Nearly 90 people attended Amanda Knox's fundraiser Wednesday night, Jan. 27, held at the Comedy Underground in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood. Tickets were $50, and raffle tickets were sold, to raise money for Knox's appeal process which follows her Dec. 4 guilty verdict for murdering her college roommate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy Nov. 1, 2007. Money raised goes to www.amandaknoxdefensedfund.org.

Five stand-up comedians performed for free, including event organizer and host, Renee Perrault, a friend of Amanda's father, Curt, and his former co-worker at Macy's Corporation. Several raffle prizes were awarded. At the event's conclusion, Curt and Amanda's mother Edda Mellas briefly thanked the crowd.

The comedians' topics varied but none made reference to Amanda or the trial. Many family members were sprinkled in the audience as well as supporters from Amanda's West Seattle neighborhood. One audience member said he came from Connecticut to offer his support.

"They have a strange system of justice in Italy," said said Tony Comito from Ballard, an Amanda supporter and professional magician who said he is Italian-American and has been following the trial closely. "You would think they've had all this time since the Roman times to develop their system of justice and this is what we have?"

"It was funny," said Chris Mellas, Amanda's step-father. "It was good stuff. I'm surprised how many people turned out. It's pretty cool."

"I grew up in West Seattle, and went to the UW study-abroad program in France," said landscape designer Blair Constantine who also happens to be the brother of King County Executive, Dow. "I would recommend France over Italy to anybody. I kind of relate, since I was also a student in Europe, and feel very, very bad for the family."

"I had a really amazing time," said Madison Paxton, a close friend of both Amanda and her sister Deanna. "It really touches the heart to see all these people here. It was really funny. I also thought it was really funny and I'll definitely come back here a lot."

"I scoped this place out on my 21st birthday," said Deanna. "The comics here are hilarious." She said she would "turn beet red" if she tried to do stand-up comedy on stage.

"While it was a comedy event we're dealing with a very serious situation," said Curt. "Absolutely the greatest loss was the loss of Meredith's life."

Curt said his family welcomed a break from the day to day anguish of fighting for his daughter's freedom.

"it was actually kind of nice to venture away from the stress involved with the situation," he said. "It was extremely nice to have all of the people around us and it was a great event."

Although some media earlier reported the possibility of "anti-Amanda" protesters gathering outside the club, they were a no-show.