BNW Owner John Sweeney enjoyed the opportunity of a lifetime on March 15, 2011 when he interviewed comedy legend Betty White as part of the Gildas Club Grand Rapids LaughFest.
Betty White Enchants Sold-out LaughFest Audience...
EXCERPT from mlive.com article, March 16, 2011
GRAND RAPIDS -- Betty White knows the strength that comes from battling cancer.
Speaking at LaughFest, White told Tuesday night’s sellout audience she learned a lot about her late husband, Allen Ludden, during his year-long fight with the disease before his death in 1981.
“What a class act he was,” White said with a reverence about the “Password” host, whom she met while a guest on the game show — a personal and career highlight, she said.
The thing is: White’s audience of 2,500 in the Steelcase Ballroom at DeVos Place, and another 1,000 gathered in an adjacent room for a simulcast, were thinking the exact same thing about the film and television actress, comedian and recent honorary forest ranger.
White’s performance was a much-anticipated highlight of LaughFest, the 10-day comedy showcase and fundraiser for the 10-year-old Grand Rapids chapter of Gilda’s Club, which offers cancer support programming.
White said she and Ludden read a book about the healing and positive power of laughter, so they committed to making the most of their time left together.
“And we had a wonderful year,” she said. “We didn’t waste one second.”
White was a part of a lineup that also features Bill Cosby, Margaret Cho, Kathleen Madigan and Gabriel Iglesias, among others. The event continues through Sunday.
White — who made clear she is “Betty,” not “Ms. White” — fielded questions from the evening’s master of ceremonies and interviewer, improv comedian John Sweeney, and hit quite a few ad-lib punch lines out to her appreciative audience.
White, who has quite a bit of improvisational training, had a warning for Sweeney after he told her they were about to play a “Password”-like game, highlighting her “youth,” “career” and personal “loves” for the remainder of the show.
“Careful emceeing it. I married the last one,” she quipped to the evening’s first loud bout of laughter.
“I’ve done some research, Betty, and I think I’m a little too old for you,” Sweeney countered to the “almost 89-and-a-half year old” and current “Hot in Cleveland” star.
...Read the entire article on mlive.com here.
You might want to read a bit more and watch the video on Fox17 online here.