorites that he wrote.

ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
WITHOUT TIM OR KAREN
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.
I’M GOING TO WIN THIS CONTEST
WITH HOOTS AND SNORTS
CAUSE I WANT MY NAME, AGAIN,
ON THOSE HEART TRIMMED SHORTS!
I’M NOT A POOR SPORT
AND I DON’T MEAN TO SOUND SNOTTY,
BUT WITH TEN YEARS OF ENTRIES
I HAVEN’T EVEN WON A LOTTY!
AND IF THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN AFTER ALL THESE APPEALS-
I’LL CERTAINLY KNOW HOW SUSAN LUCCI FEELS!
I HOPE MY COMPLAINT WILL BE THIS YEARS LAST,
CAUSE IN ONE OF MICHAEL’S SHOWS-
I HOPE TO SOON BE CAST!
SO PLEASE, MICHAEL, PLEASE
PUT MY PICTURE IN THE LOBBY-
SO I DON’T HAVE TO ADMIT
THIS ACTING THING IS ONLY JUST A HOBBY.

RIP sweet Jim. We love you.

We want to wish all of our students, past and present, and our Workshop family and friends, a very Happy New Year. May you find endless health, peace, joy, love, and laughter and have a new year filled with beautiful memories.

It is with the utmost sadness that I must share that on Thursday November 17th, we lost our sweet and talented Hailey Temple. She was in class on Wednesday night, November 16th, and could not have looked more beautiful. She was glowing with that very special twinkle in her eyes and the energy she always had around her. She was one of the kindest and sweetest people who was loved by everyone in class. I had the pleasure of working with for the lats six months and I will treasure the conversations we had about acting during the week between classes. We are all devastated. Our hearts are breaking for her husband Ryan and her family. She was 29 years old. A life taken much to early. RIP sweet Hailey.

Fantastic News! We could not be more thrilled I to announce and send congratulations to the Workshops’ Cal Gibson on winning for Best Comedic Actor (Male) in the short, Kevin, at the 3rd annual All The Laughs (ATL) Comedy Awards. What a great honor and accomplishment.

HE’S BACK! The Workshop’s Tohoru Masamune can currently be seen in the third season of Netflix hit series ”Never Have I Ever,” a comedy created by Mindy Kaling. He plays Kevin Hall Yoshida, the dad of the series heartthrob Paxton Hall Yoshida. Congratulation Tohoru!!!

The sense of fun, freedom and fearlessness I’m developing by coming to
The Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop, every week, has undoubtedly been critical to my booking “Never Have I Ever.” It’s a great workshop to trust and discover new areas to expand my creativity. Every class is full of laughter, challenge and enlightenment.

Awesome news! Workshop alum Paul Chepekian filmed a featured role in Steven Spielberg’s
“THE FABELMANS.” It is a semi autobiographical film and is a portrait of the formative years of Steven Spielberg before he became a celebrated director. The film premiers tomorrow August 11th. Congratulations Paul!

The Season Four podcast of Red House Rising is finally here! Congratulations to the Workshop’s Dayle Kerry and her partner Chris Cote for a forth and final season of this amazing project. New Season Four Episodes will be released every Thursday – Seven Episodes in all.

The first episode is now available on most podcast apps – Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, etc. – or here: https://www.redhouserising.com/podcast-1/episode/2b5f81f1/red-house-rising-season-4-episode-1

Spectacular news!

Spectacular News and Double the fun! The Workshops Sheri Effres has produced and written “Kevin” a short comedic film that has won a spot in The LA Shorts International Film Festival. It stars The Workshop’s Cal Gibson and co-stars Sheri Effres as well. It will be screening on July 24th at 1pm at the Noho (North Hollywood) Laemmle theatre .Tickets will go on sale July 14th, through Laemmle website and Laemmle NoHo Theater box office. When purchasing tickets please refer to the program number. We are in PROGRAM 15 at 1pm. The Awards Program is Thursday July 28th at 9:00 PM. Congratulations to you both!!!

TONIGHT!!! Come on out to Lost Chord Guitars on this Friday June 3rd to Alum JD Hinton playing live. The incredible Sara Petite and Steve Key will also be playing. You won't want to miss it.
8pm-11:30pm
$10 cover, Ages 21+
Lost Chord Guitars
1576 Copenhagen Dr.in Solvang, CA 93463
Unplugged and in the round Nashville-Style
Tickets here: https://bit.ly/JDatPlay

She’s done it again! The Workshop’s Sheri Effres has booked another job this time on Univision’s new streaming channel VIX. It’s an untitled episodic Documentary. We’ll let you know when it airs. Congratulations Sheri!

So thrilled for alum Angela Fornero who will be performing her one woman comedy show “After All” at the Hudson Theater tonight Tuesday 5/17 at 8:00 pm as well as Sunday 5/22 @ 2:00 pm. Congratulations Angela

“I still attribute your stage to the place where I found my comedic voice many years ago. I will always be grateful for that time.”