Couples and friends gather outside Cobb’s Comedy club on a chilly night in North Beach. The door attendant greets the guests and stamps a triangle “over 21” stamp on the tops of their right hands.

Upon entering the club, a tall black man with glasses checks their tickets and seats them in the appropriate section while also showing each guest where their designated restrooms are located.

The stage remains empty as the crowd mingles among their tables, some sharing with friends, others with complete strangers. But this crowd is different than the comedy club’s regulars. This particular crowd is gathering to take a stand – a stand for a more serious issue affecting today’s society: capital punishment. These people have paid higher-than-usual ticket prices to partake in the second annual Stand up for Justice event hosted by Death Penalty Focus (DPF), an organization formed to fight against capital punishment.

At 7 p.m. the lights dim on the main floor, while the red, blue, and white stage lights simultaneously brighten against the yellow wall. Mike Farrell, president of DPF, walks onto the stage in a dark suit and welcomes everyone there – including San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano and actor James Cromwell.

Farrell discusses DPF, saying he’s “glad to be a part of this organization,” reminding attendees that, while capital punishment is a serious issue, he also realizes “that it’s OK to laugh every once in a while.”

According to deathpenalty.org, DPF was founded in 1988, as a nonprofit organization that dedicates its efforts to abolishing capital punishment. It is active in grass roots efforts, research, and the distribution of information about alternatives for the death penalty.

Stand up for Justice began in 2004, after board member Aundre Herron pitched the idea as a fundraiser for the organization. Herron, in addition to being a board member is also a lawyer for CAP (the California Appellate Project). She says CAP is a kind of think tank or tech support for inmates and their supporting council. Her role in CAP includes working with condemned inmates: visiting them, and collecting record, and information pertaining to their cases before it becomes lost in the judicial system.

“I wonder how I do all the stuff I do,” says Herron, who has earned the stage name of Aundre the Wonderwoman when she performs stand-up comedy.

Herron wears many hats: the lawyer, the board member, the comedian. But, she says she has no conscious thought that her comedy is used to ease her stress from her everyday life. Rather, she says her comedy stems from an artistic leaning and comedic outgrowth that provides her a great forum to touch on difficult topics that others are too afraid to discuss.

Through her 13 years in the comedy circuit she has met a number of other comedians such as Will Durst, Betsy Salkind, and Johnny Steele, whom Aundre was able to contact and ask to be present at each of the fundraisers.

“If you are funny, then you get to do it for a living,” says Salkind, who met Herron at a gig less than three years ago. She says that she likes to volunteer for her favorite causes and is a big part of who she is. “I got involved in college,” she says.

“The first year was a success and people enjoyed it,” Herron says.

The following year, in 2005 would have been the second time around for this event. However, in this same year, Stanley “Tookie” Williams was executed by lethal injection and Death Penalty Focus thought it “was not in good taste to hold such an event,” says Herron.

“People recognize that this is a serious social justice issue, but there is still a place for laughter,” Herron says. She also says the comedy presented at this event is political and not inconsistent with the death penalty.

“This benefit is a wonderful time,” says comedian Will Durst. He says that the death penalty isn’t morally defensible and that it doesn’t seem right. With this being Durst’s second time performing for the event, he says he feels fortunate to be a part of this cause.

It is now about 9 p.m. and as the show raps up, Death Penalty Focus President Mike Farrell, climbs up the stage steps one last time to thank all the guests and sponsors of the event. As the evening comes to a close the organization learns that they have held a successful event, pulling in $22,000 for Death Penalty Focus.

“This is a real concern of mine,” says Sue Severine, president of the Dealth Penalty Focus chapter in Marin. “We don’t need anymore bad news,” she says, and capital punishment is not a lot of fun, this is a very depressing issue. But, she also recognizes that this comedy supports a great cause and comments that this event is a fun way to support the effort.

Looking toward the future of Stand up for Justice, event organizer, Alison Powell, says that she would like to see this one night event evolve to become a two-night event – depending on the board members’ annual adoption of this event.