Gilda's Club Grand Rapids Reveals Artists For 2024 LaughFest

Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids has announced artists for the upcoming 2024 LaughFest coming up March 6-10, including Tammy Pescatelli, Josh Johnson, Piff the Magic Dragon, and Demetri Martin. Comedian, actor, and author Tom Papa is set to headline the Gilda’s Club annual Red Door Gala, which will be held on March 14 at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. Other events and shows announced include: LaughFest: Night at the Museum, LaughFest Trivia Night of Stars,KaraJOKEe, Pop Scholars, River City Improv and The Dirty Show. Proceeds from LaughFest, presented by Gun Lake Casino, and LaughFest’s High Five Campaign benefit the free cancer and grief emotional health support program offered through Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids.

“We have a great lineup for this year’s LaughFest and Red Door Gala that will bring doses of laughter to West Michigan,” said Wendy Wigger, President of Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids. “With a variety of seriously fun events for all ages, this annual festival gives the community an opportunity to laugh and have fun, while raising awareness and funds for our free support programs.”

Tickets for all events will go on sale Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 12 p.m. at laughfestgr.org. Dinner and show tickets for the Red Door Gala featuring Tom Papa will be available at gildasclubgr.org/reddoor.

”Gun Lake Casino is proud to partner with Gilda’s Club for the twelve consecutive year in a row,” said Sal Semola, president and chief operating officer of Gun Lake Casino. “The work they do in providing a broad spectrum of support for those affected by cancer and grieving death is extraordinary. Their impact is immeasurable.”

In addition to ticketed shows, there will be free events such as Sunday Night Funnies, Kids Joke, Family Improv, the Cancer Survivors Showcase, Drums for All, and more, with ticketed and free events held in Grand Rapids, Wayland and Lowell, Mich.

Tammy Pescatelli has appeared on several television shows including The View, Jay Leno's Garage, The Howard Stern Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and her own Comedy Central Presents Special that won that year's Comedy Central's Standup Showdown. With a bold female voice and witty sarcasm, Pescatelli is co- creator, executive producer, writer and stars in her own reality show, A Stand-Up Mother, on the We TV network. She will be performing two shows on March 7 at Gun Lake Casino in Wayland, and one show on March 8 at First Congregational UCC in Lowell.

Josh Johnson is an Emmy-nominated writer, stand-up, actor, and NAACP award-winner. He is currently a writer on The Daily Show, and is a former writer and performer on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Johnson’s most recent stand-up special, Josh Johnson: Up Here Killing Myself, recently premiered on Peacock. In addition, Johnson is Comedy Central’s ‘most watched comedian ever’ with 40M+ views to date across their platforms. He will be performing on March 8 and March 9 at Midtown.

Piff the Magic Dragon will perform March 8 at Fountain Street Church. As a break-out performer on America’s Got Talent and Penn & Teller: Fool Us, he has been voted one of Variety’s Top Ten Comics to Watch, and crowned champion of TBS’ Tournament of Laughs. Piff is the first act to ever win Best Comedian, Best Magician, and Best Headliner at the Best of Las Vegas Awards. He has headlined the iconic Flamingo Hotel and Casino since 2015, playing to over 500,000 guests, and recently signed on for three more years. Piff’s first special, Reptile Dysfunction, is out now.

Demetri Martin will perform at Fountain Street Church on March 9. Demetri has released three standup comedy albums and four hour-long standup comedy specials, including his latest for Netflix, The Overthinker. Demetri created and starred in his own television series for Comedy Central called Important Things with Demetri Martin. His books, This Is a Book and Point Your Face at This, are New York Times Bestsellers. His latest book, If It’s Not Funny It’s Art, features a collection of his original drawings. Demetri’s fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. His first feature film, Dean, which won the Founder’s Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival for best narrative American feature film.

The Clean Comedy Showcase returns to The B.O.B. and Dr. Grins Comedy Club with dinner and brunch options. The Clean Comedy showcase will feature five nationally-touring comedians featuring adult content without profanity or vulgarity. The comedians will perform the showcase at multiple times from March 7 through March 9. New this year, the same comedians will also perform a no-holds barred, anything goes showcase on March 8 at 9:30 p.m. The performers in this year’s showcase are Tina Friml, Arvin Mitchell, Nancy Norton, Andrew Orolfo and Michael Rowland. New for 2024, these five comedians will also be featured in a special Anything Goes Showcase Friday, March 8 with no holds barred content completely up to the creativity of the comedian.

Following festival, Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids will hold the Red Door Gala on March 14 at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. Tom Papa, one of the top comedic voices in the country, will host the gala. Papa has had five highly-rated, stand-up specials on Netflix, including his most recently special, What A Day! His other critically-acclaimed specials include Human Mule, Freaked Out, and Tom Papa Live in New York City, two of which were directed by Rob Zombie. Tom has also released three books, hosts several acclaimed podcasts and radio shows, and starred in many fan-favorite films including, Paper Spiders, The Informant, Analyze That, and Behind the Candelabra.

Donations raised during the festival and at the gala support the free emotional health services offered through Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids for anyone on a cancer or grief journey. Ticket and sponsorship information on the Red Door Gala can be found at gildasclubgr.org/reddoor.

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