Overview
- During a Sept. 12 set in Spokane, Washington, an audience member collapsed from cardiac arrest at the Spokane Comedy Club.
- Bystanders immediately performed CPR while first responders arrived with an automated external defibrillator, and the man regained signs of life after more than five minutes without a pulse.
- Comedian Drew Lynch stopped the show, thanked the crowd for their response, and later shared on social media that the man was identified as Dick Wende.
- Lynch and fellow performers Akeem Hoyte-Charles and Rachel Aflleje visited Wende in the hospital to finish the set, and Wende has since been moved to a rehabilitation facility.
- Videos of the incident have been viewed tens of millions of times online, and both Wende and Lynch are urging the public to pursue CPR training.