It’s been a long week. Time for a laugh.
I’ve been offering you arts-related content this week (e.g., here), and today I remind you of an event that honors the art of the wisecrack: the Second Annual “John J. O’Connor Phoenix Rotary 100 Humor Contest.”
The event will be on Friday, February 1, at noon, and is sponsored by the Phoenix Rotary 100. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will be the guest of the Club that day. As lawyer and emcee Scott Rose has described Justice O’Connor’s husband John, “He was a great lawyer, quite the raconteur and President of our Club in 1977-78.”
I wrote about last year’s inaugural event; you can read “Try the Veal, Tip Your Lawyer” here.
Some additional photos from that event are here, on the magazine’s Facebook page.

2012 contest finalists and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. L to R: Ryan Nelson, Matt Shorrs, Justice O’Connor, Jodi Weisberg (first place), Trevor Cox and Bob Howard
The important thing to note now, today, is that there is a deadline approaching for those among you who think you’ve got what it takes, comedically. You have two weeks to complete the application, available here. Of course, if you have hilarious friends, feel free to pass this on.
Don’t delay. Applications should be in as soon as possible because there will be preliminary judging on January 24 at the Phoenix Country Club. And as Scott says, acts “can be 3 – 6 minutes of classic stand-up comedy, funny stories, war stories, humorous anecdotes or whatever they choose.”
Prizes? Yes, there are prizes: $2,500, $1,500 and $500 to the top three contestants. And $2,000 will be paid to each of ASU, UofA and Phoenix School of Law on a rotating basis (ASU being the recipient this year).
If you’ve got the chops, it’s time to trot them out to an appreciative public. Fellow lawyers look forward to laughing along with you.
Have a great weekend.

John and Sandra Day O’Connor in their Paradise Valley home (undated photo). (Click for Arizona Attorney Magazine story.)
July 14, 2015 at 9:31 am
[…] In the past I’ve written about this annual competition. You can read my coverage here and here. […]