CF comedy show offers laughs after heartbreak
Scott Merritt has not had much reason to laugh these past few months. He hopes to change that March 29 when five comedians pay tribute to his late son.
Paying It Forward at the Showtime comedy club in St. Catharines will be a memorial benefit show for MacKenzie Merritt, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at three months old. He died in December at age 23 from complications from taking acetaminophen following a car accident.
Merritt, who runs the talent agency Merritt Artist Management on Lake
Street in St. Catharines, says his son always believed in paying things forward and the memorial will retain that spirit. All proceeds will go towards cystic fibrosis research.
“MacKenzie was a very giving kid,” he says. “He was all about helping. He’d give the shirt off his back. If somebody needed some money, he’d give it to them. He was that kind of kid.”
While still grieving his son, a benefit was pitched in his name by Merritt’s friend and client Dave Sokolowski, founder of Touch of Grey Comedy.
“He approached me and said ‘Hey, would you mind if I set something like this up?’ and we just kind of ran with it from there. I thought it was a fantastic idea.”
Sokolowski will host a show which includes Ontario comics Thomas Patrice, Xulf Ali, Barry Carter and Mark Matthews.
Merritt says his son seemed to defy the odds all his life, playing hockey, soccer and “doing all the things that typically CF people aren’t supposed to excel at.”
“He was in really good shape,” he says. “CF was a contributing factor to his death, but what actually took his life was acetaminophen.”
Merritt and MacKenzie’s mother Patty Vollick are also co-ordinating a huge prize raffle as part of the event. The night is expected to raise about $3,000.
“(Mackenzie) had a tough road, and some of the side effects of the CF were devastating,” says Merritt. “However, he overcame so many of the odds throughout the course of his life.”
Even so, having a night of comedy attached to his name feels appropriate.
“He was such a funny kid with a dry sense of humour. Infectious laugh. He would start laughing and everyone would start laughing, and not have a clue why. It was just because of MacKenzie. He was a pretty amazing kid in my mind.”