Four comedians will use laughter to help provide the best medicine Tuesday.

The 8 p.m. fundraiser at the Student Center is sponsored by Alpha Gamma Rho, and features regional comedians who have earned respect in the stand-up industry. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. The fundraiser named “Prescription = Strength: A Stand Up Comedy Show” will benefit treatment and research for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Among the comedians will be SIU alumna and host Amber Klear. Klear double majored in psychology and administration of justice and has been performing stand up for roughly four years. She has been on Fox’s “One Mic Stand Comedy Show” and had the opportunity to open for Sammy Obeid on his record-breaking 1001 Nights of Comedy tour. Now she is hoping to give to a major cause.

“I’m from the Midwest, we do good things here,” Klear said. “I’m not smart or patient enough to be a nurse or a doctor. I can do comedy and I can raise awareness and money. When you walk out of the show, you’re going to feel great; you saw an amazing show and you helped St. Jude’s.”

Klear dealt with her own health issues in the past. She developed a blood clot in her brain, leaving her sick for six months. After overcoming the illness, she decided to change the direction in which her life was going to pursue a career in stand up.

“I got better, but my life wasn’t better,” she said. “My seven-year relationship ended and my boss made my life hell. So that summer I did comedy while riding my motorcycle across the United States.”

That experience served as an epiphany for Klear, leaving her with a new look on life and introspection on its beauty.

“See the beauty around you; don’t be so busy raking that you miss the beauty of the leaves falling,” Klear said. “Jump in that pile of leaves; jump into life. Live the way these kids from St. Jude’s live — with appreciation for every breath and see everything for the beauty it is.”

Also featured is Bobby Jaycox, a comedian who won the Funny Bone 2013 Comedy Competition in St. Louis.

“I am very pleased to be performing what I love to do at (SIU) and the fact that we get to help what the people at St. Jude’s are doing for kids is an honor,” Jaycox said.

Jaycox credits Louis C.K., Rory Scovel and T.J. Miller as inspirations to his stand-up career. He has been performing stand-up comedy for three years and despite winning the Funny Bone competition, he understands it is essential to put the award behind him in order to keep growing as a comedian.

“Basically what I mean is that if I stop doing stand up tomorrow, I’d be a dude who won a competition and nobody remembers,” he said. “It’s a great accolade, but I need to keep writing and getting better.”

Jaycox urges people in Carbondale to check out their local comedy scene.

“There are a lot of talented people at open mics and showcases probably near you,” he said. “So go see the comics now so one day you can say you saw them when they were just starting out. Support the art of live stand-up comedy.”

The show also features Josh Arnold, who was named St. Louis’ Best Male Comic by The Riverfront Times, and local comedian Patrick Trowbridge. Arnold is a regular on “The Bob and Tom Show” — a nationally syndicated radio program broadcasted from Indianapolis.

Since opening in 1962, the overall survival rates for children patients entering St. Jude’s has raised from 20 percent to 80 percent, according to the hospital’s website. Children who are diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia — the most common form of childhood cancer — have a 94 percent chance of survival. That number is up from 4 percent in 1962 in part because of the research and treatment provided at St. Jude, according to the website.

However, keeping the hospital operable daily comes at a cost. For one day’s services, it costs $1.8 million. In 2012, nearly nine million people donated to St. Jude’s and over $871 million charitable contributions were made, according to the hospital’s annual report.

Dylan Frost can be reached at 

[email protected] 

or 536-3311 ext. 254.