Breast cancer isn’t a laughing matter, but raising awareness for it doesn’t have to be dull. A group of four comedians will be performing in Portland this week, doling out some humor while promoting breast cancer awareness. They call themselves the Pink Ribbon Comedy Tour.
The tour has been on the road for nearly three months now and has performed almost 60 shows in 24 states. It will come to an end soon, with just two more stops after Portland.
Law Smith, Kevin Richards, Nick Hoff and Brendan T. Gleason are the comedians that put the tour together. All are based in Los Angeles, except for Richards, who comes from Seattle. Self-managed, self-promoted and responsible for everything from entertainment to clean-up, they’ve dedicated their full time to the tour over the past few months.
The tour isn’t just about showing off their stand-up. They’ve teamed up with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an organization dedicated to ending breast cancer by raising money for breast cancer survivors and awareness, research and treatment. Thirty percent of the Pink Ribbon Comedy Tour’s ticket sales will go toward the organization.
When the tour began, they guaranteed Komen at least $10,000 in donations. To date, they have already raised over $20,000.
Law, Richards, Hoff and Gleason came up with the idea to promote an organization through comedy after they completed a small college tour last year.
“We thought we could do something that would benefit someone else,” Law said. “Immediately, for some reason, all of us thought of breast cancer…Kevin’s mother was at the doctor for a physical at the time…It turned out she’d had breast cancer for about five years. That became the catalyst.”
Comedy benefit shows are fairly common, but comedy benefit tours are pretty rare. With a mission to raise awareness of breast cancer, the four comics thought it best to tour the country. They started out in January, with a big pink ribbon painted on their bus and four solid stand-up sets.
Don’t expect boob jokes, though. Jokes on the tour have almost nothing to do with breast cancer.
“It’s really just a good comedy show,” Law said. “We’ll talk about [breast cancer] a little bit, but not really. Most people just want to see a good comedy show and want to give.”
The tour features all four comics, each of whom has their own distinct style. Hoff tends to improvise based on the crowd. Richards entertains a lot of “what if” questions. Gleason’s act is mostly observational stand-up and Law utilizes pop culture references and admitted that his material can be a bit raunchy.
The tour’s motto, “laughter is the breast medicine,” hints at their tongue-in-cheek humor, but they’re not looking to relate their comedy to their cause. They simply want to tour and help others along the way.
“I feel we’re on par with a lot of other comedy shows,” Law said. “We just give part of our money to Komen for the Cure.”