Press Coverage/News Releases Cancer no laughing matter, unless you're a comic with it VETERAN COMEDIAN HOSTS FUNDRAISER By Bruce Newman Mercury News 8/12/2008 At 58, Grace White had spent nearly a decade on the road performing "combat comedy" in such outliers of the known comedy constellation as an Idaho Falls roadhouse, grange halls in Montana and at the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D., where half-naked people often rushed the stage. "Also completely naked people," she said recently, clarifying. White could do stand-up in any situation, no matter how harrowing. When her doctor called last November to tell her that she had inoperable lung cancer, White responded with a joke. "He said, 'It's a really grave situation,' " White recalled. "I said, 'That can't be. I haven't been to Paris yet.' Then I told him I would appreciate it if he wouldn't use the word grave in my diagnosis. So I guess I was making jokes." She had been shopping at a Staples when the call came, and suddenly stand-up - both as a career choice and a means to avoid falling down - was no longer an option. "My legs started to go out from under me, and everything started spinning," White said. "I started to go over and this lady reached out and caught me. She got me to the doctor's office, and then she said to me, 'Just wait here for a minute. Because I'm going to go in and chew your doctor's ass.' " Her performing career ended with the cancer diagnosis, but White has managed to overcome the debilitating effects of her illness to produce a benefit show for the American Lung Association of California at Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club in Sunnyvale Wednesday at 8 p.m. Half a dozen comics from her traveling show, Women Who Kick Comedy Butt, will attempt to raise money - and awareness - for the struggle that White now calls her "life's work." The next doctor she visited following the drive-by diagnosis told White that she had stage-4 lung cancer - the most advanced form - and that she would be dead within three months. That was 10 months ago. "Their way of dealing with me was to give me all kinds of drugs and to let me go," she said. She lost 30 pounds in three months, before she decided to stop taking most of the drugs. "I was on my way out," White said, "lying on the couch preparing to die." Dealing with pain Her daughter, Alyssa Cook, had moved into her mother's Colfax home in the Sierra foothills to take care of her. "She needed help to do anything," Cook said, "even to comb her hair and walk to the bathroom." After the first few rounds of chemotherapy, there wasn't much hair left to comb. "I looked like I had mange," White said. "I saw how upset my daughter was, and heard my grandson say that I was deserting him. So I decided that for as long as I have left, I'm going to be sober, and I'm going to deal with this pain, and I'm going to do the best I can every day." She stopped the chemo treatments, shaved her head and commenced her comeback. "When my daughter asked me how I was, I would say, 'I feel great today!' Well, not really. But the mind is so powerful. I feel like, 'I am not going now. I am not going to be that sick now.' " A big part of what keeps White going is her determination to shed light on how under-funded lung cancer research is in this country. While breast cancer received $971 million in government research funds in 2007, lung cancer received only $226 million, even though lung cancer has a much higher mortality rate, according to the Lung Cancer Alliance. Lung cancer stigma "Lung cancer has a very big stigma," White said. "Like, if you have it, you deserve it." At one of several fundraisers conducted for White by fellow comedians when she was without an income following her diagnosis, a woman approached her with a donation. "She held the money out, then pulled it back and asked me, 'Did you smoke?' " White recalled. The answer, in fact, is no. White was not a smoker. But 15 percent of new lung cancer cases afflict non-smokers, according to Cancer Alliance statistics, and more than 60 percent of new cases involve either non-smokers or smokers who had already quit. On White's MySpace page, she refers to herself as a "Stage 4 Cancer Comedian." You may have to have handled naked hecklers with saddle rashes to see the humor in that. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED Direct contributions can be made through the American Lung Association of California Anita Creamer: Lung cancer is striking nonsmokers as well, especially women By Anita Creamer - acreamer@sacbee.com Published Friday, April 25, 2008 It's a gain for women that no one likes: Statistically speaking, lung cancer is becoming a women's issue – and a deadly one. But Grace White is trying hard to beat the odds against her. A lifelong nonsmoker, she was diagnosed in November with lung cancer that had metastasized to her spine. "Doctors told me I had three months to a year," says White. It's a sunny spring morning in Colfax, where White, who's 58 and a former stand-up comedian, lives. Her daughter, Alyssa Cook, is visiting today from just down the road. And here, too, is Olivia, White's granddaughter, a 3-year-old sprite who runs in and out of the living room while we talk. Now Cook looks at her mother with surprise. She hadn't heard the prognosis before. "You are such a secret keeper," she says. The statistics, while not a secret, aren't widely understood. Breast cancer kills fewer women each year, but it gets a lot of publicity and research funding. Lung cancer gets shrouded in blame – and denial and, yes, secrecy. Lung cancer leads all cancers in killing both men and women, according to the American Lung Association, causing more deaths each year than breast, colon and prostate cancer together. "When I learned that, I was like, 'Wait, are you kidding?' " says Dr. Deborah Morosini in a phone interview from Boston. She became a nationally known advocate for lung cancer awareness and research after her sister, actress Dana Reeve, the widow of Christopher Reeve, died of the disease in early 2006. "I'm a doctor. I'm a pathologist. If I don't know this, it's alarming." More alarming still, while the death rate from lung cancer in men has leveled off, it's still rising among women. Like Grace White, one in five women diagnosed with lung cancer never smoked, says the lung association. More than half of women with lung cancer will die within a year of diagnosis. But White is undeterred. "We don't look at statistics," says her daughter. "I won't accept that prognosis." "It's true," says White. "I taught her not to accept 'no' as an answer. "You don't have to roll over and succumb to someone else's opinion on your health," says Cook. It's clear from the look in their eyes that they mean it. They're determined. The problem is, cancer doesn't care. Why the alarming uptick? Scientists simply don't have all the answers. We know that smoking leads to a greater risk of lung cancer. But what's causing the disease in so many women who've never smoked? Environmental factors like radon exposure, perhaps, or secondhand smoke. As Grace White says: "My dad smoked. My grandfather smoked. My husband smoked." Lots of us can look back to a childhood of long rides in the family car, windows rolled up, with the fumes from the grown-ups' cigarettes wafting into the back seat. Memories also linger of long-ago cross-country plane trips with smoke hanging thick in the air from the smoking section in the back. "Women tend to be more prone to the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke," says Dr. Sarita Dubey, a lung cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. "But in treatment, most clinical trials show that women do better. Women have better response rates and better survival rates." This good news-bad news equation is complicated by the fact that early lung cancer detection remains rare. Research on one promising detection method, lung CT scans, hasn't yet led doctors to consider it the standard of care. And so, Dubey says: "Breast and colon cancers have good screening. If a woman has a lump in her breast, she can feel it and go to the doctor. "But with lung cancer, you don't feel anything until the lungs themselves are causing you to cough." By the time people have symptoms, lung cancer is generally at stage four, having already spread to another major organ. Grace White remembers feeling tired, with a little back pain. "But I'm a tough old bird," she says. "The pain I had with cancer was nothing compared with cramps as a teenager." Deborah Morosini remembers that the only complaint her sister, Dana, had was a mild cough and slight shoulder pain. "The idea of her having anything serious never entered my mind," Morosini says. "Since she died, I've meet hundreds of Danas, completely healthy, nonsmoking women with no identifiable factor for lung cancer." Grace White models for her daughter a wig she plans to wear to the 40-year reunion of her high school class. An unfair stigma Although it's the greatest cancer killer, lung cancer research receives less federal funding through the National Cancer Institute than other major cancers. Maybe Americans are convinced that people – smokers, in other words – bring the disease on themselves. If so, it's a stigma that kills. "Smoking causes heart disease and high blood pressure, too, but if you say you have a heart problem, people don't say, 'Did you smoke?'" says White. "It's a real stigma. Does that have a lot to do with the lack of funding? I think so." So does Morosini, who describes her lung cancer activism as a way to contribute to Dana's legacy of goodwill and grace. "From the time we're young, we learn that smoking is bad," she says. "That gets blended in with smokers being bad. People retain that us-vs.-them mentality into adulthood. "We have to gently re-educate people to examine their assumptions. We are prejudiced against smokers. But this is a disease. And smoking is one of the causes." The powerful myth that only smokers get lung cancer serves another useful purpose: It helps nonsmokers think they're safe from it. As long as they can deny reality, they can pretend lung cancer will never affect them or someone they love. White crossed that barrier, from denial into disease, on the November day her doctor called while she was shopping at Staples. "My knees buckled underneath me," she says. "Literally." She underwent intense rounds of chemotherapy and continues taking a dose of chemo each day. Even so, she's still in pain – a little, she says. Just a little. She wants to devote herself to her family and to spreading the word about lung cancer. And she wants to live. "My doctor says if everything lines up right, I could have 10 years," she says, and she shrugs. "I've never been into anyone defining my life for me, and that won't change now." Comedian turns spotlight on healthcare crisis Long-time Colfax resident battling lung cancer By Gloria Beverage March 25, 2008 Photo by Monica Dulberg Grace white, a 33-year resident of Colfax, is battling Stage 4 inoperable lung cancer. However, the stand-up comedian has focused on staying positive throughout the darkest days of radiation and chemotherapy tratments. Colfax resident Grace White is in the spotlight these days. However, it's not the type of spotlight the 57-year-old stand-up comedian ever expected. White, who is battling Stage 4 inoperable lung cancer, is the focus of a special edition of the Time Warner Cable Television series, "Laff It Off With Grace." The episode, "Saving Grace," was taped on Wednesday in Van Nuys. In addition to highlighting White's accomplishments in both life and comedy, the show's producer Grace Fraga addressed the national health-care crisis during this special episode. "As a comic myself, I think this issue is especially important because it's absurd that in the richest country in the world there are 47 million people without health insurance," Fraga explained. Until she was diagnosed last September, White was the brainchild and star of an all-female standup comedy touring show, "Women Who Kick Comedy Butt." She conceived the touring group several years ago to spotlight funny women because "comedy is a male-dominated business. Only eight percent or less are women." White, who describes herself as "That Old Hippie Chick," started intensive radiation therapy (18 planned treatments) as well as a very aggressive form of chemotherapy in January. "I chose this 'combo platter' of intensive treatments because (a) I want to kick this cancer's ass, and (b) I've grown accustomed to frequent, uncontrollable barfing," she wrote in her blog. However, there's nothing funny about being an out-of-work comedian. "Being a full-time comedian, producer and booker made it very difficult to 'stay in the black,'" she wrote in January. "Now, within a few short weeks, I find myself in the red, without the ability to produce income or keep up with my astronomical medical expenses." In pursuing her comedy career, White, a resident of Colfax for 33 years, could not afford health insurance. "My daughter purchased insurance for me," White said. "The minute I got coverage I felt really bad for everyone else who doesn't have it. My heart broke," she said, explaining that the cancer was found at her first exam. Throughout the dark days of the cancer treatments, White has kept a positive attitude — thinking only happy thoughts. As a result, she said, the stage four cancer that had metastasized to her spine has been stopped. Though she still has lung cancer, White wants everyone to know she still fully intends to "kick cancer's butt." And she's even more determined to shine a spotlight on the healthcare crisis. She will be speaking at Inspire 2008, the American Lung Association's Women & Lung Health luncheon on May 8 in Sacramento. Featured will be Dr. Deborah Morosini, sister of the late Dana Reeve, who died from lung cancer. The luncheon's focus is to prevent lung cancer by inspiring early detection research, smoke-free living and health air initiatives. In the interim, White's large circle of friends have banned together to help pay her medical bills. Locally, they will host a comedy benefit on her behalf starting at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Colfax Theater on Main Street in Colfax. Featured will be members of the Women Who Kick Comedy Butt troupe: Grace Fraga, Jovelyn Richards, Reannie Roads, Rebecca Arthur, Jen Slusser, Beth Schumann, Maggie Newcomb and Susan Melatta. Tickets, at $20 each, are available in Colfax at Calamity Jane's, The Mane Tamer or the Colfax Record. In Auburn, tickets available at Smith Chiropractic and Sun River Trading Company. "The best thing people can do for me is to write their Congressmen about the healthcare crisis," White concluded. "Insurance is too expensive for even working families to afford. Baby boomers alone could change the laws if all of them would use their voice." Donations to The Saving Grace Project can also be made through the PayPal account on the Web site www.wwkcb.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE With help from her friends and family, local comedy figure Grace White faces cancer with both laughter and tears By Marc Lutz Lodi Living Editor Grace White is no stranger to adversity. As a single mother, she raised her daughter, held down a full-time job as a paralegal and faced all of life's challenges as they came along. After divorce from "What's-his-name," when middle-age approached, she decided she wouldn't go through the typical crisis that most mid-lifers go through. She took a route that eventually made her quite familiar to many residents in Lockeford and Lodi. White became a stand-up comic. Through the ensuing years, White built her routine and reputation telling jokes as "that Old Hippie Chick," and began producing the successful "Women Who Kick Comedy Butt" all-female comedy show. The bookings picked up, including regular stints at Vino Piazza. She told jokes about growing older and her grandson's peeing habits. She was getting busier all the time, which wasn't a problem for a woman whose main priorities are family and work. But the 57-year-old White started having a hard time keeping up with her comic colleagues. Work was becoming more difficult. So she made a point of going to the doctor. Tests were run, and the waiting began. White was in the middle of the grocery store with her grandson when the doctor called her. The diagnosis was lung cancer. A steady climb It was an open mic night at a Nevada City upscale eatery called "Creekside" where White made her stand-up debut. "I went in with my 'jokes,' and I did pretty well considering I didn't know what I was doing," White said. White quickly got over the jitters and was booked for her first real show, though she admits she doesn't quite remember how it happened. She was soon doing regular Friday and Saturday comedy stints with a fellow comedian. From there, she starting bringing the talent together and booking the gigs. The comedy world was not particularly receptive to female comics eight years ago when White entered the business, especially female comics who performed only PG-13 material ("My daughter recently got a tattoo above her butt. She said she wanted it lower. I said, 'don't worry, it will be.'"), but that gave White even more incentive to create a venue that would give her fellow comediennes a steady job. It wasn't uncommon for producers to tell her that they already had a woman on the bill, even though they had five men. "It's hard for a woman to get stage time," White said, "It's especially hard for an older woman to get stage time." With a keen mind for the business-side of comedy, White created and expanded Women Who Kick Comedy Butt into a regularly sought-after show. In 2003, White connected with Karyn Lichtfield, who owns Vino Piazza and Olde Lockeford Winery with husband Don. The comedienne and the winemaker connected, became fast friends, and the show has been regularly sold out ever since. Even though she hails from Colfax, a small, quiet mountain community northeast of Auburn, White calls the wine plaza home for Women Who Kick Comedy Butt. Fans from Lodi, Lockeford and the surrounding areas have claimed White as their own funny girl. Comedian Grace White touches fingers with her granddaughter, Olivia Cook, 2, and they both make the noise "ding" Thursday at White's home in Colfax. White is the producer of "Women Who Kick Comedy Butt" and was recently diagnosed with cancer. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel) Her career accelerated with a recent show sponsored by Nike and an offer for a talk show. It seemed nothing less than a freight train could stop her ... or at least slow her down. 'I couldn't put my mind around it' As a young girl growing up on the beach in San Diego, Grace White would go surfing and skateboarding on boards that she made herself. Hanging out at her aunt and uncle's surf shop, she learned to make boards and she learned the skill of surfing. Years later, as a single mom, White raised her daughter, Alisa Cook, with the same strength and a love for life that Cook mirrors in her own personality. "She was always silly and I would laugh at everything," Cook said at their modestly decorated two-story home, nestled in the hills of Colfax. "Because of her, I was the kid that would laugh at every joke in the movies, even when no one else was laughing." The day White found out that she had cancer during the first week of November, the doctors also told her that she wouldn't be working. "I thought, 'OK, after these couple of shows, I won't work,'" White said. "They said, 'No. No more work.'" Tears began to fill her eyes. "I couldn't put my mind around it because the most important things are my family, my work, in my life." Still, that didn't stop White from doing what she loved. During the night, when everyone else in the house was asleep, she would get up and work, whether on writing or coordinating shows. White would work for hours at night and stay up all day. The lack of rest and a reaction to the narcotic painkillers morphine and oxycodone sent her to the emergency room three times throwing up blood. Cook became the disciplinarian and started making sure her mother gets her much-needed sleep. But she's not only the disciplinarian, Cook is also the caretaker, the scheduler, the correspondent. She's helped White in letting friends and family know that White is sick. She's taken her mother to various doctor appointments and she makes sure that she gets her medication. The most recent appointment was a biopsy that would let them know exactly what they were dealing with. The results were less than encouraging. White has stage four non-small cell adenocarcinoma lung cancer. The tumor has metastasized and attached to White's spine, damaging a vertebra. The cancer is inoperable, and White's doctor said the odds of her living longer than a year-and-a-half are not good. "I love my mom," Cook said. "Just the thought of living without her is very difficult." Yet White's irrepressible spirit still shines through. She has opted to go through the most aggressive chemotherapy available. The doctor will keep an eye on how the tumor reacts to the treatment and make sure the tumor doesn't move into other areas of the body. Though treatment won't come without its price. White will deal with sickness from the treatment that can leave cancer patients weak and nauseous among other things. The cost is another factor. White, being a working comic, had no health insurance. "Who knew cancer was so expensive," White joked. Saving Grace To say the stand-up comedy community is close-knit is an understatement. A more accurate term could be welded together. Women involved with White in one way or another, whether through Women Who Kick Comedy Butt, or through various shows are coming to the rescue. Benefit shows for Grace White Grace White's Women Who Kick Comedy Butt Special Benefit Showcase Where: Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club, 157 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale When: Dec. 19 Information: (408) 739-0921 Vino Piazza Benefit for Grace White Where: Vino Piazza, 12470 Locke Road, Lockeford When: Jan. 19 Information: 727-9770 Pepper Bellys Benefit for Grace White Where: Pepper Bellys Comedy and Variety Theatre, 849 Texas St., Fairfield When: Jan. 24 Information: (707) 422-SHOW Donate online: Grace White MySpace Saving Grace Project Grace Fraga, a Los Angeles-based comedienne is producing benefit comedy shows, with all proceeds going to help pay for White's medical expenses. Fraga originally met White backstage after doing a gig at the Comedy Store in L.A. "She kept saying, 'my name is Grace,'" Fraga said. "And I was like, 'how do you know my name?' It was a classic blonde moment. We hit it off, and a week later she hired me for a gig in Reno." Fraga likens White to a sage, saying that she is always able to dispense the best advice on life, love and career. "One time, Grace (Fraga) asked me if she should work with someone who is a creep and undependable," White said. "I said that that's a hint of who that person is, and dependability is important in this business, so, no, don't work with the person. "Then she asked me about love," White continued. "You're asking me? My record speaks for itself!" Fraga noticed about a month ago that White was coughing, losing weight and not eating. Fraga was concerned, but didn't think it could be anything too serious. Since Fraga lost her father to lung cancer five years ago, she knew she had to do whatever she could and started putting together benefit shows. Gayla Johnson, another L.A.-based comic, says she owes a great deal of her inspiration to White. "She's always, 'can can can.' She's finding a way to realize her dreams," Johnson said. Johnson first met White when White contacted her to do a Women Who Kick Comedy Butt show in Lockeford. After researching the show and talking to other comics about it, she said she had to find out what "Vino Pizza" was first-hand. She agreed to do the show. When the two met, Johnson described White as being bountiful and full of energy, filled with mile-a-minute conversation. Johnson has made it a point to try and perform at as many benefits for White as she can. Web sites have been set up as well to accept donations for White. Though she faces a challenge like none she's faced before, Grace White is determined to fight it and beat it. "There is so much I want to do," White said looking out the window of her mountain home. "I want to go to Paris, sit in a cafe and watch the people there. I want more time with my grandchildren." Contact Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com. ### About Saving Grace - A Benefit for Grace White Lockeford, CA. “Grace White, well-known comedienne and creator of the Women Who Kick Comedy Butt Tour was recently diagnosed with stage 4, inoperable lung cancer. And, as is the case with most full-time performing artists, she has no insurance to help her cover the astronomical costs of treatment. To help raise money to pay the overwhelming bills, a group of comedy artists from all over California are presenting Saving Grace, a benefit event, on Saturday January 19th at Vino Piazza, at 12470 Locke Rd in Lockeford at 8pm. The event's headliner is award-winning comedienne, Jackie Kashian, who is known from her numerous appearances on Comedy Central and Last Comic Standing. Also performing will be Karen Rontowski (Comedy Central), Jen Slusser (Outlaugh Festival), Reannie Roads (Punchline), Aundre the Wonder Woman, and host Phil Johnson (Edinburgh Fringe, Improv). There will also be a raffle including great items for comedy fans. Show tickets are just $25 with 100% of the money going to help Grace White pay for her cancer treatments. GRACE WHITE, aka That Old Hippie Chick, is a classic bohemian with a mother who stalks her, a father to whom road rage is an art-form, and a stand-up comedy act like no other. White launched her comedy career at the onset of her "Middle Ages," and has gone on to open for such musical acts as 3 Doors Down, Starship, Edgar Winter, Leon Russell, and Jethro Tull, as well as comedians Kevin Pollack, Jack Mayberry, Rocky LaPorte, and Father Guido Sarducci. Her television credits include appearances on "Good Morning America" and the "Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon," she made her film debut in "The Independent," starring Jerry Stiller and Janeane Garofalo, and she's made thousands of fans laugh in Golden Gate Park from the stage of San Francisco's long-running annual "Comedy Day" celebration. For Immediate Release Women Who Kick Comedy Butt (WWKCB) is an all-female stand-up comedy show featuring very different comics with very different acts. The brainchild of White, WWKCB was conceived to spotlight funny women. "This is not a girly girl show, Hot Mommies or Women Who Tell Jokes Who Have Bosoms. This is a show boasting talented female comics doing their own act," says White. Each comic in her own unique way will show how now more than ever, women have come into their own onstage. No longer restricted to voicing vanilla views on love and marriage, these bright women offer more flavors than Baskin-Robbins, and represent all ages, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. They will be telling their tales for all to hear, guaranteeing a laugh-fest you really won't want to miss. This show welcomes everyone to enjoy a great night out with comedy that's power-packed, high-energy and hysterical. Women Who Kick Comedy Butt has been touring California, Oregon and Nevada for the past year and a half. If a town as a zip code WWKC has been there. Everywhere WWKCB goes they are extremely well-received, consistently selling out shows, many times having to turn people away. The secret to the success of WWKCB is the PG-13 comedy suitable for audience members of all ages. White states, After our shows, people were hot for more. I have never seen people so excited after a show. The timing is right; people want to laugh, they want to hear what women are saying and they are tired of getting grossed out by humor that is just TOO much. I believe the audience wants to feel safe, so they won't be embarrassed or made uncomfortable by the subject matter. Comedian and producer White dedicated to providing appropriate comedy for people who want to laugh without risking attack to their sensitivities. This is a show you can attend with your adult children, your mother, and your friends, and it makes for a great date night. No one is going to be shocked by the subject matter, but they will be highly amused. Funny is funny, it doesn't need four-letter words or edgy subject matter to be good,maintains White. This is not a nursery school show; it is rated like network television's PG-13 guidelines. GRACE WHITE, AKA That Old Hippie Chick, is a classic bohemian with a mother who stalks her, a father to whom road rage is an art-form, and a stand-up comedy act like no other. White launched her comedy career at the onset of her "Middle Ages," and has gone on to open for the Jefferson Starship, Edgar Winter, Leon Russell, Father Guido Sarducci, and Kevin Pollak. She made her film debut in "The Independent," starring Jerry Stiller and Janeane Garofalo, and has performed on "Good Morning America" and the "Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon." White is a symphony of contradictions, a blur of reluctant energy and a compulsive workaholic entrepreneur who stubbornly maintains her title of World's Laziest Woman. She's also a successful single parent (her daughter's never been to jail), and has earned a solid reputation for herding aspiring comedians through their performing puberty. That Old Hippie Chick may not be the last of her tribe, but she is surely one of the most entertaining. Promotional headshots and bios available by request. LODI NEWS SENTINEL SACRAMENTO NEWS & REVIEW STOCKTON RECORD SACRAMENTO NEWS & REVIEW, AGAIN FUNNY BUSINESS MAGAZINE Woman Who Kicks Comedy Butt Funny Business Magazine Pat Katzmann June 2006 Issue She may bill herself as That Old Hippie Chick, but she looks more country club than commune. Classy, blonde, and caffeinated, Grace White is in constant movement. A perpetual motion machine, she blazes through North Beach and takes some cell phone calls while giving a walking tour of local landmarks on her way to her favorite spot, Caffe Trieste, for a cappuccino. Even when she’s walking, she’s on the road. It’s no wonder she calls herself “a transient with an act.” She’s no slacker, that’s for sure. For someone who only started performing stand-up seven years ago at age 49, when she became an empty-nester, White has come a very long way in a short time. She’s opened concerts for 3 Doors Down, Jefferson Starship, and Jethro Tull. She’s shared the stage with Father Guido Sarducci, Kevin Pollak, and Will Durst. She’s performed at Comedy Celebration Day before thousands of Bay Area fans, appeared on The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and played a role in “The Independent,” a film starring Jerry Stiller and Janeane Garofalo. Last year, she created a revue called Women Who Kick Comedy Butt (WWKCB), featuring funny females from all over the Bay Area. WWKCB’s proliferation and popularity means White spends more and more time producing the show in comedy clubs, casinos, and wineries all over northern California. Responding to what she and fellow women comics saw as a need to generate more gigs, since women still aren’t perceived to be as funny as men, White thought a PG-13 showcase with a revolving lineup would be welcome at variety of venues seeking an alternative to lounge singers. She was right. “Because the discrimination that all women experience also predominates in comedy, I find myself even more committed to proactive change rather than just getting pissed off,” says White. “Simply, I am a comedian that wants to perform. Being very scrappy, I have found ways to do just that by working outside the ‘comedy box.’” That’s how her WWKCB brainchild was born, and her persistence is why it’s become a favorite of comedy fans from Larkspur’s CafĂ© Theatre to Lockeford’s Vino Piazza. “I don’t see myself as a female comedy leader, or a prophet, or a smarty pants purporting that I know everything on or off stage. I am old enough to be smarter than that. I see WWKCB as a win, win, win, win, win for myself and other females, no matter what direction it takes. More good female comics (which more stage time produces) means more good comedy shows, which means more for all female comics and more for comedy as a whole. My dream is to have a full-blown concert tour where comics can have their own careers while also participating in WWKCB shows when convenient to them.” Can a network show based on this boomer’s life be far behind? Life may be a continuous cafĂ© crawl interrupted by periodic stand-up sets, but always punctuated by punch lines. After a quick breakfast and latte at Oakland’s Coffee Mill, White spies a bookstore across the street that she has to hit. Walking into Walden Pond, she notices a remaindered Ed Rosenthal calendar featuring some pricey California flora. Upon hearing that the marijuana maven was angling to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” she flatly states: “Oprah would never allow that.” Because she’s anti-drug, of course. “No, she’d be afraid of getting the munchies.” And without breaking stride, as the booksellers behind the counter crack up, she hurries to the children’s section, finds a copy of “Curious George and the Dinosaur” for her 4-year-old grandson Brandon, and heads back to the counter where the booksellers are still chuckling. Always leave em laughing. VALLEJO TIMES HERALD ARTICLE By Richard Freedman Photo Stephen Jacobson

COPYRIGHT 2006 Women Who Kick Comedy Butt - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
REFERENCE AHDT-456931-11601