Stand-up comedy lovers filled the Chestermere Recreation Centre’s Main Hall Sept. 16 for Laugh Madness 4.
“Everyone seemed to have had a great time. I’m still getting messages, asking about when we are doing the next comedy show,” said co-organizer Arnold Henry in an e-mail.
Four comedians joined by a local resident trying stand-up comedy for the first time, entertained the crowd of 400 people.
“All of our comedians exceeded my expectations at Laugh Madness 4,” he said.
Comedian Kris Labelle, hosted with opening act Derek Adams followed by local Colleen Behan for her first performance ever.
Brett Forte was the middle act with the show finishing with headliner Trent McClellan.
Organizers wanted to promote local talent with the show and had an application process to pick a resident eager to try stand-up for the first time.
Chestermere School bus driver Colleen Behan was chosen from over 20 applicants to perform a five-minute stand-up comedy routine.
“[She] did exceptionally well for her first time on stage and the audience shared some laughs at her jokes,” said Henry.
Prior to the start of the show, Henry and his fiancé, Stephanie Beninger, presented both the Chestermere Recreation Community Association and Synergy with cheques for $1000. The funds for the cheques came from a percentage of tickets sales.
“We believe that these two non-profit organizations are very valuable to our community for youth sports, youth empowerment and youth development, respectively,” said Henry.
They also raffled off 17 door prizes before the show.
Henry said that the sold out night was a huge success.
“I was very pleased with all the feedback from the audience,” he said.
“We’ve had nothing but great reviews,” he said.
Laugh Madness was started in March 2015 by Henry and Beninger from Power Couple Team.
Their goal was to bring world class performances to Chestermere.
“So that residents don’t have to travel to Calgary for a comedy show,” said Henry.
The next show is unofficially scheduled for February 2017.
“All the organizers are fully committed to putting on the best shows for our audiences and sponsors, as well as, providing the funniest improv, stand-up and sketch acts,” he said.
