Because Alzheimer's is sad. Very *&^*% sad. Not what you’d expect to hear from someone who created a company that hires comedians to use their talent to make people with Alzheimer’s, their caregivers, and their families laugh. And yet, every time I visit my mother, now in the late stage of the disease,...
“A person is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s every 65 seconds now,” Yael Wyte said to me the other morning over coffee. She’s a geriatric social worker who, among many responsibilities, runs support groups for the Alzheimer’s Association of Los Angeles so she should know. “No, I didn’t know that.” I responded, stuffing a muffin...
Happy 4th of July my friends! Funny how lyrics can resonate differently depending on where you are in your life. I have been thinking a lot about bravery, more specifically courage, these last few months. So much so that you may have noticed we changed the tag line for Laughter On Call from “Hope....
If you’re old enough to have a parent who is a senior, you may remember the seminal book Tuesdays with Morrie. This memoir, recounting the wise and intimate conversations that the author Mitch Albom had with his former college professor Morrie Schwartz in the last months of his life tugged at the...
“At Laughter On Call, we’re so committed to making you laugh, we’ll crack a rib if we have to!” this was the ad copy running through my mind lying on the cold metal table in a paper dress slit down the back waiting for my torso to be x-rayed....
I feel like I've always been aware of my mother’s long tapered fingers. Most of the time they were covered in gold rings, catching light as she lit a cigarette or held a glass of wine, always with her pinky extended. In case you didn’t get it by the regal way she...
On Sunday a group of Improv comics met at my house in Atwater Village for some Interactive Storytelling training. As you can see, it was awful. Fortunately we also had snacks!...
I recently had the good fortune to travel to Israel with the Bnai Zion Foundation. They have been dedicated to building community in Israel with love for over 110 years! And we know Laughter On Call builds community and connections with laughter so it was a perfect fit....
Tom and Peggy Misciagna were sitting in their Manassas, Va., home recently, talking about the children they adopted overseas in the 1980s, when Tom, 64, misremembered a major detail. “We got two kids out of India — ” he said. Peggy, 59, chimed in. “Philippines.” “Oh yeah, Philippines,” said Tom, a retired...
Jackie Monahan is a comedian and writer. She has been working for Laughter On Call a little less than a year. I was lucky enough to catch up with her between her time with Carmen, who she makes laugh between 10-12 hours a week, and the rest of her jam-packed writer/performer schedule. DKM:...