Laughfest is back here in West Michigan, which is great news for us comedy lovers, but also a good opportunity for local comedians looking to help a good cause.
Comedians, like Stu McCallister.
I met Stu last summer when he was trying to do a little good by mowing people’s lawns for free. You can see him now at the Dirty Show at Laughfest this year.
Taking the stage to help support Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids, which provides free support to people, no matter where they are on their cancer journey.
“People always think about like, the medical stuff that's going on with you, and they're not thinking about the things, like the mental things that are happening for you and your loved ones, right?" Stu told me. "It can be your friends, your family, your co-workers, or whatever, and it's just kind of trying to help you deal with the grief and loss issues, even like you can survive, the years of this, the worry of that. This is a safe place for people to come."
All that worry, and survival is something local comedian Kim Cook knows a thing or two about. She will be performing at the NKC Comedy Show and Cancer Survivor Showcase.
“ The tough qualification to that you have to be dealing with cancer,” Kim joked.
She is cancer-free now, and is using her journey to hopefully fuel something positive.
"It doesn't normally seem like something," Kim told me. "You'd joke about it, but all of us are, and for me, I think it helped coping as well. I took my experience and just all the crazy things that people would say to me about it and turned it into material.”
Grand Rapids comedian Carl Sobel has a close connection too. He’s headlining the NKC Comedy Show, and will be doing it with somebody on his mind.
“I had my aunt passed away from cancer, and she was, like, the funniest, and like, she would have, like, just been stoked to see all the stand-up I've done, and since she's not around to see it, the fact that I can do something in her honor is just means the world to me,” Sobel said.
That’s what makes Laughfest such a draw. Joking around to help make a serious difference.
After talking with the pros and seeing how passionate they are about Laughfest, I couldn't help but run a few jokes I wrote past them to hear what they think.
You can see my set in the video below.
WATCH BELOW: ANDY TRIES OUT HIS JOKES FOR THE PROFESSIONALS
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