My name is Sherry Hilber. I have had a successful and exciting career as a creative executive overseeing television development and current series for numerous scripted weekly primetime series with an emphasis on comedy for ABC Disney and CBS Paramount. Some of the shows that I oversaw closely for several seasons from reading thru air were the original " Roseanne" and " Home Improvement", to name a few. These are classics and the rules for what made them a success still apply today: strong , relatable characters, compelling stories, and great execution.

After many years of observing how much the audiences enjoyed the live tapings, I began to wonder what the laughter was doing to their health. Perhaps it was strengthening their immune system, or relieving them from the problems they were dealing with. I was determined to to find out and left my network job to devote myself to my passion.

I decided to pitch my idea of doing humor research in a lab with patients to cancer scientists and pediatricians at UCLA. They loved the idea. I named the project (not yet a charity) " Rx Laughter ". That was about 22 years ago.

I wrote to many corporations to ask for funding, and luckily one said "Yes" - Comedy Central. Our work began.

We found that laughter and humor while watching a funny video serves as an excellent pain distraction and that it relieves anxiety during a painful procedure. We then implemented an " Rx Laughter closed circuit channel" at UCLA, playing classic comedy films for pediatric patients in ICU, Dialysis, Isolation and more. This was particularly beneficial to patients during the pandemic when visitors were not allowed in hospitals . Our peer reviewed findings were published in medical journals.

We then branched out to help people on mental health clinics by sharing stories of struggles and how our sense of humor helped us to see the problem in a more manageable way. We have helped families of service members in the military, teens with cancer, breast cancer survivors and our most recent ones with college students helping teens with serious behavioral problems such as suicidal thoughts and actions, drug addiction, anger issues, depression and more. The student shares their problem ( anything from dating issues to sibling rivalry, school problems, procrastination, perfectionism, anxiety, to name a few). The student chooses a short stand up comedy clip or scene from a tv show or movie to illustrate this issue in a comical way as part of their informal talk. The session puts the problem in perspective. The teen patients feel understood and comforted in these sessions.

These sessions are done in person, not virtual, and are in small groups to maintain an intimate environment. There are two students per session with different students at each session.

We have done this with volunteers from the Harvard Undergraduate Stand Up Comedy Society at a Boston adolescent mental health clinic and it has been very successful. The students feel that they are doing something meaningful and rewarding, using comedy to directly help others. The patients feel lighter and learn new coping skills in a fun way.

For more info about thus abd our other projects, please see the Wellness Projects page on thus site