Bon's Mots

We in­ter­rupt reg­u­lar blog­ging for a spe­cial announcement…

Isn’t this the coolest postcard?

I was ap­proached by my BFF Daniela Saioni (and I don’t use that term loosely — we’ve been best friends for over 30 years!) to vol­un­teer my pub­lic re­la­tions skills (such as they are) to a fundraiser she is or­ga­niz­ing called StandUp For Your Sisters. I am proud to be as­so­ci­ated with this project be­cause it pro­vides a venue for up­com­ing fe­male comics in Toronto’s com­edy scene and funds raised will go to Gilda’s Club.

More in­for­ma­tion is in the re­lease be­low. Get your tick­ets now! They’re go­ing fast!

Female comics do it stand­ing up…for Gilda’s Club

Toronto, ON — On Tuesday, January 27, some of Toronto’s fun­ni­est new “chicks with shticks” are putting on a com­edy show guar­an­teed to tit­il­late your funny bone. And raise money for a great cause.

StandUp For Your Sisters, a ben­e­fit for Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto, is a night of stand-up fea­tur­ing 12 fe­male comics who are mak­ing a name for them­selves on the stages of Toronto’s com­edy scene. Hosted by one of Canada’s fun­ni­est women, Elvira Kurt (pop­cul­tured, The Tonight Show), and head­lined by Dawn Whitwell (Girl School, The Jon Dore Show), the event promises a night of great com­edy to beat the win­ter doldrums.

StandUp For Your Sisters ini­tially be­gan as a way for a group of bur­geon­ing co­me­di­ans, most of whom have less than six months’ ex­pe­ri­ence, to show­case their comedic tal­ents in a scene still dom­i­nated by male comics.

“On any given night at most of the ‘main­stream’ open mics, you’re lucky to see even one woman in a lineup of ten comics,” says or­ga­nizer Daniela Saioni. “Yet, when we do play these clubs, we usu­ally do well. Maybe it’s be­cause more than half the au­di­ence are women. So why the lack of stage time? We de­cided to make our own.”

But the jokes aren’t all about sugar and spice. “Oh, some of us do get raunchy. But when a woman in her thir­ties does a joke about sex, it tends to res­onate with the kind of truth that in­cites wine-through-the-nose laugh­ter,” Saioni says.

The women de­cided to do­nate any pro­ceeds to char­ity and Gilda’s Club was the ob­vi­ous choice: they have all been touched by can­cer in some way and thought it would be fit­ting to ho­n­our a char­ity named af­ter the late co­me­dian Gilda Radner — a woman who helped clear the way for women in comedy.

StandUp takes place at Hugh’s Room, a 200-seat venue lo­cated in the heart of Roncesvalles vil­lage. Tickets are only $20 in ad­vance ($25 at the door), with all pro­ceeds go­ing to Gilda’s Club, and are avail­able at www​.hugh​sroom​.com or by call­ing 416−531−6604. A silent auc­tion will also take place and in­cludes do­na­tions by Roots and Alliance Films.

With this much estrogen-fueled com­edy, it’s a great night to come and stand up for your sis­ters, moth­ers, daugh­ters and friends.

For more de­tails and comic bios and pho­tos, visit www​.standup​fory​our​sis​ters​.com.

About Gilda’s Club

The mis­sion of Gilda’s Club is to pro­vide a meet­ing place where men, women, teens and chil­dren liv­ing with can­cer, as well as their fam­i­lies and friends, can join with oth­ers to build so­cial and emo­tional sup­port as a sup­ple­ment to their treat­ment of choice. Gilda’s Club is a non-profit or­ga­ni­za­tion where mem­ber­ship is free. For more in­for­ma­tion about Gilda’s Club, please visit their web­site at www​.gildas​clubtoronto​.org

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