Comedian finds cure through laughter

What would you do if you found out you had lung cancer but you had never smoked? That’s what happened to comedian Rene Hicks, and she made it a big part of her routine creating comedy “activism.”

Hicks was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004, after contracting the disease from performing in smoky comedy clubs. Hicks said God must have thought she needed some new material.

“I was gonna have to travel lighter, so I had half of my right lung removed,” Hicks said during a Nov. 8 appearance at VCU.

On a more serious note, Hicks said she thought there was something she was supposed to do with her situation because it was too “quirky.” Now she travels all over the country performing and raising awareness about cancer.

Hicks is in her 16th year of doing comedy, but she didn’t start out on the stage. She went to business school to be an accountant, and she didn’t even know she was funny until college.

“I’d always been someone who goes to a different beat,” Hicks said. She said her family and friends weren’t too surprised when she switched over to comedy; they were probably more surprised when she went into accounting.

Hicks was the first African-American woman ever nominated for an American Comedy award for “Best Female Stand-up.” One of Hicks’ most memorable performances was her half-hour special on Comedy Central in 2005.

She has made more than 600 college appearances and has received the National College Comedian of the Year award twice.

Amanda Wattenmaker, a health educator and co-faculty adviser for the university’s Cancer Awareness Team, worked to bring Hicks here.

“I think it’s great she’s so active in getting people involved in their health,” Wattenmaker said.

Much of Hicks’ performance at VCU dealt with people needing to laugh more to relieve stress.

Hicks’ current plans involve working on a book about cancer and humor and updating her Web site, www.renehicks.com.

“Love what you’re doing. Don’t get caught up in wanting to be famous.” That’s Hicks’ advice to aspiring comedians. “If you can make a living at it – great. Anything beyond that is gravy.”

Hicks believes that her cancer diagnosis was part of a larger “architectural plan” to get her where she is now.

Hicks lives by the motto, “Laughter brings people together. We need a lot more laughter in the world and a lot less of the stupid crap that divides us.”

Hicks, who grew up in San Francisco, hopes someday to inline skate across the U.S. to raise funds and awareness for cancer research.