Need a laugh? Want to help out a much-needed community service in New West?
You can do both at the Roast and Toast of Janice Bannister, an event celebrating 20 years of laughter.
The event is on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. at the House of Comedy, 530 Columbia St. in New Westminster. Tickets are $12, with proceeds are going to the Monarch Place transition house. (A limited number of tickets are now available at the House of Comedy website.)
“It will be wild and crazy,” Bannister said on a social media post. “I’m not organizing this one; I just get to show up and listen. But I will be hitting the stage too, to verify all the stories.”
Banister trained and worked as a psychiatric nurse, where she saw that the people who were the sickest were often folks who felt disconnected from their families and communities. The New West resident embarked on a new career path focused on laughter and wellness.
In addition to performing stand-up comedy, Bannister founded Laughter Zone 101, which offers in-person and virtual stand-up comedy classes to people of all ages. In the past 20 years, Laughter Zone has introduced stand-up comedy to more than 1,200 students and has produced more than 700 comedy showcases.
