Is death, stroke or physical impairment funny?
It is if you have a Stanley Kubrick sense of humor. It’s also funny if these tales are spun by Lansing-based comedian, Toni Imhoff, who is a favorite headliner in Lansing’s comedy scene.
Imhoff, who calls herself a “two-Corona comic,” is one of the most well-known female comedic talents in Lansing. Her delivery is slow, her subject matter diverse, and her personality colorful.
“Humor keeps me going,” Imhoff says.
In January, 2001, a stroke greatly impacted the right side of Imhoff’s brain, forcing her to spend three months in the hospital and countless hours in rehab.
“I had to fight for my independence,” Imhoff says. Every time her situation brought her down, Imhoff used humor to prop herself back up, refusing to let the stroke get the best of her.
“I tell people it was George Bush’s fault, because I was at home watching the John Ashcroft hearing and my brain tried to explode,” Imhoff says.
She LaughsBe it strokes, menopause, men or Michigan’s long winters, something has breathed new life into Lansing’s comedy scene. In the last couple of years, the Lansing comedy scene has seen a Renaissance of sorts, and women are leading the movement.
Three years ago the
Women’s Center of Greater Lansing launched its first annual “She Laughs” fundraiser, a women-run comedy show designed to raise money for the Center. In February, the Center put on its third fundraiser in front of a sold-out crowd at REO Town's
Cadillac Club.
“We could easily have sold out another night this year,” says Manuela Kress, adding that this year’s show generated $8,000 for the Center, which supports women and helps them achieve financial, professional and emotional goals.
Imhoff is a regular at the “She Laughs” fundraiser and has already committed to doing next year’s show—that is, if she doesn’t get picked up by a national act first. Imhoff recently returned from a Las Vegas comedy conference, where she won an award for best female comic.
“When she was done performing, I just stood up and applauded,” says fellow comic, Melinda Pope, about Imhoff’s captivating Vegas performance.
The women of “She Laughs” are very supportive of Imhoff, who views comedy as a second career.
“A lot of people don’t get to do what they want to do until later in life,” Imhoff says. “I’m lucky that it’s working for me.”
Imhoff started her comedic career years ago when she worked for the
City of East Lansing. She volunteered to perform in the city’s “Gong Show,” an employee-run variety show that sounded a gong when the audience was sick of a performer.
“I had enough to drink, so I took my glasses off so I couldn’t see the crowd,” Imhoff says. “I had always been such an introvert, so this was out of my safety zone.”
Imhoff loved the rush she got from making the audience laugh and started incorporating humor into her presentations at astrology and metaphysics conventions in New York, California, Michigan and Toronto. The reception she got from her audiences prompted her to ditch the metaphysics gig and enroll in a comedy-writing course at
Michigan State University (MSU). Imhoff has since preformed all over the state and taken her act to Las Vegas.
“I hear laughter’s healing, so I feel I’m helping people,” Imhoff says.
Council ComedianComedy can be a survival mechanism, as evidenced by the role it plays in Imhoff’s life. Humor also helps Kathy Dunbar, Lansing City councilwoman, stay sane while raising four kids, running a non-profit and serving on the Lansing City Council.
“My comedy is situational and very personal,” Dunbar says. “There is very little that I talk about in comedy that I haven’t experienced.”
Dunbar tries to pull material from her personal life, but sometimes the days’ current events are too good to pass up.
“Obviously I’ve never been a male Republican that had sex with a male intern, so there are some things I extrapolate from the news,” she says.
The connection between Imhoff and Dunbar is greater than their ability to make fun of themselves and the world around them. When they got to know each other through the Center’s benefit show, they discovered they both graduated from
Fraser High School in a small town (pop. 15, 297) north of Detroit: Imhoff in 1966 and Dunbar in 1986.
Dunbar wasn’t sure how she’d react to Imhoff when she met her at the fundraiser, but found Imhoff to be hilarious.
“She owns her aneurism like I own my can,” says Dunbar about Imhoff’s willingness to center her jokes around something others might use as a derivative for insults. Dunbar cites her boisterous behind as another prop an audience might find funny.
“A lot of us take the pain in our lives and turn it into this cathartic experience of a joke,” Dunbar says.
Comedy Career
Unlike Imhoff, Dunbar started pursuing comedy well before she started a career. While Dunbar was attending Michigan State University, she joined several improv groups, including one called “Fresh from Detox.” While at MSU, she won an
MTV-sponsored joke-off.
After she finished school, Dunbar preformed fairly regularly until she had her first child. She took a break, but then she started up again, performing for various groups including the
Lansing Area Aids Network (LAAN).
“It’s kind of like riding a bike,” she says about jumping back into comedy.
Whenever Dunbar is asked to speak—a request she runs into a lot—she incorporates humor into her program. Though she’s not ready to go on the road with her comedy, she plans on continuing to participate in the “She Laughs” benefit.
“Every year, somebody brings somebody else,” Dunbar says. “It’s a loyal following.”
That following is growing. Not only will the Women’s Center have to expand the “She Laughs” event next year, but Imhoff is putting together other comedy shows based on a fan base that’s followed her around the region.
Imhoff and Dunbar's next big performance will start at 7 p.m., Saturday April 26 at the Cadillac Club. The event is a fundraiser for the
Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame.
Ivy Hughes, development news editor for Capital Gains, can be reached here.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:Toni Imhoff at Magdalena's Tea House where she sometimes performs
Kathy Dunbar with her scooter that she drives to City Hall
Cadillac Club, the site of the comedians next show April 26th
Kathy Dunbar
Toni Imhoff
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie