"Funniest Comedian DAVE WILLIAMSON vs CINDY WILLIAMS"
DAVE WILLIAMSON
Dave Williamson is a stand-up comedian from Miami, Florida now living in El Segundo, California. Williamson was named "best comedian in Miami" in 2012 by Miami New Times, which called his comedy "unpretentious, genuinely interesting, and, most important, atomically funny" and "like the stand-up version of a great sitcom." Williamson grew up in Miami, where his family sold automobiles. He graduated from the College of Business at Auburn University in Alabama in 2000, then moved to Charleston, North Carolina, where he began performing in comedy clubs. He moved back to Miami to join the family business, but within a few years had segued into stand-up comedy full-time. Williamson performs comedy across the country, touring frequently. He has opened for Jim Gaffigan, Lewis Black and Jimmy Fallon. Daniel Berkowitz of The Spit Take wrote that "Williamson approaches every event, obstacle and conversation with a palpable sense of awe—a childlike naiveté that is utterly charming and wholly endearing." He founded the Gundo Comedy Festival in El Segundo, which started in 2015. Headliners have included Preacher Lawson and Bert Kreischer. Williamson is the host of two podcasts. Since 2018, he has hosted Meat Dave, a weekly podcast in which he talks with comedians and restaurateurs about barbecue. (An enthusiastic aficionado, Williamson's tour bus is equipped with a portable BBQ smoker.) In 2020, he began co-hosting The Tony Azevedo Podcast with five-time Olympian water polo player Tony Azevedo. He has released two albums produced by Grammy winner Dan Schlissel for his label Stand Up! Records, Thicker Than Water and Trying My Hardest. Rating Thicker Than Water 4 out of 5 stars, Kaitlin Costello of Stage Time Magazine called it "goofy, witty, and easily relatable." Richard Lanoie of The Serious Comedy Site called Trying My Hardest a "quirky take on fatherhood (that) is a breath of fresh and original air."
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CINDY WILLIAMS
Cynthia Jane Williams (born August 22, 1947) is an American actress and producer, known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcom Happy Days (1975-1979), and Laverne & Shirley (1976–1982). After college, Williams began her professional career by landing national commercials, which included Foster Grant sunglasses and TWA. Her first roles in television, among others, were on Room 222,Nanny and the Professor and Love, American Style. Williams accompanied an actor-friend from Los Angeles City College who needed a scene partner for the audition and was also accepted at The Actors Studio West, but rarely attended due to acting commitments Williams picked up important film roles early in her career: George Cukor's Travels with My Aunt (1972); as Laurie Henderson, Ron Howard's character's high school sweetheart in George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973) for which she earned a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actress; and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974). She auditioned, along with thousands of others, for Lucas's next project, Star Wars, for the role of Princess Leia, but it was ultimately won by Carrie Fisher. Williams met Penny Marshall, first on a double date, and later at Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope company, both hired as comedy writers, because "they wanted two women", on a prospective TV spoof for the Bicentennial. While writing at Zoetrope, Penny Marshall's brother, Garry Marshall, called to ask if they would like to make an appearance on one episode of Happy Days, the television series he produced. In 1975, Williams was cast as a fun-loving brewery bottle capper, Shirley Feeney, in an episode of Happy Days with Penny, who played her best friend and roommate Laverne De Fazio. The girls were cast as "sure-thing" dates of Richie and Potsie (Anson Williams). Their appearance proved so popular that Garry Marshall, producer of Happy Days, commissioned a spin-off series for the characters of Shirley and Laverne. Williams continued her role on the very successful Laverne & Shirley series from 1976 until 1982. At one point during its run, the series was the number one rated show on television. Williams was praised for her portrayal of Shirley Feeney. She left the show after the second episode of the show's eighth and what would become its final season, after she became pregnant with her first child. The show's various producers were not enthusiastic that Williams was pregnant, as her character Shirley was not pregnant. Williams and co-star Penny Marshall had also been feuding for quite some time on the set long before Williams became pregnant. They would reconcile many years later. The success of the tv series led to a short-lived Saturday morning animated series Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981-82), created by Hanna-Barbera. In 1990, Williams returned to series TV in the short-lived sitcom Normal Life, and a couple years later, reunited with former Laverne & Shirley producers Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett to star in their family sitcom Getting By (1993–94). She has guest starred on several television shows, including two episodes of 8 Simple Rules.