Update on Lamont Ferguson

The announced host of Preliminary Week One of the 28th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition was 2005 Champion Lamont Ferguson, but Lamont came down with a mysterious illness and was not able to participate.

Lamont is back home in San Diego now, recovering and he sent the following message to explain what exactly happened.

As I was on my way up to throw down the funny, and class up the place--which would have included wearing a tux on opening night. On Tuesday, as I was going through Oregon, I had an odd dizzy feeling. Ignoring it, I continued to drive for a little until the dizzying was accompanied by nausea and then a severe case of vertigo.

I managed to pull off the road and park in a neighborhood (which I'm still not sure where.) The spinning and nausea led to a very scary, uncomfortable 2.5 hours being trapped in my car, while all sorts of unpleasant things were occurring to my body. It was only stopped by a sudden burst of adrenalin brought on by being startled by one of the neighbors coming out of their home.

I managed to drive into Springfield (stopping every 100 meters to be violently ill.) Found a motel, checked in, and then stayed until I was marginally strong enough to make the trip back home.

The ailment--"A perfect storm"--The flu, high blood pressure and a viral illness called labyrinthtitis--the latter from which I am still trying to recover--a delightful dizziness that is only relieved in the supine position. Should be another couple of weeks before it's completely gone.

So there you have it. In short, I got really sick. Thanks to all for the kind words and concerns. I am well and on the way back to full crankiness, and perhaps even crankier than before! Can that be possible?

Best of luck to all competitors.
Lamont Ferguson

And, I'm sure everyone involved with the competition wish Lamont a speedy recovery as well.