Wait, what? FIVE YEARS? I feel like I do scrolling through pictures of my friends’ offspring springing off to college. I have a vivid memory of the first Laughter On Call meeting, before it even had a name. Four funny, big-hearted comedians sat around my dining room table. High off the success in hiring a comedian to make my mother laugh, I declared, “This needs to be everywhere!” Only slightly less manic than Willy Wonka holding up a Gobstopper.
We’ve been rolling ever since, picking up more wonderful talent and creating more and bigger ways to reach out to people feeling isolated for whatever reason - Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety – and helping them feel less alone with shared laughter. At the risk of sounding like a mother bragging about her kid’s SAT's, we now have over 525 clients and we’ve made over 30,000 people laugh!
And it’s not like it’s been an easy five years! When COVID threatened our extinction, we persevered. It taught us resilience, flexibility and what else? Improvisation! Taking our workshops virtual has enabled us to reach people around the world. Drawing on my years teaching at UCLA and the books I’ve researched on laughter and family life has enabled me and my team to systemize tools that actually help the day go better whether you’re working as a carepartner, back in the office collaborating with others, or in your home office juggling work, dogs, kids, aging parents and everything in between. It has been proven to us time and again that it is possible to find laughter and connection where you least expect it.
In honor of this celebration, we shot a commercial! Many thanks to Monica Rosenthal and the Rosenthal Foundation, and David Hines, Founder of Consumer Medical for supporting us. Both true champions of the power of laughter to support mental health.
