Local comedian Nick Theisen will take the stage alongside longtime friends to raise money for his yearslong battle against cancer

click to enlarge Local comedian Nick Theisen will take the stage alongside longtime friends to raise money for his yearslong battle against cancer
Mary McCollum photo
Comedian Nick Theisen performs at the Knit on Sunday.

Sometimes a good laugh is all it takes to release the trials and tribulations of our daily lives.

That's a reality local comedian Nick Theisen has grown to understand as he faces his third year battling cancer. And he infuses it into his work, including in the upcoming A Night of Hope and Laughter at the Knitting Factory on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 7 pm, the proceeds of which will go toward his treatments.

"It's gonna be a fun evening," says Theisen. "There'll be some serious parts to it, but most of it's going to be really good comedy."

The event will feature Theisen with his friends and fellow comedians Dan Cummins, Rod Long, Susan Rice, Art Krug, Vince Valenzuela and Don Parkins, all of whom came together to organize the show in honor of Theisen.

"Nick is a very private person, first of all," says Rice. Many of Theisen's close friends only knew about two of his cancer diagnoses until Theisen later told them that he's actually battling four types of cancer.

"I ended up with a diagnosis of cancer three years ago, and they told me that I had 18 months to a year to live, and I proved them wrong," Theisen says. "It's been three years, and I have four kinds of cancer. I've got lung cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer and gallbladder cancer."

As a result, he's done numerous rounds of radiation therapy and has been doing chemotherapy since his diagnosis.

"It's basically to get people to see that you can live through cancer and there's a positive end to it at times," he says of the show at the Knit.

Theisen's comedy career began almost four decades ago, when he began performing in Los Angeles. He's also worked in radio and public relations and has toured the country as a comedian for 35 years.

Merging his career experiences, he started a podcast following his diagnosis called Finding Chemo, where he interviews cancer patients and medical professionals. The podcast details the treatment process and describes patients' personal experiences in a way that is inspiring to those battling cancer as well as people with loved ones going through treatment.

The event will also have a raffle of sports memorabilia, sporting equipment and photographs from Rod Long, who is also a professional photographer.

The Knitting Factory's general manager, Kent Shelton, offered to donate the space, which normally is rented out for $20,000 a night, for Theisen's benefit.

"He's just been absolutely incredibly helpful, and it's because he knows Nick," says Rice. "The whole city knows Nick. I mean, he's just one of those guys. He's been around a long time."

Rice adds that Theisen and his comedy contain a level of relatability that appeals to a wide range of people.

"He's the working class kind of comic, and he's just that guy that is dumbfounded by stupidity, but never takes himself off that plate," she says. "He's as self-deprecating as he is judgmental, but never toward a group of people, always at circumstances."

Rice also says that comedians across the country who have worked with Theisen have reached out to her, attempting to set up more benefit shows for him. While they've turned down many of those offers, she says it's been heartwarming to see, and that Theisen's spirit over the course of his battle is impressive.

"He's still performing, by the way," she says. "He's in pain, he's having chemo once a week, and he's still out there doing what he can."

Theisen's favorite part of performing on stage is seeing in real time how much comedy impacts people and serves as a release for both the audience and himself.

"It's just gonna be a fun evening of getting together and helping me out, which I think is the best thing because I'm in debt up to my eyeballs with medical bills," he says. "Cancer destroys everything, but I'm getting through it. I'm still in the fight, and I will keep fighting." ♦

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Summer Sandstrom

Summer Sandstrom is a former Inlander staff writer who has written about 176-year-old sourdough starter, tracking insects on Gonzaga’s campus, and her love of betta fish, among other things. She joined the staff in 2023 after completing a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Eastern Washington University...