Pillitteri preparing for upcoming comedy show

In the lead-up to the annual Terry Fox Run, Joe Pillitteri, best-known for his comedy routines, is again donating his time for something he is very serious about — raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation.

Joan King, local organizer of the Niagara-on-the-Lake run, is always looking for ways to add to the total collected from a small municipality, and she knows she can count on Pillitteri to help.

Since he first became active in the annual event, and continuing however he could during the pandemic, he and his Team Pillsy have raised more than $500,000.

“I’m always amazed, but not surprised, by how supportive this community has always been, and continues to be. Everyone has been touched by cancer, and this is such a generous community.”

On Sept. 16, the local businessman, owner of Lakeview Vineyard Equipment, will once again put his talent to work fundraising for the Terry Fox Foundation, this time at the community centre.

This year, as he talks about his reasons for being so passionate about the cause, he is speaking to The Local from Pennsylvania, where he travels often on business, on the road to sell grape harvesters.

Terry Fox has been an inspiration to Pillitteri for many years, the story of the young man’s determination and courage having helped the local comic and businessman through some difficult times. He talked openly about his struggles, when he thought he was losing what was then a new business, and he happened to pick up a book about the Marathon of Hope, and read what Fox had accomplished at a young age, before having to stop his fundraising run across the country when his cancer returned. He died not too long after that, at the age of 22.

It was about 15 years ago that Pillitteri discovered that Terry Fox really spoke to him, and still does, “on so many levels,” giving him a new outlook on life then that continues to motivate him today.

Last September, Pillitteri was in the U.S. doing a demonstration of a grape harvester, as he is typically busy doing at this time of year, on rows of grapes planted on a hill. 

The harvester lost its footing, rolling over three times before it came to a stop at the bottom of the embankment. For just a few seconds, he says, “I thought I was dead. I thought about all the many things I love about my life, that I thought I’d lost, including the Terry Fox Run. Terry Fox always gives me perspective. In the face of something much harder than I’ve every faced, he pushed on. He was a brave man.”

Pillitteri was wearing a seatbelt that day the harvester rolled over, and was fine, but the experience reinforced his commitment to the Terry Fox Foundation. The annual comedy night, he says, is his opportunity not only to raise money but to continue spreading the message of Terry Fox, to his kids and others, that whatever they are facing, somebody is struggling with something much more difficult.

That’s also his motivation to contribute as much as he can to the foundation, and if his message inspires others to do the same, his efforts have accomplished something very satisfying.

Although in the past two years Pillitteri has held his annual fundraising comedy night at Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery, following  pandemic restrictions, he’s moving to the community centre this year to take advantage of the large space and round tables, a setting that allows a big enough crowd that he can do one high-energy performance along with host emcee Clifford Meyers, rather than the past years where he’s squeezed two shows in on the same night.

Ravine is sponsoring the wine, Garrison House the food, he says, and with sponsorship also from Seaway Farms and Lakeview, “every dollar raised will go to the cause,” 

As Pillitteri travels through Canada and the U.S. on business, he keeps a little notepad with him, writing down anything he thinks might find its way into his comedy routine.

His sister Eileen Pillitteri-Smith and her friend Carol O’Gorman look after the logistics of the show for him, and he runs his jokes by “little sister” Caroline Martinelli, to see if they pass the first test. He has also got into the custom of holding a warm-up show at his friends’ home, Dave and Rita Mines, with about 50 to 70 people. It’s at their event that he tries out his new material and decides by the reaction of the crowd what makes the final cut and what doesn’t. 

His show promises lots of great new material, a charcuterie board at every table, wine, beer from local breweries, and a raffle, with all proceeds going to the Terry Fox Foundation.

Although there are some tickets left, a Joe Pillitteri comedy night in NOTL is always a sell-out, so don’t delay in visiting seawayfarms.ca for tickets, $80 per person, $600 for a table of eight. Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.

Pillitteri often shares a Terry Fox quote, one that seems to have special meaning for him at different times in his life.

This year’s quote, he says, is “I want to try the impossible to show that it can be done.”

This speaks to him, he says, because “as a community, as a country and as a planet, there’s been so much for everyone to process over the past three years. But good things can still happen if we focus on making good things happen.”