RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 22, 2011, Bellmore Life
Comedy show to help first responder families
Laughter is the best medicine.
AL ISAACS, Scott Baker, Gary Smith and John Santo will have the crowds laughing Saturday night.
“People continue to die from the 9/11 attacks on our country and we have to remind everyone of the repercussions that are still with us,” said comedian and former New York City policeman Scott Baker, half of the comedy duo of Isaacs and Baker performing this Saturday night, July 23, at the Bellmore Showplace on Pettit Avenue.
Added comedian Al Isaacs, the other half of the comedic duo, “While the shock has subsided, first responders are still paying the price.”
Comedians Isaacs and Baker will bring their comedy to the Bellmore Showplace in a charity show called “Laughter For Heroes,” in which the proceeds will go to the Feel Good Foundation. It begins at 10 p.m.
The foundation, at www.feelgoodfoundation.com, helps children of families of first responders who lost loved ones during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Besides the artful comedy of Mr. Isaacs and Mr. Baker, who have appeared at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and on TV shows such as “VH1 Celebrity Showdown” and “CSI:NY,” and movies such as “Analyze That” and “Two Weeks Notice,” guests include Wantagh comedian – and former Wantagh volunteer firefighter – John Santo and Carolann Valentino, from “Italian Chicks.”
Mr. Isaacs and Mr. Baker told this newspaper, while at the Bellmore Movies checking logistics, that they have raised over $100,000 for charities relating to children and their families of first responders.
Mr. Baker told of a new library in the Planview School District that was built with funds the comedians raised for children. “We do all kinds of charities for children,” he said, “and continue to raise funds for those who need us.”
Their successes at the Mohegan Sun have spurred interest in building a theater for them, Mr. Isaacs said.
Along with an hour of comedy from the duo, Mr. Santo of Wantagh will present his celebrity impressions, from Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to various actors in “The Sopranos” and more.
In comedy eight years, and having graduated from the Manhattan Comedy School, Mr. Santo has worked at The Brokerage in Bellmore, Governor’s in Levittown and most recently Wantagh’s newest comedy club, Behind Bars on Merrick Road. He has worked with Comedy-To-Go and comedy promoter Ric Morgan, as well as Gary Smith, president of NYEntertainmentClub.com, which is promoting the “Laughter For Heroes” show.
Interactive routines
New to the show, said both Mr. Isaacs and Mr. Baker, will be interactive segments in which the audience will have a chance to participate in the comedy.
Skits such as “Up-In-Arms,” “Styles” and “Sound Effects” will draw upon the audience to come up and join with the comedians in maneuvers that provide for hilarious, mostly unintended consequences. “This is similar to what one might see in Second City comedy routines,” Mr. Isaacs said.
The duo have also engaged the audience by presenting skits in which the audience has to finish a sentence to the skit by calling it out from a list of prepared sentences written by the comedians, often with hilarious results.
Both Mr. Isaacs and Mr. Baker started their careers in comedy on the stage at Rick Minervini’s East Side Comedy Club and at Chuckles, as well as the few clubs left, such as The Brokerage and Governor’s.
Mr. Isaacs can be seen at the new comedy club Behind Bars on Monday nights teaching his popular comedy improvisation class.
Besides Mohegan Sun, Mr. Isaacs and Mr. Baker have performed in hundreds of corporate shows, in firehouses, in colleges, on cruises, at the Gotham Club in Manhattan and have held hundreds of charity events to raise funds for children.
While the show is selling briskly, in which families of first responders will be in attendance, there are still seats available for “Laughter for Heroes.”
For information and tickets call the Bellmore Showplace at 783-3199, visit www.NYEntertainmentClub.com or call 785-3199. Or call 398-9861.
