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Comedian Ira Ford to uplift peers in Black comedy showcase
Each comic will do a 15-minute set Friday night at the Hook and Ladder Theater & Lounge.
MINNEAPOLIS — Comedian Ira Ford will soon host a showcase featuring Twin Cities-based comedians he believes are funny but aren’t getting the spotlight they deserve.
“I was tired of having good comics looked over,” Ford said. “Comics I enjoy seeing will get a chance.”
“A couple of them are a couple of years in, and I remember when I was a couple of years in, I was funny but nobody was giving me shots,” Ford said. “It was only, like, open mics. Or, I can go to do a 3- or 5-minute guest spot on somebody else’s stuff.”
Ford is giving each comic an equal 15 minutes when they perform Friday, Feb. 16 at the Hook and Ladder Theater & Lounge. And because all of them are Black men, he’s calling the show:
“F.A.B. Comics,” Ford said. “Funny A-dollar-sign, dollar-sign, Black Comics.”
Their resumes range from about a year to 19 years, and seasoned comedians Hur and Sawyer agree there haven’t been many opportunities to shine.
“There used to be a Black scene here,” Hur said.
“It was called the Brothers, the Brothers Comedy,” Sawyer added.
“Well, there was that, then there was the Blackness, then there was Baddies,” Hur said.
Sawyer says the experience and frequency of performing differs depending on the area.
“I’ll do shows once a month if I’m lucky in the Twin Cities,” he said. “Generally, I’m in front of a bunch of people in rural towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, trying to make people I have nothing in common with laugh, and it works, and it’s like maybe one Black person there, and I’ll offer that Black person a ride back to the Cities just in case.”
The group is expecting a diverse audience at the Minneapolis venue Friday.
“I tend to talk to the audience before the show and find out who I’m talking to so I can know what I can get away with,” Sawyer said.
“You don’t have to be Black to enjoy the comedy,” Ford added.
Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Doors open at 7 p.m. for happy hour and mingling with the comedians, and the show starts at 8 p.m.
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The legislation prevents transferring a dead patient’s medical debt to a surviving spouse and reporting unpaid medical bills to creditors, among other things.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The Debt Fairness Act is officially the law of the land across Minnesota, going into effect on Oct. 1, 2024.
Passed in April as part of the larger Commerce Policy Bill, the act takes a number of steps to protect those struggling under the weight of medical debt. Among other things, the Debt Fairness Act:
- Prevents medical providers from denying care due to unpaid medical debt
- Bans the practice of transferring a dead patient’s medical debt to a surviving spouse
- Prohibits medical providers from reporting unpaid medical bills to credit bureaus
- Establishes strong new protections from unethical medical debt collection practices
- Requires medical providers to publish medical debt collection practices
- Creates a new process to help people dispute medical coding and billing errors
The bill received strong support at Capitol rallies from Minnesotans like Jen Schultz, a public relations professional and adjunct professor at Concordia University in St. Paul.
“I’m a four-time cancer survivor and a lot of times it feels like I’m in a constant cycle of medical debt,” Schultz told KARE. “I’ve had so many situations where I’ve had to choose between buying groceries or paying a full medical bill or putting gas in my car.”
Schultz said bills tend to pile up for cancer survivors like her due to the constant need to check and recheck to ensure the disease has not returned.
“Oncology appointments, scans, ultrasounds, biopsies, medication, treatment, and so on,” Schultz explained.
Credit agencies and hospital groups lobbied hard against the bill before its passage, cautioning lawmakers about the unintended consequences of changing the rules. Danny Ackert of the Minnesota Hospital Association said hospitals wrote off $537 million in uncollectible debt in 2022, and $280 million of that was from patients with insurance who couldn’t afford their copays and deductibles.
“The hospital association is concerned that provisions in Senate File 4065 pertain to medical debt in combination are not appropriately balanced,” Ackert told the panel at the time.
On Tuesday Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that his office will host a new Debt Fairness Legal Clinic on Saturday, October 5 at NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center. Experts will be on hand to provide support and advice to Minnesotans struggling under the weight of medical debt.
HOPE 4 Youth offers programs and support for young people experiencing homelessness.
COON RAPIDS, Minn. — On any given night, about 6,000 young people in Minnesota are experiencing homelessness. HOPE 4 Youth is raising awareness and funds to make sure that number goes down.
The Darkest Night 4K is raising funds to help that cause. Participants will take part in a luminary-lit walk or run with live music and activities at the Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids on Oct. 4 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.
If you attend, you might see a familiar face as KARE 11 Sunrise anchor Jason Hackett will be emceeing the event.
Nikki Kalvin, the director of advancement with HOPE 4 Youth, visited KARE 11 News at Noon to share more about the event and the organization’s mission.
HOPE 4 Youth offers housing programs and support for people ages 16-24 who are dealing with homelessness. The proceeds from The Darkest Night 4K will go to their programs.
Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for kids or students and free for children ages 3 and under. Click here for more information.
The St. Paul Area Association of Realtors aims to get first-time home buyers in action.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Owning a home can seem like an unattainable goal as prices are getting more and more expensive.
The St. Paul Area Association of Realtors (SPAAR) wants to help first-time home buyers reach this goal. At the Housing Resource Fair, people can meet with realtors, local housing organizations and city officials to learn about programs and money-saving resources.
The fair will be held Oct. 3 from 2-4 p.m. at the SPAAR offices at 325 Roselawn Ave. E in St. Paul.
For more information, click this link.
