FRIDAY

>> Ian Edwards brings his wry humor to Blue Note Hawaii

Comedian Ian Edwards brings his wry, ethnic stand-up humor to Blue Note Hawaii this week.

Edwards earned his stripes writing for several comedy shows, including the syndicated “The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show” and ABC’s “The Big House” and “Black-ish.”

He is a particular favorite of late night TV host Conan O’Brien, who made Edwards thefirst comic to be signed to his record label, Team Coco Records. The label produced Edwards debut album “100% Half-Assed.

Local audiences might want to watch out if he performs any material from that – the African-American comic includes jokesabout Asians, and pokes fun at Bruce Lee films.

He pokes fun at blacks too, taking a swipe at community leader Al Sharpton: “Do you know, white people, what it feels like to have Al Sharpton as your leader? White people, what if Hulk Hogan was your racial leader?”

Edwards, who is also known for his podcasts “Preposterous Sessions” and the “Soccer Comic Rant,” was born in Jamaica, raised in England, then moved to New York as a teenager. He was working at Burger King when he noticed that one of his co-workers got everyone laughing, remembered that he’d been considered funny when growing up in England and started telling jokes too. After a drive-through customer also laughed, Edwards decided to go into stand-up.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

Waikiki hosts a haunted house and Halloween pride party

In advance of Wednesday’s trick-or-treat promenade along Kalakaua, Waikiki offers advance Halloween options over the weekend at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club.

Friday and Saturday, the Hilton hosts a haunted house attraction called “Nightmare on Kalia Road” with scares to spare, and has turned its Tapa Bar into a Halloween-themed party spot complete with specialty cocktails. (The hotel advises parental discretion for youngsters.)

The event is a fundraiser for the Visitor Industry Charity Walk.

The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club combines Halloween, the Honolulu Pride Festival and Brazilian Carnivale at its Ghosting Carnival & Pride Pool Party. Partygoers are invited to come in costume to enjoy beats by DJ AIT. The event is a fundraiser for theHawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, a substance-abuse clinic.

SATURDAY

>> Ja Rule headlines Hallowbaloo festival

Hip-hop star Ja Rule headlines this year’s Hallowbaloo, the yearly Halloween festival that turns downtown Honolulu into a sprawling street party with costumes and music.

Born Jeffrey Bruce Atkins, Ja Rule has been a chart-topping artist since the beginning of his career. His 1999 debut album, “Venni Vetti Vecci,” hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and went platinum, highlighted by the hit “Holla Holla.”

He followed thatup with five more studio albums, each of which had hit singles, including “Always On Time” with Ashanti, which climbed to No. 1 in 2002.

Ja Rule takes center stage at 10 p.m. at Aloha Tower, one of four venues in the downtown area that will feature music and entertainment.

Aloha Tower is part of the Club Hallowbaloo scene, where partygoers can pay one $35 cover for entry to 12 clubs inthe downtown area. The participating venues are Ong King Arts Center, Bar 35, Nextdoor, Downbeat Lounge, Manifest, Gordon Biersch, The Arts at Marks Garage, Scarlet Honolulu, Square Barrels, Hooters, Nashville Waikiki, and Gordon Biersch.

If you prefer to do your imbibing outdoors, there will be a Craft Beer Festival at Nuuanu Avenue and Pauahi Street, where $25 gets you tastings of five craft beers along with access to a street festival with performance artists, food trucks and three stagesof musical entertainment.

At the corner of Nuuanu Avenue and King Street, live music will be on tap, with local Latin band Sol Caribe appearing at 6:30 p.m., followed by Taimane at 7:45 p.m. and Mike Love at 8:55 p.m. The corner of Hotel and Smith Streets will be devoted to DJtalents, with DR Judah, DJ Fee and D Anit with Micha Banks each getting one-to-two hour sets. The third stage, at the corner of Pauhani Street and Nuuanu Avenue, will have a variety of entertainment, beginning with Rick Rock at 5 p.m., a drag show at7:45 p.m. and DJ Hapa Boy with Roxy from 8 to 10 p.m.

SATURDAY

>> DJ Whethan rocks The Republik

DJ Whethan, who’s achieved much at age 19, ventures to The Republik on Saturday.

The Chicago music producer, born Ethan Snoreck, has been called a “prodigy” and a “wunderkind” by edm.com and has already compiled an impressive list of accomplishments.

He started releasing music on Soundcloud three years ago, landing on theBillboard Dance charts with “Savage” in 2016, which he produced with Flux Pavilian and Max.

This year, he reached the charts again with “Be Like You,” “Superlove” and “Radar,” while his collaboration with singer Dua Lipa on “High” reached No. 12 and could be heard in the film “Fifty Shades Freed.”

His sweet, synth-pop sound, called future bass, has some bigtime fans, like top music producer Skrillex and organizers of the South by Southwest festivals, who invited him to perform at this year’s event in March. He’s also performed at Lollapaloozaand Coachella.