THE BEST MEDICINE : Health-Care Groups Hope to Raise Money by Making People Laugh
Two health-care groups are banking on laughter to bring in the bucks.
Saturday, comedians George Wallace, Wil Shriner, Larry Miller and Dennis Wolfberg will be at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim for a program, “Stand-Up ‘92: The Benefit of Laughter,” to help fund the Mother and Child Maternity Center at Anaheim’s Western Medical Center.
Then, on Monday, the Wellness Community of Orange County will present Wolfberg, Mark Schiff and Jennie McBride in a “Comedy Evening at the Improv” in Irvine. Veteran comic Joey Bishop, who lives in Newport Beach, will serve as master of ceremonies for this event, which will benefit efforts to provide companionship and educational, emotional and social support for cancer patients.
Wallace is no stranger to Southern California, having lived in Los Angeles for several years now. But the Atlanta native said he’s “never been as angry” about the area as he’s been in the last month--since he had to start dialing the new 310 area code to call someone only a few blocks away.
And what about those riots! “I’m mad about that too,” he said. “I’m the only person in Los Angeles who didn’t get anything. . . . Everybody was looting. It was so nice to see blacks and Jews working side by side.”
Jumping from area codes to looters in a single breath is typical of Wallace, whose observations have earned him guest shots on “The Tonight Show,” “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.” He starred in his own HBO “One Night Stand” special last year (when his name was announced he said, “That’s right, George Wallace. A lot of people get stuck with names they don’t like. Look at Mr. Green Jeans.”).
An ebullient man with a mega-watt smile, Wallace is a favorite at comedy clubs around the country, thanks to his views on such topics as:
* Garage sales: “What is it you white folks do Friday and Saturday nights that makes you put all your furniture on the lawn Sunday morning?”
* Buying on credit: “I got that new credit card Sears sent me, that new Discovery Card. I’ve already charged over $8,000 on it and I discovered that I can’t pay it. . . . Wait ‘til they discover I don’t live where I told them I live.”
* Staying in a $385-a-night hotel room where room service charged $7.25 for raisin toast: “I told her, ‘Take this toast back downstairs and you take $6 worth of raisins off this.’ . . . And I took two of the raisins and said, ‘Here’s a little for yourself.’ ”
* Visiting Hong Kong: “I bought some flip-flops for my feet. I said, ‘I wonder where these are made?’ Looked under the bottom. It said, ‘Just around the corner.’ ”
Wallace describes his humor as “people business . . . everyday life situations that everybody, no matter who you are, can relate to--the way we dress, eat, travel, the way we buy, and the way we say stupid things.” Indeed, “people say stupid things” is a frequent refrain in his act. Stupid things such as “never kick a man when he’s down.”
“Can you tell me a better time?” asks Wallace. “Your foot is just that much closer to him.”
He recalled going to lunch at a restaurant with five friends “and the waitress asked, ‘Is this going to be on separate checks?’ I said, ‘That depends on how big you write.’ ”
He said he has enough examples of stupid things people say to fill a book--and is taking a month off to do just that. He hopes the book will be out by Christmas. Already “I’ve got doctors, policemen, mothers . . . oh, mothers go on forever. Your mother will say something stupid like ‘This is the last time I’m telling you to take that garbage out!’
“Well, thank God!”
What: Separate benefits for Western Medical Center, Anaheim (presented by WestMed Health Foundation) and the Wellness Community of Orange County.
When: Saturday, June 13 at 8 p.m. and Monday, June 15 at 6 p.m., respectively.
Where: Celebrity Theatre, 201 E. Broadway, Anaheim, for WestMed benefit; Irvine Improv, 4255 Campus Drive, for Wellness benefit.
Whereabouts: To the Celebrity, take the Santa Ana (5) Freeway to Harbor Boulevard north, then turn east on East Broadway. For the Improv, take the San Diego (405) Freeway to the Jamboree Road exit, go right onto Jamboree, then left onto Campus Drive.
Wherewithal: $28 for Anaheim; $75 for Irvine.
Where to call: (714) 953-3580 for Anaheim; (714) 258-1210 for Irvine.