Grindstone on the nose! Comedy fest an off-Whyte hit
The Grindstone Comedy Theatre & Bistro is a lively little off-Whyte oasis in the otherwise boring squalor of the 81st Avenue area east of 102 Street – in the fringe of the Ritchie neighbourhood that wouldn’t be out of place in Stettler.
But with this weekend’s inaugural Grindstone Comedy Festival, it’s clear this club is proving to be vital destination just a block away from the biggest party district in Edmonton.
The Bistro is in the front, packed with patrons in their fedora hats, immaculately coiffed beards and skinny jeans, eating gourmet hot dogs and drinking craft beer in a retro pop culture atmosphere that just screams “Portland, Oregon!” This sort of hipster scene is that’s city’s greatest creative export: vibrant independent establishments with character. These places push a different and ultimately more engaging commercial environment. People seem to love it.
The heart of the Grindstone is the theatre in the back, which is so clandestinely located that the casual visitor would never know anything was there – and that’s where we’re seeing some of the best comedic talent in Canada for the Grindstone Comedy Festival.
From the stand-up comedy contests on Wednesday, Sketchnado and Peter Oldring improvising with The 11 O’Clock Number on Thursday, Friday night was all about stand-up comedy. Featuring headliners Graham Clark (right) and Rebecca Kohler (top photo), there were some fine comedians – no weak links, some with better material than others.
Mark McCue got the honour of performing first – as the winner on the stand-up contest. He was a complete surprise, a sadly short set with some fantastic material.
Later on came another apparent newcomer Adam Blank, with a self-deprecating style that worked really well. The guy’s got a future.
The first headliner Graham Clark worked the crowd earnestly with his evenly-paced observational style, riffing on airport security pat downs, Fort St. John, hot dogs in bottles, and eating poutine, Subway … you can see that food was a common theme here. Comedians from Vancouver can sometimes be a bit cliche and predictable, but not this guy. His mind goes in some weird and wonderful directions, and it gives him some fantastic material. His delivery is laid-back yet not droll, and his wit is mordant.
The late show headliner Rebecca Kohler was pretty wobbly for the first five minutes of her set, but the Toronto comic managed to turn it around with a series of very funny stories – one starting with a trip to her gynecologist, and ending with probably the best sex gross-out story you’ve ever heard. It’s obvious why she’s making it in the US (she also writes for television shows), and she seems to have a real gift for taking what for most comedians would be just a one liner and spinning it into a multilayered and thoroughly funny tale.
Middle set Vancouverite Steev Letts (right) was absolutely hilarious – the best of the evening. His material, mostly tales from his life as a gay man on the left coast, was all consistently very funny.
Fort Saskatchewan comic Sean Lecomber wasn’t bad, opening the first show of the evening, but he wasn’t at his usual high level of performance. He did some newer material that didn’t fly too well, but pulled it out of the fire by veering into his familiar “hot pockets” territory. His sarcastic mockery of small town Alberta life is his money shot.
Lot of food comedy here at the Grindstone.
The festival continues until Sunday.
Saturday, May 11: Peter Oldring runs a comedy workshop all afternoon; later is an encore presentation with Friday’s comedians Rebecca Kohler and Graham Clark, with guests; and Mike Delamont headlines at 11 pm. Delamont is a brilliant West Coast comic well-known in Edmonton, famous for his sacrilegious characters in Fringe shows like God is a Scottish Drag Queen.
Sunday, May 12: Peter Brown (former CBC) hosts a “comedy panel” in the afternoon. Delamont returns to perform with the Girl Brain troupe at 7 pm. The indigenous comedy group Caution: May Contain Nuts, featuring Howie Miller, goes on at 9 pm, with the closing party and the live band Mercy Funk at 10 pm.
All tickets are available at the Grindstone.
