Sometimes you don’t have to ask a person what he or she does for a living. You just know.
Like when Wayne Brady saw the song title that audience member Susan Kurtz submitted as part of Brady’s improvisational comedy act at Girls & Guys Night Out. “You must be a dentist,” Brady remarked as he read the title Kurtz was hoping he’d put to music: “Floss or Die.”
Kurtz was one of the 840 men and women who were at the Marriott City Center for Girls & Guys Night Out, the annual dinner and comedy show benefiting Girls Inc. of Metro Denver. She was there with a group of dental colleagues that included practice partner Anne Gittings and periodontist Pamela McClain.
Tami Beardsley and Heather LaMontagne chaired the event with Carole Buyers and Nancy Shea heading the corporate committee and Jane Hoselton and Denise McClard in charge of the raffle. Ticket sales were overseen by the co-presidents of the Girls Inc. Alliance, Hilary Johnson and Karen Hannah Wheeler.
They did their job so well, in fact, that Johnson and one of her tablemates, Allison Saurey, were able to slip away to Las Vegas for a few days of R ‘n’ R, returning to Denver the afternoon of the benefit. Others at the Johnson table were Hilary’s husband, Ken Johnson, who works for Premiere Sponsor Marsico Capital Management; Allison’s husband, TuffShed president Tom Saurey; former Alliance president Jenny Austin; Kelly Grady, owner of the Tender Loving Carats wholesale diamond brokerage, and Grady’s husband, Shannon.
Money raised at Girls & Guys Night Out helps pay for the after- school and summer programs that Girls Inc. of Metro Denver offers to some 2,500 members each year. They include, according to agency president Colleen Colarelli, computer, math and recreational activities that focus on leadership development and college prep.
In addition to being the Premiere Sponsor, Marsico Capital Management boss Tom Marsico and his wife, Cydney, also had their family foundation underwrite the headline entertainment and offer the challenge grant that enabled Girls Inc. to purchase a new van.
Others out for a night of laughs were Saunders Construction president John Beeble; Tammy and Chris Marsico; MJ and Paul Powers; Sara and Larry Grace; Lisa and Bill Maher; Pam, Ed, Cindy and Steve Diamond; Alice and Tom Stephens; Eileen and Dave Morton; Lisa Williams; Paula Newberry Arnold; Susan Hagar with daughter, Kendall; artist Kelly Hume and husband Peter Hodges; Nanette Fishman; Susan Blake-Smith; and Cindy Schulz, who said that next year the event goes back to being Girls Night Out, and that Rita Rudner will be back for her third headline appearance.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. She also contributes at .
