RESOLUTION HONORING RAYMOND LAMBERT
WHEREAS, Raymond Lambert was born in Wilmington, Delaware and graduated with honors from Morehouse College before receiving his MBA from the University of Virginia; and
WHEREAS, Raymond is the esteemed founder of the All Jokes Aside Comedy Club, which opened in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood in 1991 at 819 S. Wabash before moving to 1000 S. Wabash a year later, and served as a launching pad for under-represented minority comics; and
WHEREAS, Raymond also served as a consultant for NBC, HBO, Def Comedy Jam, Comedy Central, The Second City, Just for Laughs Comedy Festival and B.E.T. Network; and
WHEREAS, through his work in comedy, he helped shape the careers of many who would go on to dominate the American cultural landscape, such as Steve Harvey, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, and many others; and
WHEREAS, Raymond has also been recognized as a "Diverse Voices in Documentaries Fellow" for his work on documentaries profiling famous African-Americans in history such as Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise; and
WHEREAS, Raymond Lambert is currently working to empower social change through his industry connections with his All Jokes Aside Vol. 2 project; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and members of the City of Chicago City Council assembled on this the 28th day of March, 2018 do hereby congratulate Raymond Lambert on his being recognized as a Comedy Club Pioneer by the Comics Rock Organization, and wish him further successes in developing the Chicago comedy community; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to Raymond Lambert.

Pat uowen Alderman, 3rd Ward