Michael J. Fox continues to show off his humor and hobbies continues to fight against Parkinson’s disease.

At the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s annual A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s Gala on Saturday, the actor said Popular magazine that maintaining one’s admittedly darker sense of humor can be “difficult for me”, adding “I have to keep it intact”.

Fox went on to argue that dark humor can circumvent taboos on difficult topics, saying, “Let’s embrace that and make a difference.”

This year’s fundraiser was hosted by Denis Leary and featured Stevie Nicks.

“I can’t believe a lot of these people that I’ve known for years and years are so nice to me,” Fox told the outlet. “I think it’s because they see an opportunity for victory, for great progress, and that’s what we’re working toward.”

During the event, which raised $116 million for Parkinson’s research, Fox also showed off his guitar skills with an onstage performance.

Fox also demonstrated his guitar playing earlier this year when he performed a surprise appearance with Coldplay at the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom.

He thanked his team and the group on social networks at the time, saying “Oh yeah, in case you’re wondering…it was mind blowing.” There is a time for every group and a group for every moment. It’s @coldplay time.

According to Variety, Coldplay singer Chris Martin introduced Fox on stage before playing their song “Humankind,” saying, “With his Chuck Berry riff and the way he hit Biff: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Michael J. Fox. »

A video shared by BBC Music on YouTube showed Fox then staying and playing guitar from his wheelchair during the band’s performance of “Fix You” while Martin knelt next to the actor during parts of the performance.

After the song, Martin thanked the crowd and added, “Thank you very much, the main reason we’re in a band is to watch ‘Back to the Future,’ so thank you to our forever hero and one of the more incredible. people on Earth, Mr. Michael J. Fox. Thank you so much Michael…hero.

Fox previously performed with Coldplay in 2016, performing “Johnny B. Goode,” the Chuck Berry song featured in “Back to the Future.”

The guitar has been a longtime passion of Fox’s, dating back to his role in “Back to the Future.”

He told Empire in 2020, he learned guitar for the stage and told director Rob Zemeckis: “‘When I do this scene, I play guitar, so you can lip sync me with your fingers. Feel free to cut off my hands whenever you want. That said, it put pressure on me to get it right. So I had this guy named Paul Hanson who was my guitar teacher.

Fox also learned choreography to look like a guitarist and perform successfully on stage.

“There are times like that where you don’t think, ‘I’m tired’ or ‘I feel pressure to do this.’ Do it and have fun,” he told the outlet.

Playing guitar became more difficult for Fox with his Parkinson’s symptoms, with The Guardian reports that he was no longer capable of acting as of 2020, the same year he stated that he was no longer pursuing his acting career.

But Fox has performed publicly twice this year, consistent with his determination not to go anywhere.

In 2023, he spoke with the Times, saying that Parkinson’s disease is absolutely a struggle, but that “the depression is (not) so deep that I’m going to hurt myself…it always comes back to a place where I tell myself, “Well, there is more to celebrate in my life than there is to cry about. The pain speaks for itself. You either tolerate it or you don’t. And I’m not going anywhere.