10TH ANNUAL COMEDY FOR A CAUSE BENEFITING YMCA
By Dan Jacobs
Photo and Video by Eric John
At the 10th Annual Comedy for a Cause benefitting the Hollywood Wilshire YMCA at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard, more than just the light smell of a two-drink minimum was in the air! Comedy stars Rainn Wilson (The Office) and Mike O’Malley (Glee) hosted the event. Comedians performed throughout the night and between jokes, urged donors to dig deep for a great cause.
Tickets were $250 to the fundraiser, but a packed house meant that the cost was a small price for supporters to pay. On the red carpet, many of today’s comic stars told Press Pass LA what the Hollywood Y means to them. Kate Flannery, who played the boozy, promiscuous Meredith Palmer for 186 episodes ofThe Office, told Press Pass LA that the night was “…a great opportunity to come out…and that the gym was the one the world thought of” before working out became an exclusive, glitzy, and trendy event.
The Hollywood Wilshire Y is the kind of place where “if you don’t show up, they actually miss you!” “I feel so lucky that my dreams come true, and I hope (the kids’) dreams do as well,” she said. Comedian Lowell Sanders, who is currently opening for comedy legend Tim Allen (Home Improvement and the Toy Story franchise) at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, said that this is the fourth time he’s lent his mic skills to Comedy for a Cause. “It’s important to come out and support the kids,” he told PPLA. And on a personal level, he “likes to use the Y for weight training…in fact, I just came from there!”
One of the evening’s biggest stars, Rainn Wilson, talked to PPLA and said that he supports Comedy for a Cause because a friend was on the Board, and he asked him to help get some talent and just “be my gorgeous self up on stage!” “I love the Y! I love what they do, they do a lot of community work and outreach. I used to spend years going there and working out there…actually, not working out,” the funny man said. “I’d walk around with my towel and bottle…I would just spot people (on the weight racks).” Rainn on the one message he’d give to the kids: “The important thing for the jump shot is to keep your elbow square to the basket.
Also at the event were comedians BJ Novak (The Office) and Pardis Parker, Board Member Brian Altounian, Councilman Tom LaBonge, actor Syd Wilder (This is the End) and others. Jonathan Kite, who plays Oleg on CBS’s Two Broke Girls, told PressPassLA that if the kids of the Hollywood Wilshire YMCA were ready to hear his message, he would say to them: “we’re all standing up for you!”
Watch our video of Jonathan Kite impersonating Sir Ian McKellen reading 50 Shades of Grey!
Check out our photo gallery from the Laugh Factory.
