Sat. Nov. 10

 "Comedy Comes Home" Has a nice, quaint Thanksgiving kind of feeling about it, doesn't? Over the river and through the hills, to comedy's home we go ... Well, there is something impressive about the tradition. This is the 13th year Denis Leary has hosted the event - the longest running comedy fundraiser in the biz, we're told - for the Cam Neely Foundation. Cam and Denis are hockey buds and it makes perfect sense for Leary to use his celebrity status - and extremely sharp comedic skills - for a good cause. He does these things for firefighters, too. Don't expect that because it's for a good cause that the comedy will be tame; we've seen Leary go ballistic, especially during a post-9/11 fundraiser. But damn, he's good. His "Rescue Me" is, arguably, the best sitcom on TV - with real, serious issues (alcoholism, sexuality, death) running up hard against comedy that is lacerating, self and otherwise. It's Leary's mindset, but given a story, a scope and a cast of characters. As a standup, Leary brings that rapier-like wit to bear in a rat-a-tat fashion, going after, well, mostly hypocrisy and phoniness. We saw him do this in the halcyon days of Boston comedy - 'the 80s (See: movie "When Standup Stood Out" - and we've seen him continue to do it sporadically over the years. He proves one does not necessarily lose edge as one ages. On Saturday Nov. 10 at the Agganis Arena at 7:30, he's joined by our old pal (Leary's and JSInk's) Lenny Clarke (who's with Leary on "Rescue Me") as well as Artie Lang, Joe Yanetti, Jim Norton and others. Essentially, the comics on the bill have some Boston connection - been here, are here - and they're all out to prove that while they heyday of Boston comedy may be more than two decades past, a smart, stinging topical joke still packs a punch. The tickets are expensive - $155-$35 - but Cam's cancer foundation gets the bucks so you can feel good about yourself as you're feeling good, laughing your arse off. Fair exchange.

Commonwealth Ave., 617-931-2000 www.camneelyfoundation.com