On February 9, at Yuk Yuk's , local comics are hosting A Comedy Show for Ryan to help out Ryan Lachance, a wheelchair user who dubs himself "Canada's sit-down standup comedian".

Lachance, who lives with cerebral palsy has a severe infection in his foot. He has been in and out of hospital for months, and suffering ongoing pain. That has meant he's been unable to perform comedy or earn money to supplement his disability income.

The Debaters' Charlie Demers has stepped in to headline the fundraiser, with local laugh-getters like Ryan Gunther, Gavin Clarkson, Sophia Johnson, Desmond Williams, Julia Stretch, and Nic Enright-Morin taking the mike.

Hailing from White Rock, Lachance is a veteran of the local comedy scene for the past two decades. He's become a master at interweaving intensely personal anecdotes from his family life and the challenges he faces into his jokes. A “Ramp for Ryan” event last year at Yuk Yuk’s outfitted him with a portable ramp he could take to tour western Canada, making inaccessible venues open to his wheelchair. Lachance made his Fringe Festival debut last year, again tackling difficult personal subject matter and somehow finding humour amid it as one of 20 standup comedians in the hard-hitting critical favourite Rape Is Real & Everywhere.

He was born with quad spastic cerebral palsy, which limits his use of all four limbs.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite, where you can also make a donation to Lachance's cause.