Orny Adams and I finally have our in-person tete-a-tete. After a story I wrote on him last year, Adams had some things he wanted cleared up and addressed. But it was all good and we had a very amiable conversation about all things comedy. We also learn about Orny's off-stage interests, his self-conscious Jewishness, and... of course, his thoughts on the documentary Comedian. It's an epic episode for an epic guy.
Art Factora is not hella Pinoy. He's just a regular, hard-working Filipino-Canadian standup comic with a day job as a producer in morning radio. But he stayed up late for us and told us about working joe jobs in between radio gigs. And he talked about his recent visit to the Philippines. Yet he had no idea where it was. Score one for the host.
Peter Greyy may be the big boss man of the Seattle and San Francisco International Comedy Competitions, but when he's not doing that, he's also a performer himself. We talk about his early days deejaying, how a sudden break-up led to standup, his theory of "Canadian competency" in comedy, and of course the competitions. There's some valuable info there for anyone thinking about entering.
Michael Teigen doesn't have much of a presence online so this will be your portal into the man. Learn about his love of animal movies, his high school musical career, his three years in New York working off-off-off-Broadway, his time spent in dinner theatre acting out skitches, the advice he gives to young improvisers, and his upcoming dog movie. It's a rip-roarin' good time.
Kevin Banner has had a good year. But that doesn't stop his angst and self-loathing. We talk about his triumphs, being special, his bad tattoo, struggles with writing, cool comics, Robin Williams, supportive relatives, the Drewski dictionary, and of course wrestling.
Alonzo Bodden once dunked on my head. But I'm a big enough man to let bygones be bygones and invite him on my show. Not a big enough man to stop the dunk, though. We talk basketball, football, jazz, racism, Miley Cyrus, Condoleezza Rice, drugs, and which was the best season of Last Comic Standing. Hint: he's biased.
Dana Alexander was the very first guest on this program back in 2004. A second episode a few years later has disappeared into the ether so this is officially her second appearance (even though it's really her third). We get caught up on her quest for world domination. She moved from Edmonton to Vancouver to Toronto to England and has performed in about 20 different countries. Pretty impressive, innit?
Sean Lecomber is a name you may not recognize, but you should. And not just because it sounds like Shaun Majumder. This episode has bonus material, thanks to an early morning call time. It's also a bit fractured. But that's part of its charm! Lecomber talks about his geopolitical cheese theory, North Korean Netflix, the possibility of throwing his comedy career away, play dates, rostering at an elementary school, being adopted, audiences in England, and tons more.
Tim Rykert joins the 5-timers' club with this appearance. And he finally has something to plug! If you've ever wondered who Jimmy the Bag was, this is the episode for you. Rykert's baby, the web series Who Is Jimmy the Bag?, is a mock-doc following the life of the world's biggest douchebag, Jimmy Sweazie, who's pretty sleazy.
Darcy Michael returns to What's So Funny? as a star. Well, he's on a prime time network sitcom in Canada. Close enough. He talks about playing Gordon on CTV's Spun Out, his thoughts on playing to 17,000 people in an arena, and covering his legs in ink.
Denise Jones has come a long way since playing King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar in grade seven. Now she's a Vancouver TheatreSports League vet who can be seen in the upcoming movie Preggoland. She talks about washing away her Kiss makeup with tears, spending 4.5 months improvising on the high seas, and losing her Newfie accent. Thanks to a Chicago improv instructor for putting her in the right frame of mind before doing this show.
Garrett Clark may sound like an Aussie, but he's really one of us. He just lived down there in his formative years. Plus the accent helps him pick up chicks. Clark talks about being a teenager on TV and what it feels like to be cancelled at such a tender age, opening for name comics south of the border, and discusses the safety of flying. We also welcome a new voice to the show: Colleen Brow. She lends a touch of class to the proceedings.
Chris Gordon never can say goodbye, no, no, no, no. This is the episode that won't end, try as it might. Make a drinking game out of it: take a chug each time it's about to end. You'll pass out before it really does. If you manage to stay sober, though, you'll enjoy it as we sit through a band with an over-eager dream machine playing right behind us and get thrown out of the lobby of a Vancouver hotel.
Gerry Swallow returns to the evening zoo. In town working on a movie, the triple threat brainstorms a how-to book on screenwriting, discusses his upcoming novel, and mulls over a standup comeback. It's been 15 years since he sold his first screeplay and said goodbye to the stage, so he's due.
Alicia Tobin is no good with numbers or names, but she's got a way with words, which she uses doing standup comedy and writing a humourous health blog. She opens up about her heartbreak and her jerk of an ex, growing up in Montreal, her dislike of wolf spiders, winning a Macho Man contest, her fear of earthquakes, and love of superstitions.
Wes Barker is a stunt magician, whatever that is. He explains in this episode. Doesn't do any tricks, though, which is fine because magic doesn't really translate over the airwaves. But he talks about the importance of comedy in his act, naked stooges, assistants passing out, breaking records, and couch surfing.
Ryan Lachance has been performing standup for 12 years so it's time we had him on the show. Lachance talks about the challenges of performing with cerebral palsy from a wheelchair, what gave him the nerve to get up on stage that first time (spoiler alert: a woman), getting into it with noisy crowds, and making out with Billy Connolly.
Graeme Duffy is not only one of the top improvisers in Vancouver, he's an actor and, it turns out, a fellow alumnus of Oak Bay high school. We bond over that and Duffy talks about kissing Colin Mochrie on the lips twice, being a bad waiter, Lev Kuleshov, and we see how he stacks up in the list of things improvisers should do besides improvising.
Iliza Shlesinger can't get enough of us. Or maybe it's the other way around. This is her third visit to the program. Run out of topics? Never. The woman's got an opinion on everything. We talked about her dating life, Judaism, hipsterism, and lots more all crammed into one tight super-cute 40-minute episode.
Kyle Bottom is the last guest in the old What's So Funny? studios. Fitting seeing as Vancouver's Villain (as he likes to call himself) was on his way out of town forever. Or until September. We'll see how he likes Toronto. If you love anime, this is the episode for you. If not, there are plenty other points of interest for you.
Shirley Gnome and her guitar return after less than two months after her previous appearance. That's how good she is. She's got more new dirty ditties to sing. It's a seemingly endless supply of smut. It was totally hot. Possibly because the studio was a sauna on that night, hitting 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Donovan Patrick Mahoney wasn't afraid to venture into our Downtown East Side studios. It's a neighbourhood he spent a lot of time in during his years as a heroin addict. He tells us his harrowing tale, from childhood to OD'ing to getting clean and getting into comedy. This episode brought to you by 9Lives.
Ross Dauk has been a long-time listener to What's So Funny? dating back to his days as a park ranger. But Ranger Ross is a standup comic now and a legitimate guest in his own right. Once Dauk spilt a full beer on me at a show but all is forgiven. We talk about Saskatchewan babes, encounters with grizzly bears, and overcoming shyness. This episode brought to you by Graham Clark's beard.
Shauna Johannesen and James Danderfer are the husband and wife team behind the hit Crazy8s short film, Bedbugs: A Musical Love Story. Shauna wrote the script and lyrics as well as starring in it, while James came up with the story and wrote all the music. In their separate lives, Shauna is an actress (she was the "Shut the front door!" lady in the A and W commercials) while James is one of the country's top jazz musicians. In this episode, we get to hear all four songs from the movie.
John Cullen is a man with passions. He loves standup comedy, curling, teaching and music equally. And it shows in this episode. We review Bill Burr, talk about Shakespeare, sweeping, bad poetry, good magic, his comedian uncle, and first dates gone wrong. Joining us in studio is teacher and curling fan Jack Showers to translate for me.
Mounties paid us a visit in this episode. Not the RCMP, but the Canadian supergroup featuring Hawksley Workman, Ryan Dahle, and Steve Bays. We talked about funny dads, memorizing comedy routines, the ugly side of the music business, Hall and Oates, boogie-woogie, the name 'Squamish', and growing up in the '40s. Rock on.
Kwasi Thomas joins us to talk about growing up black in Canada. He also lists what he misses and doesn't miss about his hometown of Montreal, reminisces about the idyllic Trinidad, discusses performing drunk, and he proudly trumpets his love for Celine Dion. We also play a track from his hero Montreal comic David Pryde's album, Googly.
Shirley Gnome returns, this time with Dino Archie asking the questions. It's just like the old days of The Tonight Show when guest hosts would occasionally take over. Shirley and Dino break out the booze and have a rip-roaring good time, taking jabs at the sick regular host who wasn't there to defend himself. And Shirley brings her guitar and serenades us all.
Mike Storck returns for his third visit to our studios. It's a long way from Baltimore. He missed us in 2013 for some unknown reason. The whole year was a bit of a haze for him. He talks about being at a crossroads in his career, the difference between doing racial material in Canada and the U.S., and, of course, Rob Ford.
Peter Carlone and Chris Wilson, aka Peter'N'Chris, are our first guests of 2014. The sketch duo talk about auditioning for theatre school, creating sketches through Skype, preparing for the upcoming (now past) Vancouver Sketch Festival, and brainstorm a documentary called Peter'N'Chris and the Search for MacGuffin.
