ComedyCures CEO Says Laughing Matters

Pictures of ComedyCures Foundation CEO and founder Saranne Rothberg generally show her laughing, which only seems appropriate.

Rothberg has a lot to laugh about: not only has she beaten Stage IV cancer, but she’s also started a foundation to combat illness and sadness with the hopeful antidote of laughter.

Rothberg spoke to a packed audience at Tuesday’s annual spring luncheon of the Women’s Association at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills. Shunning the podium, she roamed around the room and engaged her audience, sometimes directly. Her insouciant humor was nothing less than contagious.

In 1999, Rothberg, suffering from breast cancer, was given a life expectancy of less than five years. She recounted the story of how when she was told that she had cancer, it was like a knife turning in her chest. She went home and rented stand-up comedy videos and started laughing.

After reading the books of Norman Cousins, she said, she realized the therapeutic power of humor.

“People who laugh a lot look eight years younger than they are,” the 45-year-old Rothberg said. “I am actually 72.”

She may be unable to slow the passage of time, but Rothberg is cancer-free.

The ComedyCures Foundation, formed in 1999, creates large and small scale comedy programs for patients, families and caregivers. Humor, Rothberg said, can provide a family going through a struggle with the coping mechanisms they need, not only to survive, but to live.

“It’s like internal jogging,” Rothberg said, noting that most people put time in their schedules to exercise, to wait for repairmen and deliveries, and to do other chores—but that seldom do people "pencil in" time to laugh.

Spring luncheon chairwoman Laura Shur called the event a great success: “Everyone in the room was captivated by her presence and inspired by all that she’s accomplished.”

To learn more about ComedyCures, visit www.comedycures.org, or call 1-888-HAHAHAHA.