Belly laughs and a warm fuzzy feeling: you’re sure to get both Saturday at Comics Come Home, benefiting the Cam Neely Foundation.
Saturday marks the 13th year local guy Denis Leary will headline the event, the longest running comedy benefit in America. After 10 years, the benefit outgrew the Orpheum Theater; for the third time it will be held on the Boston University campus.
Leary hosts and performs at the event in addition to his involvement with the Foundation.
“Denis has been a strong and loyal supporter of the Foundation since day one. Even with his busy schedule he continues to lend his time and talent however he can,” said Cam Neely Foundation spokesman Andy Osofsky in an email.
In 1995, Leary and Neely launched Comics Come Home as an event where comedians, both locally raised and others who got their start in Boston, would come together for one night to benefit the Foundation, Osofsky said.
In addition to Denis Leary, the show will include performances by Lenny Clarke, Artie Lange, Jim Norton, Joe Yannetty, Mike Birbiglia, Robert Kelly and Pete Correale, among others.
This is the first time Pete Correale, Jim Breuer’s co–host on an uncensored satellite radio show, will perform at the event. On Saturday, he doesn’t plan on holding anything back.
“In this kind of environment, I think [the rule] is, say and do whatever you want, so I’m sure it’s going to be a hot crowd,” Correale said.
Correale is excited about the show because Denis Leary is one of the comedians he admired most getting into the business.
“The guy has so much sincerity behind his words. I have been to so many benefits where it’s just, ‘Thanks for coming. Enjoy the show.’ But literally I was at a benefit he was hosting and he got choked up and it was really, really cool.”
The Cam Neely Foundation helps families deal with cancer through initiatives and programs sustained by donations. The foundation is separated into two segments: The Neely Cancer Fund, which helps families get access to care and provides money for research, and The Neely House, which gives families a place to live while patients receive treatment.
“In some circles, [Neely] is known for the foundation, not the hockey. If everybody got behind a cause the way these two guys [Neely and Leary] do, this whole world would be peachy,” Correale said.
Saturday night at Agganis, get your laughs from somewhere other than YouTube. Hear some of Boston’s favorite comics and support some families living with cancer. Trust me, it’ll be more fun than that kegger you were planning on going to.
To hear audio from the Pete Correale interview, tune in this week on wtburadio.org or gotimewithscotty.com. Spiegel is on WTBU Fridays from 10 to midnight.