Prince George entertainers are tuning up to help the victims of the Cariboo-Chilcotin wildfires.
An all-star team of musicians and comedians has been assembled for a night of melody and mirth on Friday.
The leader of local comedy group Improv Shmimprov put in the first calls to assemble this talent. Stephen St. Laurent is a longtime community actor, comedian, videographer and film director. He said it was as simple as asking his friends and the word yes just kept piling up around the the initial idea.
"I've worked with all of these artists before and we all want to do something for the evacuees," he said. "The money is probably going to go towards food, from what I've seen. The local Salvation Army has been supplying food services and it has been fantastic, so we would love to support that."
St. Laurent said the schedule is still being finalized but the working plan is to have three comedians begin the night. The trio is a who's who of local comedy, each name with solid credits: Jon White, Virginia O'Dine and Brian Majore.
After the solo comics, some gang laughter will erupt when the Improv Shmimprov group comes out for a set. St. Laurent said the troupe will be joined by members of the Nechako Community Theatrics Society for a larger team than usual. They will do a collection of theatre games and improvisational situational comedy.
The music strikes up for the third branch of that night's entertainment. One of the city's newest names on local marquees is Amanda Morgan, alongside veteran live performer and recording artist Raghu Lokanathan and then past Juno nominee and Aboriginal Music Award winner Marcel Gagnon.
"It's a true old fashioned revue - just a bunch of concerned artists who want to donate their time for a good cause," said St. Laurent. "We're trying to go with a theme which is just take your mind off of heavy things for a bit. We're not trying to talk about the fire, we're not trying to bring things to a serious point, this is to just have fun and whatever money comes in will go to help."
There will be snacks for sale, a cash bar and the owners of Artspace donated the room for the evening, so every possible dollar could go to the people in need.
"It's a wide variety of talent so anyone who attends will find a broad opportunity for entertainment" St. Laurent said. "It speaks to the broad range of entertainers we have in town who want to help out. It's something we can do to use our talents for people in need. They would do the same for us, I'm pretty sure. We have to take care of our neighbours."
The Wildfire Evacuee Comedy Fundraiser happens Friday starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, available in advance at Books & Company.
