Gilda Radner Cancer Center Fundraiser Hosted by Ron James
Comedian Ron James will host a benefit for Gilda's Club Greater Toronto at the city's Sony Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Nov. 16, the event's producers announced.
The Club is a cancer care center named after former Saturday Night Live performer Gilda Radner. James, who is a long-time supporter of Radner and her cancer center, will host the It's Always Something comedy event presented by The Keg Steakhouse & Bar.
"We're thrilled to land Ron as our host. His performance was one of the highlights of last year's show and as host, he'll get an even bigger role, and we're throwing in preferred parking," Fred Levy and Rick Muller, co-executive producers of the event, said in a statement.
Gemini Award winning comedian James is the star of six critically acclaimed one-hour television comedy specials and The Ron James Show, now in its 5th successful season on the Canadian TV network CBC. Various other, still unnamed, entertainers in the field of comedy, music and dance will also perform at It's Always Something.
Roseann Rosannadanna, a character Radner portrayed on Saturday Night Live, used to say, "It's Always Something." That saying became the name of Radner's best-selling book.
Gilda's Club Metro Detroit chapter offers 120 cancer-support programs every year, free-of-charge, to anyone who walks through the door.
"Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to," Radner once said.
In 1975, Radner was the first person ever cast for Saturday Night Live. She stayed on the show for five years, from 1975 to 1980. On SNL, she created characters like Emily Litella, nerd Lisa Loopner, and Baba Wawa, a talk show host with a speech impediment.
Radner left the show in 1980 and a short while afterwards, Radner began having pains in her upper legs, and she was eventually diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She went through treatment and went into remission. Cancer was later found in her liver and her lungs after a more comprehensive check and it was not treatable.
A native of Detroit, Radner died of ovarian cancer in her sleep on May 20, 1989 in Los Angeles, Calif. She was 42.
