Laughter is always the best medicine.
The Staten Islanders who star in the TruTV show “Impractical Jokers” invaded the ballfield and took over the Cyclones game against the Vermont Lake Monsters on July 19.
It gave 11-year-old cancer patient Alexiana DePrima a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet her favorite funny foursome.
“I was really happy when I met all of them,” DePrima said. “It was a nice experience that I got to throw out the first pitch.”
DePrima suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, and fell in love with the jokers during her hospital stays when she would wile away the hours watching videos of their show.
“She loves them, we all love them,” said her mother, Tania Abernovich. “We watch them and enjoy them together — they make us laugh until we cry.”
DePrima was so overcome with joy that she cried when she met her heroes. And the emotion was contagious — soon there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
“It made me cry,” said Abernovich, “The pure, raw emotion and love was priceless — I’m glad I got to see that.”
DePrima was at the game representing Brooklyn’s branch of Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society’s organization that sets up events to raise awareness about the illness.
The laughter DePrima gets from the jokesters seems to be doing the trick.
“She’s giving it a good fight,” said Abernovich. “The tumor is shrinking and we are hoping it keeps going that way.”
The jokers shared the fun with the rest of the crowd, too, and brought some of their own games and contests based off of the skits from their show.
Sal Vulcano, one of the show’s four stars, started things off in the middle of the third inning with Sal’s Double Dutch Dance Derby, where he judged three contestants on their ability to cut a rug — or rather, field.
This wasn’t the first time that the Staten Island-native jokers have used MCU Park and Coney Island as a backdrop for their show, and Vulcano said the reason is that Brooklyn’s Boys of Summer are a breeze to work with.
“We’ve established a relationship by filming here with the Cyclones, and the organization is amazing,” he said. “[Assistant general manager] Gary Perone and everyone have made this a second home.”
Fellow jokers Joe Gatto and James “Murr” Murray teamed up for a round of dizzy bat relay, where contestants place their head on the top of an upright baseball bat, spin around, and then have to race to the finish line.
The final member of the funny foursome, Brian “Q” Quinn, only stuck around to throw out the ceremonial first pitch with his buddies, but left early due to illness.
“Q has really bad luck here, and he’s sick today, which is kind of funny,” said Peter Kennedy, a TruTV production staffer.
He was referring to Quinn’s series of punishments on the field at MCU Park where he had to breakdance in front of a packed stadium, and when he had to reject the proposal of his beautiful (fake) girlfriend, much to the vocal disapproval of the fans in the stands.
“Maybe he knows it’s bad luck here for him,” Kennedy said.
In addition to just having fun — and making fools of one another — the jokers hope to help the Cyclones contribute to the continued growth of the Coney Island area.
“People want to see a good team play ball, so every week thousands of people come into the neighborhood and spend money and hang out, and that’s nothing but good for Coney Island,” said Murray.
Jeff Diehl, father of the Cyclones player of the same name, said the jokesters are a big draw too.
“It was a good time today, those guys are great,” he said. “I think these events are awesome. I’m sure it helps bring a lot of people out to have fun.”
