What…Who…Where…How Many?

We had more than 53,000 admissions during our third year of LaughFest! The festival began on March 7 with 1532 individuals wearing false mustaches, breaking a Guinness world record.

Preliminary numbers indicate 53,566 attended LaughFest’s 261 events (69 ticketed and 192 free) at 65 stages in Grand Rapids, Lowell and Holland. A total of 33,509 tickets were sold to the various events and visitors came from 538 U.S. zip codes, which include 33 states, plus Canada.  Attendances at the free events totaled 20,057.

There were also 160 headliners and artists who participated in the ticketed events during LaughFest, and a total of 763 people from 20 states & Canada (California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Washington and the District of Columbia) performed during the free showcases.

“We are thrilled with the outcomes of LaughFest in year three. The results indicate the community supports the festival and the important role laughter plays in emotional health,” said Leann Arkema, president and CEO, Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids. “LaughFest provides for a positive impact on our local economy and is raising the visibility of Grand Rapids and West Michigan on a national level as well.”

Projected Festival Proceeds and High Five Campaign

In addition to the attendance figures, we are estimating the third year of the festival will have net proceeds of $210,000, which includes $74,790 raised specifically for the children’s grief support programs at Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids through LaughFest’s “High Five” donation campaign!

The $74,790 was matched by the Wege Foundation generating a combined total of nearly $285,000, which will be used to support free emotional healthcare programs for children and adults living with cancer, grief and loss provided through Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids.

What are people saying about the festival?

“We are grateful to all those who participated in this year’s festival,” said Arkema. “The festival is successful because of the investment of our 306 sponsors and partners, 1,374 volunteers and all who attended LaughFest 2013.  The success of LaughFest is traveling well beyond Grand Rapids, and that’s not just us saying it, it’s the reaction from the artists attending as well.”

“This was only LaughFest’s third year,” said Steve Heisler, a national comedy writer, who writes for Variety, GQ and Fast Company and was in town for this year’s LaughFest. “They’re poised to become the best comedy festival for fans in the country. They’ve cracked the code: book great comics and get out of their way.”

Myq Kaplan, 2010 Last Comic Standing Finalist and participant in LaughFest 2011 and 2013 commented, “Performing at LaughFest is one of the most positive comedy experiences I’ve had in my 10+ years of doing comedy. The audiences are wonderful, the comedians are super, the hospitality is amazing and the town is fun. LaughFest should be happening around me all the time.”

“Gilda’s LaughFest was an outstanding festival that I was honored to take part in,” said Kelly Epperson, who participated in the LaughteRx series. “The level of entertainers and the level of organization for this 10-day fest were beyond impressive. Sharing the benefits of laughter and humor and happiness makes a lasting impact, for Gilda’s Club, the community and everyone who had any kind of involvement.”

On behalf of everyone at LaughFest and Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids, we want to thank you for helping to make LaughFest 2013 so seriously successful!

Whether you attended an event, bought a t-shirt, put a smile in your car window or high fived us, your support was essential in bringing smiles and laughter to West Michigan and across the country.

In the days ahead, we ask you to share the core message of LaughFest – how important laughter is to overall emotional health.  And if you know someone involved in LaughFest – whether a sponsor, volunteer, media partner, community partner or vendor – pass along a thank you to them.  They are key to making LaughFest a reality!

We look forward sharing the final results of LaughFest 2013 with you soon, and until then we hope that you continue to celebrate laughter…for the health of it!

There are still tickets available, so make sure you get down to LaughFest Central to get them or go one hour before the show starts to buy tickets. Strawberry Shortcake and The Doodlebops are ready to seriously rock your socks off!

Introducing an all-new musical production starring the most spirited red-haired girl, Strawberry Shortcake! In this live theatrical production by Koba Entertainment, Strawberry Shortcake, and her best friends Orange Blossom, Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Torte, Plum Pudding and Cherry Jam, prove that little girls can do berry big things!

Strawberry Shortcake and her best friends debut in Strawberry Shortcake: Follow Your Berry Own Beat! This musical adventure takes the audience to the whimsical land of Berry Bitty City where the whole town is buzzing with anticipation for the Glitzy Glaze Talent Show! Follow Strawberry Shortcake and the rest of the girls as they each prepare for their moment in the spotlight.

Hold on to your hats because that is not all! For the first time ever, Koba Entertainment is bringing together the iconic sweetness of Strawberry Shortcake and the wackiest siblings on television, the Doodlebops in one spectacular show!

Before the sweet berry girls hit the stage, warm up your singing voice and stretch out your dancing muscles with the Doodlebops! Responding to calls from their legions of clamouring fans, Rooney, Moe and Dee Dee Doodle will take the stage in a live concert performance that gets their whole audience movin’ and groovin’.

Join us for this interactive concert experience full of humour, fun and friendship: Strawberry Shortcake: Follow Your Berry Own Beat! with very special guests the Doodlebops!

Mike Winfield

The local open mic was once a week on Tuesdays and he never missed a night, often putting other aspects of his life to the side, Winfield’s comedy career began in college speech class when he realized he had the gift to entertain his peers in a comedic fashion. Since then countless performances have earned him appearances such as Comedy Central’s Live At Gotham, BET’s Comicview, and most recently, his network television debut on CBS’ The Late Show with David Letterman. You can also see him recurring on The Office as Warehouse worker. He’s a clear example of where hard work collides with something special.

This event was presented by Gun Lake Casino.

Ryan Dalton

Dalton’s comedy has led him to regular appearances in the country’s best comedy clubs. Dalton is a regular on the nationally syndicated radio show, The Bob & Tom Show. His 1st comedy album, You Were Funny Too is on rotation on Sirius XM’s RawDog comedy channel. He made his television debut on the third season of Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham.

7:00p                                                            $22.50 (Reserved Seating)

Lowell High School Performing Arts Center

For tickets, click here.

From Long Island, New York, weighing in at a hundred and blah blah blah……….Gary Valentine (GV) got his start in show business on the stand-up comedy stage. After an appearance at the Montreal Comedy Festival, he left his native New York for heavier traffic in Los Angeles. There, he quickly landed spots on various talk shows including, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, among others. He’s been headlining comedy clubs and theaters for the past fifteen years.

Valentine is best known for his nine seasons as Cousin Danny on the hit CBS sitcom, The King of Queens. As well as appearing on screen, he co-wrote a few episodes, which he claims….are the best. Elsewhere on the small screen, he notably appeared on the television show Men of a Certain Age, which was written and directed by Ray Romano, and met with critical acclaim. Prior to his run on the series, he starred in his own half hour special on Comedy Central along with hosting The X Show on FX.

On the big screen, Valentine has worked alongside such Hollywood heavyweights as Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear (Stuck on You), and Adam Sandler (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry). In addition to a number of specials for the Comedy Central Network, as well as a cameo in Jerry Seinfeld’s lauded documentary, Comedian, he can be seen in such films as Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Zookeeper, and Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury, along with the independent short Alive n’ Kickin’.

More recently, he makes occasional appearances as a round table comedian on the popular E! Network late-night talk show Chelsea Lately, and also takes part in the Dusty Peacock web series on Crackle (crackle.com). By the way, Valentine is convinced that Sandler said, GV will be one of People magazines 100 sexiest stars……soon.

7:00p                                                                     $22.50 (General Admission)

Knickerbocker Theatre (Holland)

For tickets, click here.

Justin Willman has quickly become one of the busiest TV-personalities and live entertainers in America. He presently hosts the hit shows Cupcake Wars and Last Cake Standing on the Food Network and is the star of HubWorld and Scrabble Showdown on the recently launched Hub Network. He’s also well known as the witty correspondent on the Rachael Ray talk show with more than 20 appearances.

Willman’s Tricked Out Tour takes him around the globe with a hugely popular one-man comedy and magic live show. For that he was just voted Entertainer of the Year by Campus Activities Magazine for a record-breaking fourth year in a row!

Earlier this year he appeared in the Showtime documentary Make Believe, guest-starred on the hit CBS show The Defenders, and made a cameo on the long-running Disney sitcom The Suite Life on Deck. He’s also the creator and executive producer of the video-on-demand TV series Turning Tricks on the DirecTV network.

Willman recently toured with musician and friend Jason Mraz as the emcee and ringmaster of the Music, Magic & Make Peace Tour. The groundbreaking endeavor was a neo-vaudeville, eco-friendly, circus-on-wheels.