Long an activist against breast cancer, Christina Applegate, 36, was recently diagnosed with the disease during a routine MRI. The cancer was discovered early, and doctors expect her to make a full recovery.

Applegate, whose mother battled both breast and cervical cancer, has been an advocate for breast cancer research. She rose to fame in the 1980s on “Married … With Children,” won an Emmy for a guest role as Jennifer Aniston’s sister on “Friends,” and now plays an amnesiac in her own sitcom, “Samantha Who?”

I’m a fan of Christina’s, not so much from the early “Married With Children” years, where her character was a teenage sexpot who was dumber than a box of hammers. And I wish I could say that I’m addicted to “Samantha Who?”, but from the minute I saw those ads, I was instantly uninterested. But what I like about Christina is that all those years on MWC were clearly a training ground for a fine sense of comedy–in addition to being attractive, she’s also funny, and has no qualms about making fun of herself in the service of comedy. The role on “Friends” was a delight, as was the raunchy but hilarious and sweet “The Sweetest Thing.” (Not a family-friendly movie, but one with an amazingly simple scene rendered sweetly and creatively by Christina and then real-life husband Johnathon Schaech (they divorced last year). She also played a memorable role in the classic Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman,” as Veronica Corningstone, proving herself opposite one of the most shamlessly spontaneous comedians of today. Christina’s personal life previously hit the news earlier this summer, when her boyfriend, Lee Grivas, 26, was found dead from an apparent drug overdose.And now, as a public service announcement dedicated to Christina’s recovery, the cast of the Daily Show stands up to cancer.