While two comedians were performing before a small crowd at Jukebox Saturday Night in Lisle, a large cardboard box sat in the club’s dimly lit entryway.
For that one night, the comics and the box shared the same purpose: to be the vehicles of laughter, the suppliers of smiles.
The box served as a repository for dozens of humorous books and tapes donated in exchange for pizza and some live comedy.
Later, the box was transferred to the year-old humor library at the Intercommunity Cancer Center in Lisle, a privately owned outpatient radiation center.
Arranging performances by professional comedians to benefit those who are acutely ill falls to Stacee Vance, Jukebox Saturday Night’s marketing director.
“I believe in humor therapy; I believe it helps,” said Vance, 34, who laughs and smiles easily as she speaks. “I think that people who have cancer and (other) major illnesses have a lot of stress, and humor can relieve some of that.”
She put together her first benefit three years ago while completing a six-month internship for a bachelor’s degree in psychology in the humor outreach program at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park. While she was interning, she was also working in marketing part-time for the Funny Bone in Naperville.
Vance organized one night of comedy at the club, where admission was the donation of a humorous video; they were added to the hospital’s collection, which now includes more than 150 videos.
After she received a bachelor’s degree from National-Louis University’s Lombard campus.
She found that hospitals and similar facilities were not hiring. So Vance decided to explore providing human services in a different way: helping medical facilities build humor libraries.
Three years ago, while still working at the Funny Bone, she helped Edward Hospital in Naperville hold a benefit at the club. In exchange for $15 and a humorous video, book or cassette, patrons were treated to a show that included a skit written and performed by hospital doctors. The sold-out show brought in 280 donations.
This fall’s benefit at the Jukebox was a repeat for the 8-year-old Intercommunity Cancer Center.
“We have lots of stuff for informational purposes about their disease,” said Judy Kuhlmeyer, an oncology nurse clinician at the center, “but it’s great to be able to say, `If you want to totally escape for a while and laugh a little, you can check these out.’ “
Vance also has volunteered her time to help bring live comedy directly to those acutely ill. She recently arranged a night of comedy at the Wellness House, a non-profit facility in Hinsdale that offers psychological and social support to those with cancer and their families.
“We’re trying to increase and improve the quality of life of people going through the cancer experience,” said Wellness House associate director Jeannie Cella. “And there is some research that says there is value in the immune system being boosted by the expression of some intense emotion, like joy and laughter.”
Vance is planning a comedy show next year at St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet to create a humor library.
The offer was well received by Corinne Haviley, the director of St. Joseph’s Cancer Care Center and its Women’s Health Connection.
Haviley said that, especially in her profession, the focus is on cure and control of disease. But helping patients cope the best way they can takes many forms.
The hospital has numerous programs to help patients cope with their disease, “but a major component that was missing was humor therapy,” she said. “(Humor) is so very important to stress management.”
Proof for her is the enthusiastic response to stress management and humor programs offered through the Women’s Health Connection. “People clamor for information. Our stress books are always checked out. They need and want information,” Haviley said.
As many as 400 people have attended other programs led by a humor therapist with a medical background, she said.
Filling hospital libraries with humor isn’t Vance’s only focus. This year, she organized benefits at Jukebox for the American Cancer Society, raising $750 for breast cancer research, and for the DuPage County Health Department AIDS Program. That reaped so many boxes of personal hygiene and cleaning supplies for its clients that new shelving and storage had to be installed at the health department. An earlier AIDS program benefit Vance organized while working at the former Laugh Factory in Naperville raised several hundred dollars, which helped create a monthly support group.
For all her benefits, Vance has relied on a group of about seven comics to help out. Sometimes they get paid, sometimes they volunteer.
Comic Spike Manton, 32, has been doing standup comedy for seven years at clubs across the country and on television and has donated his performances several times to Vance’s benefits.
He also co-hosts a sports comedy radio show with Harry Teinowitz on Saturday nights on WMVP-AM.
“We both try as often as possible to do something for charity,” Manton said. This will be the sixth year Manton and Teinowitz will host Funny Money Child Abuse benefit at Park West in the summer.
“I think what Stacee does is outstanding, she goes beyond what comedy agents do who just secure talent. She gets involved so there is follow through, like the humor libraries, so that there is a more lasting impact.”
“And she actually gets in front of the group. At Wellness House, she literally led a discussion group on humorous incidents in their lives.”
“I really commend her for all she has done.”
And Vance is not done yet. She envisions having a clothing benefit at Jukebox for the Glen Ellyn YWCA’s DuPage Women Against Rape program. And she keeps pestering other organizations to have benefits at the club.
“I call everybody. I call Fish (a non-profit Christian outreach organization that provides food, transportation or referrals to people in need), I call the Y’s, and I say: `What can I do for you? I have a room, I know people who will donate stuff, I can give you free dinners, what do you need?’ ” she said.
John Kahovic, 33, who has owned the club for five years with Tim Bellandi, 30, said: “It does so much for the people who come in on a regular basis. It means so much to them, so it’s a way to say thank you to those who come into the club,” said.
Vance’s first involvement with comedy was doing standup herself at area clubs while she was in college. But after eight months, she stopped.
“I thought it would be a whole lot more fun, but it wasn’t,” she said. “It was stressful.”
