Light Bringer Project and The Doo Dah Preservation Society to announced local ultimate frisbee legend John Vorhaus as their selection of the 2024 grand marshal of the Pasadena Doo Dah Parade.

John Vorhaus, the runner of Hahamonga and Brookside parks’ “Slacker Wednesday” ultimate frisbee game, renowned comedy writer and teacher, and self-described “serial creative entrepreneur,” was in a cab in London finishing a three-week teaching tour when he received the news of his selection. He “couldn’t say yes fast enough” and called his appointment to the position “the apotheosis of my life.”

Vorhaus, known broadly in ultimate circles as “JV,” is a longtime resident of the San Gabriel Valley and a lifelong devotee of ultimate.

“I’ve been playing twice a week for 45 years,” said Vorhaus, “but I can quit anytime I want.”

Though he won a world gold medal with the 1990 USA Masters ultimate frisbee team, he considers founding Slacker Wednesday to be the pinnacle of his contribution to the sport. Slacker Wednesday has been going strong for more than two decades energized by one of its many mottos: It Works Because You Don’t.

The Slacker Wednesday elves are hard at work creating adornments and garb befitting a grand marshal. Vorhaus alluded to a full “honor guard of slackers” to accompany him as his entourage, a few freestylers to add flare to his grand entrance and a bewildering costume that he hopes will wow spectators on parade day.

Vorhaus is best known for his comedy-writing classic, “The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not.” He has taught and trained writers in 37 countries on five continents, and created TV shows of his own in Nicaragua, Romania and elsewhere. His writing credits include dozens of teleplays and screenplays, plus seven novels and some two-dozen works of non-fiction. His latest book is “The Book of Practice: How to do Better What You Want to do Well.” Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. 

Known as the twisted sister of the conventional Rose Parade, the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade celebrates 45 years of irreverent frolicking in Old Pasadena on Sunday, Nov. 24. This year’s event is co-produced by Light Bringer Project and the Doo Dah Preservation Society.

The Pasadena Doo Dah Parade began as a grassroots event in 1978 to gain national attention for its eccentric and often irreverent satire. The parade that has spawned numerous off-beat replicants across the country was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal. Dozens of inventive, if zany, art cars, mutant vehicles, marching, rocking and punk bands, and a memorable cast of performance artists, showstoppers, hoofers and crooners, disruptors, political pundits, satirists, absurdists, lone wolves, float makers and merrymakers.

For more information visit http://www.pasadenadoodahparade.info.