Meet Chicago's 'Cancer Queen Of Comedy'
(CBS) -- One in eight Americans develops breast cancer.
Annual walks and runs raise awareness for the disease, but a group in Chicago is taking a different approach: a breast cancer comedy show.
CBS News' Adriana Diaz sat down with the woman known as the "Cancer Queen of Comedy."
Nikki Martinez made her standup debut five years ago. What prodded her to get onstage?
"Cancer," she says, laughing.
The Chicago office manager was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2010. That was on a Wednesday. By Monday, doctors had removed her left breast.
"That's when I decided I would make cancer my career," Nikki says.
The jokes started flowing. One example: "I told the doctor, 'Doesn't cancer equal skinny? What the hell do I have?'"
Nikki says joking about cancer is the equivalent of "giving it the finger."
Comedy producer Mike Oquendo gave Nikki her first shot. He hosts an annual breast cancer charity show.
"In the course of a year, maybe 10 to 15 of our regular audience members at some point or another are dealing with it," he says, referring to breast cancer.
After 12 rounds of chemo and 33 radiation treatments, Nikki beat cancer in 2011. At this year's show, however, she shared some bad news. The cancer has returned.
Doctors say it's terminal. But Nikki plans to keep 'em laughing.
After all, she's cornered the market.
"You're not going to find too many healthy women that's gonna whip off a wig and a fake boob. So that is probably the only advantage is, you can't really steal my jokes," she says.
The comedian also encourages her audience members to get checked regularly for breast cancer.
Nikki is appearing Nov. 16 at Zanie's comedy night club in Chicago.
