These comedians are bringing laughs to Tucson this weekend

Mark Twain famously said that “the human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

We couldn’t agree more.

That’s why we’re seriously considering spending the first full unofficial weekend of summer laughing until we cry with three comedians gracing us with their ha-ha presence.

Junk Yard Dog in the house

Nate Jackson is best known of late for his recurring role on the NBC sitcom “Young Rock,” but the comedian is a trailblazer in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington.

It is there that Jackson, who started his standup journey on a buddy dare, opened Nate Jackson’s Super Funny Comedy Club in 2021, one of only four Black-owned comedy clubs in the country.

The club was a spin-off of Jackson’s “Super Funny Show,” which he had been doing every other week in Tacoma since 2010.

But just because he has his own venue, which hosts big-name and rising comedians, doesn’t mean Jackson can’t take his show on the road. He’s here Thursday, May 30, with his “Super Funny World Tour” at Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress.

Tickets ($41.50-$77) for the 7 p.m. show are available at rialtotheatre.com.

Punk-rockin’ ha-has

Colorado comic Ben Roy has a dual personality; standup comedian that some critics say reminds them of Bill Hicks and Lewis Black when he gets on a roll and punk-rocker with the Denver band the Spells.

He also is part of the Grawlix trio, which does a comedy podcast available on all major streaming platforms from Spotify to iHeartRadio. On it, the boys (Roy, Andrew Orvedahl and Adam Cayton-Holland) debate friendships, relationships, celebrities and pickleball.

In the most recent episode, Roy was relegated to gyrating after apparently losing the Political Disagreement Dance Off. In another, the trio swooned over the 1983 weeper flick “The Outsiders.”

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Deep, funny stuff, indeed.

The tatted-up comedian’s standup mostly aims a mirror at himself. In a recent reel, he professed his love for “Trashy @&#&!” from his love of westerns to his recent motorcycle purchase.

“My arms look like what I imagine the wallpaper at a Sturgis day care would look like. And now I’ve got a motorcycle so I figure I’m one large saltwater aquarium purchase away from just completely turning into a hot dog,” he said, calling his motorcycle “the epoch of trashiness.”

Roy comes to Laffs Comedy Caffé, 2900 E. Broadway, for four shows this weekend: 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, May 31; and 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 1. General seating is $15, preferred is $20 through laffstucson.com.

Standup etiquette with Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes has a request — actually, it’s more of a mandate: Leave your smart phone, digital watch and any other digital accessories at home when you come to the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress, to see her live on Sunday, June 2.

If you do have your digital devices on you, you’ll be asked to stow them in a Yondr pouch — a lockable pouch used to create a phone-free environment — while Sykes performs her “Please & Thank You” show.

In her first major tour in six years, we expect Sykes, whose show is sold out, will bring in material ripped from the headlines interspersed with bits from her comedy specials including her Emmy-nominated 2023 show “I’m an Entertainer.”

Sykes is one of those comedians not afraid to tell it like it is, from our complicated race relations to our even more complicated dysfunctional politics.

Tucson is at the tail end of the spring leg of Sykes’ tour, which picks up again in September for dates running through mid-November.

She goes on stage at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.