STAGE & SCREEN Panida Theater to host nationally renowned comic Paul Virzi

By Reader Staff

Paul Virzi is a comic on the rise — in a big way. He headlines comedy clubs across North America, has a special on Netflix and hosts two weekly podcasts: Anything Better, co-hosted by Bill Burr, and The Virzi Effect, both on All Things Comedy Network. He has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the country, including Madison Square Garden, the Chicago Theatre and Carnegie Hall.

sports raconteur. Now he’s coming to the Panida Theater for a performance Thursday, June 8, and it’ll be a must-see event for Sandpoint audiences.

cc.com. Virzi’s second special, Nocturnal Admissions on Netflix, was released in June 2022 as Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson’s directorial debut.

Paul Virzi comedy

Thursday, June 8. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.; $25; 18+. Panida Theater, 300 N.First Ave., 208-263-9191, get tickets at panida.org. More info at paulvirzi.com.

Panida Managing Director Lauren Sanders said in April that the engagement at the theater was Virzi’s idea, and she was “blown away and super excited” that a comic of his caliber — who “has his pick of venues” — sought out Sandpoint.

His 2015 debut comedy album, Paul Virzi: Night at the Stand, ranked No. 1 on iTunes, and reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Top 100.

Coming up through the suburbs of New York City, he’s a family man, cigar lover and expert

Virzi’s debut hour-long comedy special, Bill Burr Presents Paul Virzi: I’ll Say This, premiered on Comedy Central in November 2018 and is currently available to stream on

Off the stage, Paul has also made appearances on a variety of TV shows, including TruTV’s Comedy Knockout, AXS TV’s Gotham Comedy Live and the NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. He has also written for ESPN’s highly coveted ESPY Awards.

“Paul’s stuff will resonate with everyone,” according to Sanders. “Whether you are single and dating or in a relationship or you have gone off the deep end by getting married and having kids, Paul’s comedy is going to hit home. He is extremely relatable on all fronts.”

Bike club hosts movie night fundraiser to support bike skills park for Sandpoint

By Reader Staff

Pend Oreille Pedalers has long been Sandpoint’s local cycling club, and, for the last four years, emerged as an advocacy group and trail-building organization, whose efforts have contributed to the buildout of local trails loved by hikers and mountain bikers — including in the Syringa trail system and in the Little Sand Creek Watershed.

All told, POP has built nearly 16 miles of new trail since 2019, and through its bike grants and scholarship program, welcomed more than 20 new local kids into the mountain biking community. The club’s youth programs now serve more than 140 kids a year in after-school and summer clinics and camps, as well as weekly group rides and trail work parties that keep local road and mountain bikers healthy and active outdoors.

POP’s latest effort to advocate for cyclists of all ages, abilities and income levels involves a partnership with the Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Department to improve an existing dirt bike track at Travers Park by designing and building a modern mountain bike skills park on the site.

The skills park, slated to be built this fall on the half-acre parcel north of the existing tennis courts, will include multiple prefabricated steel-andwood skills features from American Ramp Com pany, a firm out of the Midwest that builds bike parks all over North America. When complet ed, local kids and their parents will have a whole new place to ride their bikes in an environment that simulates the kinds of technical challenges mountain bikers might face out on the trails — essentially bringing the thrill of mountain biking right into the backyards of thousands of Sandpoint residents.

Design and construction for the Mountain Bike Skills Park will be funded through a combi- nation of grant-writing efforts by POP and local fundraising. The project budget of around $60,000 will only be achievable through community support.

To help reach its fundraising goal, POP is hosting a film premiere of The Engine Inside, a new feature-length documentary from Anthill Films, which tells the stories of six everyday people from all over the globe who reveal the unique power of the bicycle to change lives and build a better world.

The film will premiere Friday, June 16 at the Panida Theater (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint), with tickets available now at panida.org. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. The evening will feature a raffle, with all proceeds going towards POP’s Skills Park fundraising campaign.

The next morning, Saturday, June 17, more than 300 road-andgravel cyclists from around the country will embark on the annual CHAFE 150 Gran Fondo — an event hosted by Rotary Club of Sandpoint, which takes participants on an all-day tour of North Idaho and western Montana.

This year’s CHAFE includes a gravel category that will take riders from Clark Fork, up Lighting Creek, over Trestle Creek pass and down Trestle Creek drainage before depositing them on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille for a race back to City Beach.

For more information about Pend Oreille Pedalers’ projects, programs and community activities, visit pendoreillepedalers.org.