The screams of laughter could be heard blocks away in Stoughton as the community was visited for a second time by Puck n' Funny.
A fundraiser held to help support Stoughton's community swimming pool, the night began at 6 p.m. with cocktails, and a hearty dinner of ham and perogies following at 7 p.m.
While a dinner is always appreciated, it was the entertainment for the evening that brought the crowds into the hall that night.
Featured was the comedic styling of three stand-up guys, members of the Puck n' Funny group.
Puck n' Funny is an organization which is administered by Saskatchewan funnyman Mike Simmonds.
Simmonds, a veteran comedian with many a stage shows to his credit, runs the Puck n' Funny group especially to assist in fundraising efforts by many different community groups in rural Saskatchewan, often for hockey leagues and teams.
"We really try to support the communities in rural Saskatchewan with our shows," Simmonds said. "They are always a joy to go to and perform at too."
"You always feel welcome when you do a show in a rural community," Simmonds said. "They are always there, ready to laugh, and it makes for some really great shows because you can really get rolling along with them."
Joining Simmonds on the stage for the Stoughton Puck n' Funny show were relative newcomer to the field of comedy, Saskatoon resident Paul Voisard, and long-time stand-up veteran from Rochester, New York, Mike Dambra.
Simmonds kicked the show off with a series of jokes about his condition.
Profoundly blind with only 10 percent of his vision, tackling the issue of his blindness is always the first step in warming up a crowd.
"It really is like an elephant in the room," Simmonds said. "I go up there, or get guided up I should say, I have a cane and everything, I have to get it out of the way and make it a non-issue with the audience."
Sure enough, Simmonds had the crowd first smiling, than snickering, and finally roaring with laughter as he worked through his routine, introducing Voisard to the stage.
Being a Saskatchewan-born and raised man, Voisard had a direct line to the Saskatchewan crowd.
Able to call up some topics that would tickle mainly a Saskatchewanian, Voisard also succeeded in having tears of laughter rolling before he finally quit the stage.
Again Simmonds took the stage and warmed the crowd up for the next act, Mike Dambra.
Dambra, who has been on the stage doing stand-up for more than 25 years, immediately made his presence felt once he ascended to the stage.
While the humour of both Simmonds and Voisard could be described as 'topical,' the approach and humour of Dambra could best be described as 'interactive.'
Selecting people throughout his act, Dambra went about ribbing the people unfortunate enough to catch his eye.
The ribbing was good natured, but the years on stage this talented comedian has behind him showed in his quick ability to face down anyone, even the one heckler who appeared in the crowd.
Even the mayor of Stoughton received her share of ribbing by the sarcastic comedian, much to the delight of the crowd.
"It's been really great having a chance to do some of these gigs with Mike," Dambra said following the show. "The crowds are usually really good, and they all like a good laugh."
Dambra had moved to Alberta some time ago following his marriage to a girl from Edmonton, which he now calls home.
"I've been on the stand-up stage for four or five years now," said Voisard. "With Puck n' Funny I've been to places in the province I haven't even heard of before."
"It's been pretty fun so far, and it has given me a lot of experience with different sorts of crowds," Voisard said. "In that way, I guess the shows have been worth it right there."
