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Health & Fitness

Blog | Laugh for Sight Benefit at Hollywood Improv Tuesday Night! Come Laugh and Support a Great Cause!

A Plug for my friend Brian Fischler and his wonderful organization, Laugh for Sight, which raises funds for guide dogs and retinal research: veteran comedians uniting for a great cause!

As I have blogged recently here on the Patch, I love the Hollywood Improv (http://pacificpalisades.patch.com/blog_posts/blog-victorian-chick-ventur...). In November, 2010, I attended Laugh for Sight with a star-studded lineup: Sarah Silverman, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Nealon, Christopher Titus, Alonzo Bodden, Adam Ferrara and my now friend, Brian Fischler, the founder and president of Laugh for Sight. 

LFS raises money for reasearch into retinal and degenerative eye diseases including macular degneration, the initial reason I came to with my parents 10-12 days a month in my childhood home in Pacific Palisades. Dad was diagnosed in the late 1990s but could still drive until 2009 and now reading even the captions to TV shows and movies on Time Warner's cable system is a trial.

Dad can no longer read a paper or a book, but he can compose a document or read a bank statement as long as the text is blown up on a gigantic screen. There is no cure for Dad's condition but he does take shots to arrest the progression and he's lucky to have the support and medical care he does, but it's still very frustrating for a lover of books not to be able to read. 

In the last two years, I have been honored to get to know Brian--and his yellow lab Nash (who could be our yellow lab Emma's boyfriend if not for the insurmountable obstacle of 3000 miles)--and I've enjoyed following his blog: Blind Gator (http://blindgator.wordpress.com). Brian's recent interview with Bernadette Peters can be read here: http://www.cesarsway.com/newsandevents/celebritydogs/Bernadette-Peters-P....


The show is always great and I was lucky to have the last LFS show at Gotham Comedy Club in NYC coincide with one of my bi-monthly trips. Gotham and the Hollywood Improv are my favorite clubs, though I suppose I should qualify this by saying that the idea of venturing up to the Strip with parking attendants frantically waving neon signs does not thrill me, so I haven't been up to the Laugh Factory or Comedy Store in years.

Tuesday night's benefit is a perfect reason to take the advice I recently issued to venture past the Palisades/Brentwood/Santa Monica bubble and undertake the Long March to West Hollywood for a fix of urban life amidst a crowd different from the one you find at typical eateries and bars on the Westside. 

Tickets are just 35 (much less than the NYC show for the bicoastal among you).      
As for traffic, it's terribly unpredictable. Yes, it's better to get out of the Westside by 3:45 to go inland but sometimes it's only 45-50 minutes (when it should be just 30 in moderate traffic and 20 or so after 10PM) rather than a horrifying hour or more which I won't lie, isn't pleasant. But traffic is a fixture of LA living and the current lineup (see below) is more than worth it, so come to the Improv and support Brian and the wonderful work of Laugh for Sight!  

You can read more about Laugh for Sight at www.laughforsight.com:

  • When: Tuesday 05/07/13 7:30 PM (Doors open at 07:00 PM)
  • Ticket Price: $35.00
  • Show Type: Stand Up
  • Showroom: Main Room
  • 18 & over
    Two items minimum per person

Description: Line up: Greg Proops, Paul Rodriguez, Harland Williams, Greg Fitzsimmons, Gene Pompa, Rebecca Corry, Brian Fischler

Laugh For Sight is a National Comedy Benefit that raises money for retinal degenerative eye disease research.  Laugh For Sight compiles a lineup of All Star Comedians that an audience would never get to see together in one power packed night of comedy. This year's L.A. Benefit will feature Celebrity Host Jenna Elfman and Comedians Bill Burr, Brian Fischler and his Guide Dog Nash, Greg Fitzsimmons, Pablo Francisco, Kevin Nealon, Christopher Titus, Daryl Wright, and who knows who else might stop by! 

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