The Time Luke Swank Did Comedy With Louie Anderson
A Look Back At September 21, 2009
This week we were invited to a Minnesota Wild game by our old friends at Wishes and More so I thought it would be nice if I looked back at the time that Luke Swank performed comedy with the legend, Louie Anderson.
The original blog posts can be found here:
Saturday night was a very exciting time for our family as Luke had the opportunity to make his debut as a comedian!
Because of his heart condition, Luke was selected to receive a wish from the Wishes and More Organization. We were surprised to see this poster when we arrived at the event. The photo and Luke's background story were taken from this Star Tribune Article. This is what the poster said:
If it is true that laughter is the best medicine, then Luke has healing on his side! Diagnosed with heart disease at birth, Luke has been through many surgeries and difficult times. However, overcoming the odds is what he and his twin brother, Avery, also with a heart condition, seem to do best With a comedian father to take after, Luke loves entertaining and being in the spotlight! His great sense of humor and energetic spirit keep him and his loved ones going on what has been a difficult journey.
Luke's wish is to be featured on a video as a comedian and tour behind the scenes as a comedian at www.funnyordie.com with producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy or to meet someone like Adam Sandler. Wishes & More is working hard to get Luke's wish processed so that he and his family can be laughing their way to a wish come true!
Not only was Luke performing at the Wishes and More Valentine's Ball, he and Avery were also the official greeters for the event! They did a great job handing out Valentine's to the ladies and shaking hands with the gentlemen as they entered the event. Well, they did a great job at first. After about an hour of greeting the hundreds of people at the entrance, they both got just a little bit cranky!
At about 8PM, it was Luke's official debut as a comedian. We were so dang proud of him. Although we'd been practicing the performance for weeks, we were concerned that actually doing it in front of the hundreds of people in the audience would be a challenge for him. But he pulled it off without a single error! He's such a natural. His delivery and timing were right on target and the audience roared with laughter several times. At the end, Luke received a long standing ovation and he beamed with pride!!
We tried to get Avery to participate in our act, but he wasn't really into it. The organizers of the evening were very cool, though, and were sure to include Avery in several other parts of the program. Here he's seen demonstrating one of the live auction items and talking to "The Rookie" from Minneapolis talk radio station KSTP AM1500.
This is Karla Blomberg. She's the president of Wishes and More and was the one who invited Luke to make his comedy debut at their benefit on Saturday night. After Luke's performance, she stayed with him on stage and told Luke that they'd forwarded the above video of his performance to none other than Louie Anderson! Although we don't have the details yet, she said that Louie has invited Luke to do some kind of comedy bit with him in either Las Vegas or California! Although I'm pretty sure Luke didn't have a clue who Louie Anderson is, mom and dad were very excited to hear it!
This is a video of Luke's comedy debut at the Wishes & More Ball.
On Saturday night, Luke received his wish from the Wishes and More Organization and had the opportunity to perform on stage with comedy God, Louie Anderson! More details about Luke's wish can be found here. Louie was an extremely nice man and met with our family before the show began. He gave Luke some suggestions on how to do comedy and signed T-Shirts for both of the boys. He even offered us some soda pop before we went back to our seats which we all thought was a very kind gesture!
This is Scott Hanson and he's a legend in the Minneapolis Comedy Scene. He owns the Comedy Gallery Comedy Clubs which have been in several locations in the Twin Cities over the years. Many of the biggest names in the business have performed at his clubs. Scott was instrumental in helping Wishes and More to make Luke's wish come true. Luke gave him a Wishes and More hat to say "Thank You" and Scott responded with "I don't think that will fit on my head!" What a funny guy!
We didn't have a lot of notice that we were going to be performing, so we did the same routine we did at the Wishes and More Ball in February. We figured it would be easier to practice that one again rather than try to come up with a new act in three days. The crowd seemed pretty receptive to it so I think we made the right call.
It's been a long time since I've seen Louie perform. I forgot how funny he is! I don't normally laugh at comedians because I've seen so much stand-up in my life time, but I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit! It was really a great, great night for the Shortarmguy Family!
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