They do say that laughter is the best medicine.
Patients at the Peter Lougheed hospital in Calgary got to test that theory Thursday as comedians from the annual FunnyFest dropped their punch lines in the city health facility.
Funnyfest, Western Canada’s largest comedy festival, has been running since May 30, and some of the jokesters took some time out to entertain patients at the Peter Lougheed before prepping for Thursday night’s shows.
Stu Hughes, artistic director and founder of FunnyFest, donated a 30-minute comedy show to the hospital with a hearty crowd of about 60 patients, staff and visitors.
“Part of our mandate is to share the gift of laughter and we really feel like laughter is the best medicine,” Hughes said. He said the comics enjoy giving back to the community while they’re at the Calgary event. Even headline Tommy Savitt from Brooklyn attended and he said it was a great experience.
Who doesn’t love a good belly laugh?
The patients and staff enjoy the time with the visiting comedians as well.
“This was an such a fun and enjoyable experience. It was so much fun and really nice to see people being able to laugh for a bit. It was nice to see people enjoying themselves and afterwards people were talking about how much they enjoyed it,” said Karen Foudy, executive director of the ARCH program at the Peter Lougheed.
“It was nice to see smiles on everyone’s faces, especially being at a hospital where people could use a few laughs.”
Foudy said it’s something they would definitely do again, and she thought it was a great way for the comedy festival to bring the festival to the people – especially for those who couldn’t otherwise attend.
The Funnyfest Calgary Comedy Festival runs until June 9 – including a show on the final day with headliners Kevin Farley and Tommy Lama. Anyone interested in picking up tickets to any of the remaining shows can visit funnyfest.com.
