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C is for Comedy and Cancer
Sandra Shamas onstage at The “C” Word.
On Tuesday evening, thirteen women came together at Hugh’s Room to tell a few jokes at the expense of cancer.
The “C” Word came together when six women took a stand-up class at Second City eighteen months ago. When Daniela Saioni, the show’s primary organizer, realized there weren’t many women-only comedy shows, she decided to put one together. “A lot of comedy rooms program only one woman per show. It was a struggle to get stage time,” she said. “We realized if we wanted to perform we would have to create our own show.”
When they decided to make the show a fundraiser for charity, it wasn’t long before they settled on supporting cancer research. Cancer had somehow affected all the women, whether they lost a close friend, relative, or survived the disease themselves. After some research, the beneficiary organization seemed obvious: Gilda’s Club.
“We were struggling to find a charity that fit with what we wanted to support and would support our art in return,” Saioni explained. “Gilda’s Club’s mandate is to help people who are living with cancer. We were like ‘Oh my god, Gilda Radner! Perfect match!’ We called them and they were into it and here we are. It was perfect from the very start.”
Dinner and a silent auction kicked off the evening. A Seinfeld table script and cast photo signed by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards (which sold for $275), and a Kids in the Hall complete series DVD box set signed by the whole cast (which sold for $500) were both so popular that the auction was changed, during intermission, from a silent auction to a live auction with an auctioneer.
“I emailed the Kids in the Hall producer and asked if they had anything they could donate for the auction,” Saioni recalled. “Bam, the DVD set arrived the next week. They’re been so generous and supportive of our show. It’s amazing.”
Martha Chaves hosting The “C” Word.
Martha Chaves, a brash and charming Yuk Yuk’s headliner, hosted the evening. She kept the crowd entertained with jokes about her Nicaraguan heritage, Stephen Harper, and her outward desire to sleep with most (okay, all) of the other performers. With so many names on the ticket, each comic saw only five minutes of stage time. While this was disappointing for the audience when someone was on fire—Heidi Mole’s deadpan observations about body image and Laura Salvas’s lively letter to the Toronto Humane Society were highlights—the short sets enabled newer comics like Rhiannon Archer to hit the stage without too much pressure.
The evening’s special guests, Sandra Shamas and Sandra Battaglini, stole the show. Sandra Shamas, famous for her one-woman show My Boyfriend’s Back and There’s Gonna Be Laundry, wasn’t even on the original ticket. She called the organizers and asked for stage time to support the event. Saioni was completely thrilled. “I’m not going to say no to her!”
Shamas’s set was about embracing menopause and all the crazy that came with it. Forgetfulness, becoming her grandmother, her new vaginal discharge; nothing was off-limits. Battaglini raged about bridal showers, men, and “a lady’s natural scent” while giving everyone a very original dance lesson.
In all, the evening raised almost ten thousand dollars for Gilda’s Club, and gave several up-and-coming female comics a chance to perform in front of a sold-out, enthusiastic crowd. Gilda would be proud.
Photos by Karina Perez.