Page 27 - October 2015

Ron Rufo. Brandt started somewhat pensive by mentioning the absence of his usual sidekick, Rabbi Moshe Wolf, who was away marking the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Brandt didn’t stay that way for long.
“Tonight, it’s us Gentiles, so we can make any joke we want to,” he said.
Humor helps
Brandt, well-known for his own comedic skills, spoke pointedly after the performances about the place of humor in today’s compli- cated world for police. He referenced the recent gruesome discovery of a dismembered child in the Garfield Park Lagoon and its toll on officers who, after all, are still human beings.
“They need some balance. When they see all the crap from day- to-day, it’s great to come together like this to laugh and unwind and just mostly laugh at life,” noted the director of the Chicago Police Chaplains Ministry. “Police work is anything but funny for the most part. The good people of God often provide many laughs for us, but, overall, it’s very serious business. It’s important being able to step away from it and breathe out all the bad stuff of the day and see there’s more than all the nonsense we see for eight to 10 hours a day.”
Brandt uses humor as an “icebreaker” to relax people and help get his message across in a way that is not the “hellfire and brimstone” interpretation of some preachers. He mentions an image of Jesus laughing that is depicted on a sketch hanging on his wall.
“That’s the Jesus I like,” Brandt said, crediting his sense of humor to his own father who “was always really funny.”
Laugh Patrol performers traced their comedic roots to various aspects of their personal lives, while also understanding the value of it in their professional world.
“To me it’s just easier to talk about (the hard parts of the job) than let it build up inside and start drinking or beating my wife,” Gaines
said, flashing some of his humor. “(Comedy) was an easier outlet because my wife is bigger (than me).”
Gaines started doing comedy in 2003 through classes and per- forming with Second City, although he wasn’t as interested in improv because everyone wants to do the punchline. The solitude of standup has more appeal.
“It’s you and the microphone. It’s just perfect,” he described. “It was kind of like therapy.”
Kokonis performed at the urging of Pococha and Ahern, among
Father Daniel Brandt (right) with nun impersonator Ron Rufo.
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