Shawna Jarrett Medical Relief Fund

Affectionately called "Charleston Comedy Daddy" Shawna Jarrett has lived up to the moniker. She will not remember your birthday (or even your name for several months) but she will hold a PBR and give sage advice that you carry with you always. Shawna has always been there for new comics as a sounding board and very often the first person to give you stage time. When we lost The Sparrow as our home, Shawna held down the barless comedians until Wit's End opened the following June by hosting her mic at Tin Roof weekly.

In my nearly 5 years of comedy Shawna has become a mentor, booker, naysayer to my stupidest decisions and a very dear friend. The Charleston Comedy Scene would have never grown to be the feast of talent it is today without her. Now is the time to have her back because she has had ours.

-Mona F. Bender

A lot can change in a month! 

If you were at Shawna's February third-Sunday show at Tin Roof (a show she’s been hosting for 9 years!) you may have noticed her dragging a little. She pushed through to still sing one at karaoke (for the curious: "Les Poissons" from The Little Mermaid) but then left early. 

What started that night as "maybe I'm getting sick?" escalated to a series of strange symptoms over the following week, culminating the next weekend when everything REALLY went south and doctors got involved.

The intervening weeks have been a series of labs and tests, and finally, there's an answer: heart failure. 

Not what anybody would dream of for an active 42 year old stand-up comic, visual artist, and parent of two great kids. And with no family history of heart issues, not anything anyone was expecting to find. 

Now she's in the hospital for treatment - and it's a good thing she's already there, because the first cost estimate just came through, and it was shocking enough to land ANYONE in the cardiology unit.