Posted on August 24, 2011
By Mike Ross
Comedy, Culture
Is it wrong for a white guy to laugh at a native stand-up comedian telling jokes that riff on native stereotypes? That’s a difficult question … so we won’t get into it here. Just say that Howie Miller’s career on stage, screen and film has come far beyond playing the race card, thanks to a […]
Posted on August 3, 2011
By Mike Ross
Culture
Unlike rock musicians, stand-up comedians don’t have anything to protect them from the audience, no instrument or prop to hide behind. Well, unless they’re a prop comic or something. A guitar may be a prop, too, or a crutch. Either way, comedian J. Chris Newberg has been relying on his six-string less and less over […]
Posted on July 12, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, Culture, Front Slider, Theatre
Aside from props, the only difference between stand-up comedians and street performers is that one works inside and the other works outside. What could possibly go wrong? Rick Kunst is spending his summer outdoors. At the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival through July 17, the Florida-born comedian and his Canadian partner Dana Fadkin have an […]
Posted on July 9, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, Culture
Mankind is Jerry Seinfeld’s business. His mission is to explore tiny human stupidities, leaving the larger idiocies to other comedians. His tool is a microscope. His result is universal humour. EVERYBODY’S done the dumb little things he talks about, we’re all guilty of the trivial human mistakes he’s built a career on – even Jerry […]
Posted on July 7, 2011
By Mike Ross
Comedy, Front Slider
When Ken Valgardson isn’t teaching Grades 6-12 in a rural Alberta school, he’s hanging out in comedy clubs cutting loose with the sort of language that would get any of his students instantly expelled were they to utter such filth in the classroom. He performs tonight through Saturday (July 7-9) at the Laugh Shop in […]
Posted on June 28, 2011
By Mike Ross
Comedy, Front Slider
News scoop! Neil Hamburger was fake! He’s actually some former punk rock musician named Gregg Turkington, who was only pretending to be an old school Catskills-style comedian, using the form to explore the concept of the “anti-joke.” Of course the problem with making a joke about jokes that aren’t funny is that the joke can […]
Posted on June 20, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, Theatre
Once in a great while Edmonton is privileged to host one of the old-time stand-up comedians, a stubborn hold-out from the days of yore where men were men, women stayed in the kitchen where they belonged and show business was an honourable profession – not the cesspool of fart jokes it’s become today. Neil Hamburger […]
Posted on June 18, 2011
By Mike Ross
Comedy, Culture, Front Slider
Matt Lisac has attacked Edmonton’s comedy scene by stealth. He did a one-man show at the 2010 Fringe, innocuously called “A New Canadian Century,” for which he appeared on stage as a kindly, bearded Christian with guitar and a story to tell. About one minute into his opening number, it became obvious that this performer […]
Posted on June 15, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, Front Slider, Theatre
To be willing to “fail happily” is one of the foundations of comedy improv – and also a happy life. When you truly shed your ego in the manner of the Buddhists, even death becomes OK. Cue the sound of one hand clapping. This may all seem too deep for Rapidfire Theatre’s Improvaganza festival, running […]
Posted on June 9, 2011
By Staff
Comedy, Culture, Front Slider, Theatre, TV and Radio
We’ve crunched the numbers and come to a startling conclusion that most people knew already – Edmonton is a funny city. The nominations for the Canadian Comedy Awards that came out June 8 revealed a disproportionate weight of local comic talent, largely thanks to a core group of improvisers and the locally-produced television show CAUTION: […]
Posted on May 27, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, The Latest
It won’t be long until Shaun Majumder is known for more than just being “the indo-Canadian comedian who isn’t Russell Peters,” if he isn’t already. Maybe it’ll be the other way around before too long. Despite holding the Humourist’s Carte Blanche that allows any non-white comic to make fun of almost any race without consequence, […]
Posted on May 18, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, The Latest
Maybe it’s his tough Brooklyn accent. Maybe it’s because he’s large and hairy and releases a record called “Sneezes, Farts and Orgasms.” But Brian Scolaro seems to have suffered far too many hecklers for a guy who’s been on TV and is not known for “working the crowd.” Most comics we interview usually come up […]
