Zach Galifianakis and VFC’s Dr. Karen Lamp at Silver Circle Gala
What the Venice Family Clinic does is very serious– helping thousands of people lead healthy lives – but humor ruled the night at its 36th annual Silver Circle Gala held at the Beverly Hilton’s International ballroom.
The comedy came courtesy of the presentation of the organization’s humanitarian award by Sarah Silverman to Brad Jenkins and Mike Farrah of the humor website Funny or Die and one of its signature shows, Between Two Ferns, hosted by Zach Galifianakis, who co-created the show with fellow honoree Scott Aukerman.
Galifianakis famously hosted President Barack Obama in 2014 to promote the Affordable Care Act after it became law, acting on the administration’s goal of reaching more young people and urging them to sign up for health insurance. Between Two Ferns then became the top referral source to healthcare.gov and the video went on to win a multitude of awards, including a primetime Emmy Award. Most importantly, it demonstrated how comedy can have a positive impact on society.
“They had a huge impact on people’s lives, getting Obama on a super lo-fi talk show to get the word out. It shows the power of entertainment and media to do good,” Silverman said.
But Galifianakis and Aukerman had their own surprise in store when presented with the award. After they waxed euphoric about their experience spending 45 minutes talking with the president and noting the huge rise in people who have health insurance as a result, they decided to give it to someone they deemed more worthy of it, VFC’s Dr. Karen Lamp, who joined the organization in 1988.
Before you could say “Obamacare,” the stage was quickly transformed into a set of Between Two Ferns with a surprised Dr. Lamp being interviewed by Galifianakis about her work with patients at the clinic.
The comedian closed out the impromptu interview session with these words of advice: “Don’t be entertainers, be like Dr. Karen Lamp.”
For her part, Lamp said, “When people ask what I do, I tell them I work for a place where we do not have to compromise on patient care.”
Last year, Venice Family Clinic assisted 26,000 people and is renovating facilities to help 2,000 more. In addition to medical care, it also provides prevention and classes.
Funds at the dinner, which was hosted by Sunita Mani, were raised in an extensive silent auction featuring goods and services donated by top hotels, restaurants and service providers and in a spirited live “gift auction,” in which all of the money raised, in increments from $50 to $20,000, was matched by the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In total, the organization raised $1.5 million.
Joan E. Harman was also honored with the Clinic’s Irma Colen Leadership Award.
Special thanks went out to Silver Circle sponsors UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and TravelStore for their generous support of the Venice Family Clinic.
The inspirational evening was capped off by a set from The Wayward Sons, featuring classic rock hits like “All Night Long,” “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
