A Comedian and A Philosopher Walk Into A Bar: Death Doula Monica Hairston O’Connell

The Alliance Theatre is partnering with the Center for Ethics at Emory University to present a series of post-show dialogues after select performances of EVERYBODY. Hosted by Atlanta-based comics David Perdue, Lace Larrabee, and Katherine Blanford, each dialogue invites a guest philosopher to talk about the meaning of life, our relationship to death, and everything in-between.  

Join us at the North Alcove Bar for some seriously funny conversation with theologians and interfaith leaders, ethicists and philosophers, therapists and love gurus. The drinking is optional. The laughing is not.  

Wednesday, SEP 21, 2022 // Following the 7:30pm performance, North Alcove Bar, 2nd Floor 

Comedian David Perdue talks with Monica Hairston O’Connell, Ph.D., death doula and avid baker. 

This conversation is free for Everybody ticket holders – get tickets now.

David Perdue is an Atlanta comedian who has appeared on Comedy Central, FuseTV, EPIX. David is also an actor appearing in "Love Is..." on OWN and "Bobcat Goldthwait’s Misfits and Monsters" on truTV. He appeared as one of the 12 most talked about comedians in Atlanta on the first digital cover of ComedyHype magazine. David was selected by Creative Loafing as one of Atlanta's "People to Watch" in 2017. He has been selected to perform in comedy festivals all across the country & has taped for Kevin Hart’s LOL Network at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy festival is Montréal, Canada. David co-hosts the hilarious sports/comedy podcast called "Forth and Ten" hosted on ForthDistrict.com, as well as the political/comedy podcast “The Confused Caucus” and is a co-producer of the Atlanta favorite 1AM Secret Show. He is a co-producer/ co-creator of the powerful stage show “Double Consciousness” with award winning poet Adán Bean. In 2022, David was selected as an Arts & Social Justice Fellow at Emory University in addition to a 2022 Climate Comedy Cohort created & directed by Generation180 & the Center for Media & Social Impact’s Good Laugh Initiative. As you can see David is many things but, most importantly, he is NOT a former US Senator.

Monica O’Connell’s winding professional paths have led her through a Ph.D in ethnomusicology, owning her own bakery, and arts- and people -centered consulting to her clearing in the forest: serving as a death doula. In addition to the humbling work of tending those in transition (all of us!), she is working on a collection of essays about grief, loss, and cake service called Thirteen Cakes.