Grayslake comic laughs in the face of cancer

Lisa Pederson isn't afraid to talk about the most personal of subjects.

"First I had a mastectomy," she said. "Then I had a husband-ectomy."

Yes, Pedersen lost her husband to divorce while she was battling breast cancer, but she didn't lose her sense of humor.

She's bringing all her closet skeletons into the light in her stand-up comedy show, "Laughing in the Face of Cancer," at the Gorilla Tango Theater in Chicago.

Her routine covers some of the absurd aspects of the disease, from going bald to wearing wigs to getting 5 o'clock shadows in unexpected places.

The show reflects Pedersen's desire to face the most deadly serious of subjects, cancer, with the sense of humor she brings to her life.

After noticing a lump in her breast early in 2006 and waiting months to see a doctor, Pedersen, a Grayslake resident, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

But because it hadn't spread, her doctor told her it was a "survivor's cancer."

She not only had that breast removed and underwent chemotherapy, but she went through months of problems with a wound that wouldn't heal, a machine strapped around her neck to treat the wound, and five more surgeries for reconstruction and a total hip replacement and spinal fusion due to the chemotherapy.

Throughout chemotherapy, she'd do anything to keep a lighthearted attitude. She signed her name backward on the endless medical forms, called the doctor nicknames, ran races with IV poles, and joked around with her fellow "chemo-sabes."

Since she was a teenager, Pedersen had been told she was funny and should do stand-up. She had also been a beauty queen contestant as Miss Ripley County in the Miss Indiana competition, finishing third, so she wasn't afraid to go on stage.

So when she went to the open microphone show at Schuba's bar in Chicago, she learned that cancer was one area stand-up comedians don't normally explore, making it a perfect niche for her.

Her mentor, comedian Prescott Tolk, told her it was a topic only a cancer survivor could tackle, and said she was "a natural."

"It is something that comes naturally to me," she said. "My first standup, I just loved it. What a rush this is. It keeps me going down to the city."

Pedersen is now 46 and cancer-free. By rights, she says, she should be dead.

"I want to stand up and be a role model for women not to be afraid, and to get reconstructive surgery," she said. "Hey, it's your right to keep going until you're happy with the way your body looks. If you're not happy, speak up and get done what needs to be done."

With all she has been through, learned and shared, she says. "I say cancer's been good to me."

Pedersen's show runs at 11 p.m. Saturdays at the Gorilla Tango Theater, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago.

For tickets or information, call (773) 598-4549, or e-mail info@gorillatango.com.