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Message: Here's a great article I found at www.northwestnavigator.com: -- Sailors, civilians, and families gathered together for a night of good food and great laughs for the Comics on Duty show held in the Grand Vista Ballroom on board Naval Station (NAVSTA) Everett, Feb. 29. The comedians performing in this Comics on Duty Northwest Tour were Steve Bills, John Bizarre, Kira Soltanovich, and Tom Foss, all of whom have been making Sailors, Soldiers, Airman, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen laugh, and sometimes cry, with their antics, stories, and knock-knock jokes for years. “I thought it was hilarious, it gave me some motivation toward working,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Airman David Muther, NAVSTA Everett. “Not only do events like this keep people out of trouble, but it’s a morale boost, a little hope, maybe even a career option.” Starting at 6 p.m., a buffet-style prime rib dinner with a cash bar was available for those in attendance. At 8 p.m., the show kicked off to a no-holds barred, rip-roaring, two-hour lineup of joke-telling. “This is my first time seeing Comics on Duty, and I loved it. It was hilarious,” said Aviation Support Equipment Technician 2nd Class Brandon Broadsword, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). “I really liked Kira’s act, because she made fun of us a lot. I got a whole group of friends here with me, and I think it’s very cool to be able to see stand up on base.” For these comedians, making service members laugh is of the utmost importance. They are able to make jokes as a tribute of sorts, dedicated to the hard work, long deployments, and lost lives of those who wear our country’s cloth. “We use our freedom of speech to make a living, and the military defends that freedom, and that’s why I got involved paying back the people that make my life wonderful,” said Foss. “My favorite thing about stand-up is sleeping in; just kidding! It’s the immediate response and reaction. This will be my 21st year doing comedy, and my second visit to Everett.” Many of the comics have had life-altering experiences while performing for troops in the Middle East and Asia. Soltanovich spoke of one particular time when she performed for a large group of Sailors returning from deployment in Japan. “They had just gotten off of a ship, they couldn’t drink for months, and they didn’t have any kind of social outlet. They came into the club to watch comedy and it was absolute mayhem, they were swinging from the rafters, and there was enough testosterone to choke a small animal! I will never forget that.” http://www.northwestnavigator.com/index.php/navigator/regionalnews/comics_on_duty_visits_navsta/
