It's Harry Doupe time again, boys and girls! What a great way to finish off another fine calendar year. I'll do the tallying up and list of guests in 2013 in the next day or two, but I think we'll clock in at 35, which is low for us but still a respectable number. Tonight, though, we'll catch up with Harry, who's moved back home after years and years and years (we'll find out just how many). We'll also find out how his Calgary baby, the YYComedy Festival, is going. And no doubt Harry will have some choice words about the industry he's been a part of for the past 30-odd years, as he always does. For years he gave the annual "Statelessness of the Industry" address at the Canadian Comedy Awards. He doesn't anymore, so this is his chance to get stuff off his chest!
So tune in tonight to CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5 FM at 11pm. That's Vancouver time, natch. Those of you cursed with living outside Metro Vancouver, you can always livestream us at coopradio.org. It's the next best thing to being here.
A radio show/podcast about comedy – on the air and in your ears since 2004. That's a long time. Nominated for the 2013 Canadian Comedy Awards, Best Podcast and the 2018 Vancouver Comedy Awards, Best Comedy Podcast. Hosted by Georgia Straight comedy writer Guy MacPherson.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Episode 335ish: Marion Grodin
Two in one week! We're out of control. Yes, here's yet another podcast episode of What's So Funny? This one features Marion Grodin. The New York standup thinks I have an accent, not her! Now that's funny! While admiring my red shoes in her hotel suite, she told us all about her troubled youth filled with drugs and alcohol. We also hear some cool stories about her hanging out on the sets of some very famous movies her dad, Charles, starred in. Oh, and in case you don't pick up on this during the interview, she's written a book: Standing Up: A Memoir of a Funny (Not Always) Life.
So have a listen. As I mentioned in the last post, we're back up and running on iTunes (although this episode isn't yet up there as I write unless you subscribe to the show). We're also available on Stitcher. And PodcastLand. And right here.
So have a listen. As I mentioned in the last post, we're back up and running on iTunes (although this episode isn't yet up there as I write unless you subscribe to the show). We're also available on Stitcher. And PodcastLand. And right here.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Podcast episode 334ish: Ed Hill
Good news, people: We're back on iTunes. Did you miss us? Of course, iTunes being iTunes, our latest episode isn't there yet -- it usually takes a day or two so be patient. What you'll eventually get there (and what you can get right now below) is our episode with Ed Hill. It was his first visit to What's So Funny?, and Ed told us his story of emigrating to Canada from Taiwan, wrecking cars, travelling the world performing comedy, taking the infamous comedy seminar with Kyle Cease and Louie Anderson, and a bunch more.
As I say, have a listen here. Another immediate option is PodcastLand. Or go check it out on iTunes or Stitcher within the next day or two.
As I say, have a listen here. Another immediate option is PodcastLand. Or go check it out on iTunes or Stitcher within the next day or two.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Dec. 15: Marion Grodin
Tonight on radio we've got the only guest, so far as I know, who was told to get into standup by none other than Robert DeNiro. Not sure any other guest we've had can claim that. Or anyone else, period. Marion Grodin was in town in support of her book Standing Up: A Memoir of a Funny (Not Always) Life, where she talks about overcoming such hurdles as drug addiction, divorce, cancer, growing into her own person, and growing up the daughter of a celebrity. Okay, that last one was pretty sweet as her dad is the great actor, and hilarious dude, Charles Grodin. With a father like him, it's no wonder she got into standup comedy. We'll cover all those topics tonight.
It all starts at 11 pm PT on CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5 FM. If you're outside the city, you can livestream us at coopradio.org. Or you can simply wait a week and download the podcast when it comes out (and good news: we're back on iTunes!).
It all starts at 11 pm PT on CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5 FM. If you're outside the city, you can livestream us at coopradio.org. Or you can simply wait a week and download the podcast when it comes out (and good news: we're back on iTunes!).
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Dec. 8: Ed Hill
The listeners have been clamouring for a live in-studio guest and tonight they get their wish. Okay, one listener called in and asked when we'd have a live guest again, but I'm sure he represented thousands of other listeners. Checking the records, I see our last live one was September 22 when Ryan Hamilton paid us a visit. Tonight we've got a local boy making his first ever What's So Funny? appearance. Local by way of Taiwan, actually, but it's been 18 years so we're safe in saying he's from Vancouver. He is, as his website tells us, "100% Canasian." Ed Hill has a new CD out and we'll play a track or two from it tonight. And we'll find out all there is to know about the man. For instance, I didn't know until right now that Ed has performed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, Chapel Hill (North Carolina), and Boston. I'm sure I'll find out more tonight. As will you.
We're on the air at 11 pm PT on CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5 FM. Livestream us at coopradio.org. Go ahead, I dare you.
We're on the air at 11 pm PT on CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5 FM. Livestream us at coopradio.org. Go ahead, I dare you.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Podcast episode 333ish: Alex Nussbaum
Alex Nussbaum made his What's So Funny? debut last week. In case you missed it, or if you just wanted to download it for posterity, here's the podcast version. We talked about being shamefully unilingual, Hebrew school vs public school, growing up a nerd in the traditional sense of the word, why Los Angeles beats out Toronto, making silly voices for a living, and how he just can't quit standup. Lots more, too.
We still haven't resolved the iTunes conundrum so don't look for us there yet. But we're on Stitcher now, if that helps (give us a rating, too. That also helps). Also I just found it on musicgoal.com. And, of course, our host comedycouch.com is where you'll find all past episodes.
We still haven't resolved the iTunes conundrum so don't look for us there yet. But we're on Stitcher now, if that helps (give us a rating, too. That also helps). Also I just found it on musicgoal.com. And, of course, our host comedycouch.com is where you'll find all past episodes.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Eddie Izzard interview
Mr. Eddie Izzard is playing his second of two nights in town tonight. And I won't be seeing him. But that's okay because I've seen him lots over the years. And interviewed him lots over the years. Three times, to be exact, which counts as lots in my book. Never met the man, though. But he seems totally cool and chill over the phone. Here, see for yourself. Our conversation from a couple weeks ago. We talk about his Canadian roots (of a sort), playing arenas, and performing in different languages, among other things:
Eddie Izzard
Nov. 14, 2013
"It’s also a pissing contest between us and rock’n’roll. I mean, why should rock’n’roll be able to play not only arenas but stadiums whenever they want to and we have to ask permission if we’re allowed to play arenas? It’s all kind of odd." – Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard:
Hello?
Guy MacPherson: Hello,
Mr. Izzard.
EI: Hi, how are
you?
GM: Good. Finally we
connect.
EI: Yes.
GM: I’ve interviewed you
a couple of times. I hear your name pronounced ‘IZ-ARD’ and ‘IZ-erd’.
I’ve always said ‘IZ-erd.’ Which is correct?
EI: Most people
in North America find it easier to say ‘IZ-erd’ but my father, when he picks up
the phone, says, ‘IZ-ARD speaking.’ That’s exactly what he says. Not
‘Iz-ARD’ because a lot of people in North America want to hit the second
syllable really hard, but ‘IZ-ARD’ hitting the first syllable. But I
don’t really give a monkey’s between that one and ‘IZ-erd.’
GM: Okay. Got it. I’ve
talked to you twice before and this is the first time I’ve learned, reading the
notes, that you spent time as a teen in Canada. Why didn’t you ever mention
that to me before?
EI: I’ve
mentioned it to everyone I could. I thought it was getting a bit long in the
tooth. It’s not like every time I talk to someone I’ve got to mention this. It
revolves around I almost died in Lake Ontario. A woman called Alex – she was
Alex Christmas back then and she now lives in New Brunswick. I was hoping she
was going to come and see me when I was in Halifax, but I realized it was quite
a long way away. But anyway, yes, they’re coming to the gig on Friday night.
Ralph and Sally and Val Christmas. They have this crazy family. But yeah, two
months when I was nine I was a Canadian kid. And that was long enough that by
the end of it to feel like you’re Canadian. I mean, I was playing baseball and
doing paper rounds, and swimming in the loch and fishing. The only time I’ve
ever done fishing in my entire life and I got really into it. It sort of
started from nowhere and stopped after two months.
GM: What brought you over?
EI: Two of my
dad’s school friends emigrated to Ontario; one to Toronto, and Val and John
Christmas had moved to Cambleford, just north of Belleville. They had six kids
and they were up for taking on two more. Dad was working for BP and had to be
in Montreal for a month. So it was a big summer holiday. He worked out this
thing that he would go to Montreal for a month and we would live with the
family for a month, just on our own with them, and then he’d turn up and it
would be him and us with the entire family for the second month. It was just a
wonderful, wonderful time.
GM: Who knew?! You’re one
of us!
EI: Yes, I have
this strong link to Canada. Normally British people get known in Canada quite
well and they struggle to get known in America. And I’m playing Madison Square
Gardens and the Hollywood Bowl in America and I’m still having to hack my way
up the mountain in Canada. So it’s slightly back to front. But it’s good. I’m
touring and I’m playing four nights at Massey Hall in Toronto. It’s getting there.
I’d like to play everywhere so people go, ‘Yeah, that English guy. Yeah, we
know him.’
GM: I find that
surprising, because we’ve always embraced British culture. I think we watched
Monty Python before the Americans fully embraced it. But you’re playing big
theatres here, let’s not kid ourselves.
EI: I know what
the difference is. It’s that Monty Python was on television so people could get
it, they could watch it, and it would come around the next week and they’d pick
it up. And in America my real breakthrough was when HBO endlessly played Dressed to Kill to death. And it got two
Emmys and that kind of stuff. That sort of kicked me through it, that one
thing. And I’ve never really pushed it on television again. I didn’t want to
because I wanted to do drama roles, like I’m now doing Hannibal Lecter, also filming
in Canada, here in Toronto. The position I’ve got where I can do a dramatic
role and then go and do a surreal comedy tour, one right next to the other, is
because I haven’t pushed the comedy on television. I never had the big TV
series. So in Canada, that’s my problem. It’s like an advantage and a
disadvantage at the same time.
GM: You’re playing Hannibal
Lecter?
EI: No, I’m in
the TV series playing Dr. Gideon. Dr. Abel Gideon, who is the pretender to the
throne of Hannibal Lecter.
GM: I see. And it’s a TV
series for who?
EI: It’s NBC.
It’s playing on a Canadian channel at the moment. It’s Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh
Dancy and Laurence Fishburne and a bunch of really good people.
GM: And it’s already on,
you say?
EI: Yeah, it’s in
its second season. We’re filming the second season now. I just filmed another
two episodes of season two.
GM: Wow, I should watch
more TV.
EI: Yes. It’s
dark and twisted. It’s just called Hannibal.
GM: You mentioned Madison
Square Gardens and the Hollywood Bowl. Those are huge. I’ve seen a couple shows
in arenas: I saw Dane Cook and Russell Peters. You’re on that level now where
you can play those kinds of venues. Does it just become a big pissing contest
among comedians as to who can play the biggest venue?
EI: Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. I mean, it’s got ego in there. But it’s also a
pissing contest between us and rock’n’roll. I mean, why should rock’n’roll be
able to play not only arenas but stadiums whenever they want to and we have to
ask permission if we’re allowed to play arenas? It’s all kind of odd. And if
you look at it, Russell Peters plays arenas, Dane Cook does – I’m not sure if
he’s done a recent arena tour – I do. There’s about ten comedians in Britain
doing it but there’s not many more in America doing it. There’s quite a number
that could but they choose not to. And getting good at doing arenas, you have
to do a whole bunch of them so that you can really have a sense of what the
trick is to play it: how to play it so that you’re filling that space as opposed
to just looking like you’re swimming around in it. I like playing really small
venues. Like, after this tour, which is in theatres, I’m going to go to Germany
and do standup in German in a 100-200 seater.
GM: In German?
EI: In German.
GM: I guess every type of
venue has its pluses and minuses.
EI: Yup, that is
true. The bigger venues you do have to arrive and have a presence. Smaller
venues are like a speedboat and bigger venues are like an ocean liner. You have
to sort of wait for the laughs; your timing has to be slightly different. But
you can get in a speedboat and then get out of that and get into an ocean liner
and do that. You can do both. I love the ability to do both. Because I don’t
have a television series. Some people go, ‘Who is this guy? Is that toilet
cleaner, Eddie Izzard? I don’t know what that does.’ But if you say I’m doing
Madison Square Garden and Hollywood Bowl, they go, ‘Oh!’
GM: ‘He must be
somebody.’
EI: That’s a nice
little counter to put out because I’m not doing X Factor, Y Factor, this thing
on telly, that reality show. I have to really bat above my weight and playing
arenas is kind of handy for that.
GM: You mentioned rock
bands. They have this wall of sound. You’re just one voice and one person.
EI: Yes, they do
have the wall of sound. But really good sound people and the screen take
everything to the back. At Hollywood Bowl, the best place to watch is from the
back. It actually looks amazing from the back. I use regression of technology.
If you’ve been to any rock concerts in arenas and especially stadiums, they do
a lot of editing and vision mixing. They cut to the guitar, they’ll cut to
Keith Richards, they’ll cut to this and cut to that. In the end, you might be
essentially watching television in a big field. And what I do I call regression
of technology: We take two cameras, one which is essentially a backup for the
first one. So in essence it’s just the one camera and it shoots a full shot
that is placed in the centre of the big vertical screen. So there’s a small me
and a big version of me standing behind, just like in the iconic Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane shot. And on either side
there are two half-versions of me. And the camera just stays with you and pans
with you. So you choose what you’re editing. It never zooms in, it never zooms
out. It doesn’t get wide, it doesn’t cut to the people in the audience or
anything. It just shoots it. So if you’re at the back or the front, you see the
same gig. And that way, you’re the editor.
GM: I see. But you don’t
have that on this tour because it’s theatres.
EI: No, people
don’t need to worry about that. In the end, I’d like to play arenas all around
the world but I have to keep building it up in different countries where I’m
known. So like in Germany, I’m hardly known, whereas in Canada I’m quite well
known and in America I’m very well known, in Britain I’m well known, and
Scandinavia I’m fairly well known. So it’s all different countries at different
levels. So I just have to keep building it up.
GM: When a lot of British
comics visit other countries, it’s usually to ex-pat audiences. But you’re
going to Germany and performing in German so it’s not going to be for the
ex-pats.
EI: No, I refuse
to play ex-pats. I don’t mind if ex-pats come but it’s got to have a majority
indigenous people. So I’m going to be playing Shanghai next year and Tokyo,
Japan, Kathmandu, India… I don’t mind if some Brits or English speakers come
along, like Americans or Canadians or Irish or Australians, but as long as the
majority are locals, then that’s working. I mean, English is this lingua franca. It’s no longer our
language that we own; it’s the language that we sort of started off with and
then it’s been given to the world as the gift of the most simple communication
that we can work out on its basic level. That’s great. It’s for everyone to
play with and everyone to do business with and hopefully to make friends with.
I’m already touring France in French and I’m playing Montreal in French.
GM: When you’re playing,
say Japan or Shanghai, that it is a lot of locals in attendance? How can you
control that when when you’re not performing in Mandarin or Japanese?
EI: It’s a little
difficult up front. I played Russia – St. Petersburg – and that was about 100%
Russians. We talk to the guys and say, ‘How much English is spoken out there?’
Because we want to be there. And they’d already had an Irish comedian, Dylan
Moran, who’d played out there. So they already knew that the Russians were
going to show up. So there were about a thousand people in St. Petersburg, 1500
in Moscow. So in Shanghai, what we do is we look for promoters, we see what’s
going on on the ground. Like I know in Tokyo they’ve already got a lot of
Japanese standups. And I was talking to a Japanese woman who was doing my nails
yesterday, so she was, as I am a transvestite and I get my nails done. I said,
‘Do the kids speak English in Tokyo?’ I just ask people who I meet. I said,
‘What about in Tokyo University?’ ‘Oh, yes, they speak more English there.’ So
that’s the first place you head; you head to the university. Or you find a
promoter who says, ‘Yeah, I’m already doing that. And we estimate you can do
this and you can do that.’ So we take their advice and then we go and do a
look-see. Like, I was in Dubai and I went and saw a friend who was playing
there, Al Murray, a British comedian, and it was 100% Brits there. 100%. And I
thought I don’t want to do Dubai under that. Because I was born in Yemen. I
wish to learn Arabic and play Cairo and then play Lebanon and then build it up from
there: Morocco – Marrakesh – would be a good place to play. And if I learned
the Cairo Egyptian Arabic, that’s the best one to learn because apparently they
use it in the films. So I’m constantly meeting people, I bump into them in the
street and I say, ‘What’s the situation? Can I do it in English? Will the
locals come, if I go to the university, does that work?’ Because any
university, the kids are just going to be grabbing English by the handful.
They’re going to be ambitious – they wouldn’t have got to university if they
weren’t ambitious. And they’re going to realize that English is the first
language to learn as a backup and it can widen their horizons. So it’s just
logic. You put it in there. The big thing is I know that comedy is
international and not national. That’s my big theory. And I think I’ve proved
this correct. The mainstream Canadian comedy will talk about Rob Ford, will
talk about the mayors of Montreal and what’s going on politically and with the
sports stars; the mainstream British guy would do the equivalent, and the
American would do the equivalent. But the alternatives like us will talk about
dinosaurs and God and squirrels with guns and helicopters that can play banjo
or whatever it is. And you go to Russia and they go, ‘Yeah, this is stupid.
Yeah, we understand it. We’ve got dinosaurs.’
GM: You talk about Star
Wars but that’s universal now. But you’re
also talking about Greek mythology and chaos theory. You just need to be a
human to understand it. I also like that you don’t talk down to people who
might not even know what chaos theory is or anything about Greek mythology.
Obviously you make it palatable. Some comics have strong interests in some
topics but think they can’t do it on stage because no one would get it. But you
make it so they get it, or can at least enjoy it.
EI: Well, I
assume the intelligence of the audience. And there was a logical self-policing
of the public. And Python smashed the
doors open around the world. And I’ve checked around the world. As I was
playing Eastern Europe, I said, ‘You guys have Python?’ And they’d say, ‘Yay!’ And I was phoning Michael Palin and
Terry Jones and saying, ‘They’re screaming for you guys.’ I mean, I’m in
Zagreb, I’m in Belgrade. That’s it: Assume the intelligence of the audience and
the bright ones, or anyone who’s autodidactic or been to university or
whatever, and they like this kind of stuff and they’re progressive in politics,
they will dig it. And they’ll say, ‘Freddy, you gotta come. Siobhan, you’ll
love this.’ And they drag others to it. And that’s how it works. Wheras right
wing extremists are gonna go, ‘That guy’s a liberal and he likes people; we
like killing people. Let’s not go to that show. Let’s go to the I Want To Kill
People show.’
GM: And the politics
you’re talking about are not at a local or national level; it’s more sort of
issues relating to any human.
EI: Yeah,
exactly. Because in the end, we were 30,000 people, 10,000 people two-hundred
thousand years ago. And now we’re seven billion. We’re all the bloody same. And
just right wing press separates us out into separate things. But we’re all the
bloody same.
GM: Did I read you wanted
to be mayor?
EI: Yup. Not like
the Toronto mayor. More in a different style.
GM: You’d get in your own
trouble, though.
EI: (laughs)
Well, they’ll say, ‘Aren’t you a transvestite?’ and I’ll go, ‘Yes’ and they’ll
go, ‘Oh, that’s fine.’
GM: Yeah, as long as you
own it, I guess.
EI: Well, that’s
it but I think that’s what Rob Ford is trying to do in retrospect, saying,
‘Yeah, I smoke crack. And I’ll be in work tomorrow.’ And you go, ‘Well, hang
on, no, you gotta do something else.’ So yeah, I’ll tell them I’m a
transvestite and what else? There’s nothing else, really, to come out after
that. I like running marathons and I’ll paint my nails and I can do things out
of the box, I’m ambitious and I want everyone else to be ambitious if they want
to and I’m a radical centrist. And they’ve already done polling on it, which is
a great thing. The Evening-Standard in Britain put me into a poll with other
Labour candidates and I came out pretty good.
GM: Is it going to
happen?
EI: Yeah, I’m
running in 2020. I’ve already stated this. For Member of Parliament or Mayor of
London in 2020. But there’s an election in 2016 for the mayor and I’ve been put
into that poll and I’d do pretty good if I run in 2016. And there’s a general
election in 2015. So I’ll be an activist up to that point then I’ll go for
election.
GM: I know you’re
involved with Unicef. You’re a funny guy and you think absurdly and at times
you want to be serious. Does that ever cause confusion among people?
EI: I think as
soon as I told everyone I was a transvestite, that’s so bloody serious. Some
people think British men always want to throw on a dress, which isn’t very
true. Transgendered people get beaten up as in any other country. But we do
have this pantomime thing, that I think in Canada you have as well. But as soon
as I started telling people I was a transvestite, it was so serious, it was so
crossing the line. I mean, Boy George didn’t say he was gay for ages. But I was saying straight off the bat I’m a
transvestite and I don’t look terribly girly, either, so it’s a bit of a
struggle. So they could realize it was all kinda serious. And it wasn’t part of
the comedy, either. I wasn’t doing transvestite comedy; I was just doing
surreal comedy and I happened to be wearing a dress or whatever. So that helped
me get a serious platform. And then I started talking about European politics,
which is the hardest thing to talk about in the United Kingdom. It’s like an
American going up and saying socialism is an interesting thing to have a look
at. And I don’t know what the equivalent is in Canada. I suppose it’s like the
French part separating or something weird. It’s such a difficult touchstone. So
transvestite and then I started talking about Europe and that was a lot of
seriousness in there. And I’ve been campaigning in elections since 2008 quite
actively. So it’s only four different election cycles I’ve been through. So
everyone knows I’m serious and that’s okay. They’ve allowed me to do that,
along with running marathons. I’ve always stuck to my guns. I haven’t gone,
‘Hey, I’m into this! No, I’m actually into cheese now! No, free everything for
everyone!’ And I don’t say I hate politicians; I think we’ve got to have
politicians. There’s a lot of politicians trying to do some good stuff. So I’m
trying to put a practical thing on it and see what I can practically do to try
and help.
GM: Russell Brand will
say don’t vote.
EI: I know Russell’s
into that. And that’s cool for Russell to do that. And it’s good for him to
have his say. I’m saying do
vote. I’m trying to be practical on the thing. I don’t feel we get anywhere by
everyone not voting. And I don’t feel all politicians are all trying to do terrible.
I don’t think all businessmen are trying to do terrible things. So I’m trying
to encourage ethical business and ethical politics. And try not to smoke crack.
GM: Good luck with that.
EI: Yeah, I know.
He seems to be a barrel of laughs. Anyway.
GM: Once you get involved
in politics, the crack is next.
EI: Yeah, I know.
I was thinking to go into politics and I always had in my mind probably not a
good idea to smoke crack.
GM: On your Twitter
account, you say you think like an American. How does an American think?
EI: Well, if I
analyze that down, what I was trying to say was I think like an economic
migrant. I think America has a distillation of that. Canada could be the same.
Australia could be the same. New Zealand… a number of countries. Well, maybe
those three. But America really crystalized it in this, ‘Come, you can go for
it. Anyone can go for it. Let’s go! Let’s build it! Let’s think out of the
box.’ And that’s what I mean by it. But I also wanted to associate myself with
Democratic Americans, as opposed to Republican Americans or, I suppose, the Tea
Party Americans. So I put it down. I was thinking I should change it to ‘like
an economic migrant’, someone who wants to go build it. Because I’m touring in
France now in French and that is so huge because it’s 200 years since the
Battle of Waterloo and a thousand years since William the Conqueror. And I’m
touring France! I just think it’s so beautiful. It’s politics with an open
hand; you reach out with an open hand. And the French are going, ‘This is
really groovy! This guy’s doing it in our language.’ And again, it’s
self-policing, self-promoting because the cool people are saying, ‘Hey, you’ve
got to come and see this English guy. He’s doing it in French. It’s not
brilliant French but it’s pretty damn good and he’s making people laugh.’ And
my video is available online for $5 or €5. I loved it. And German’s going to be
great, too, because of all the history: Second World War, First World War, all
that stuff. German’s are now doing it in English. French have now started doing
it in English. The Russians are doing it in English. And the Italians as
well. It’s all changing and it’s all
happening in the UK at the moment, these language jumps. It’s amazing. It’s
stunning. I just think it’s wonderful and such a positive human thing. The
Russians are doing it in English! And the French! Less so for the Germans to do
it in English, but for the French to do it in English. It’s just going to be
beautiful.
GM: Do you know Sugar
Sammy?
EI: No, I don’t
know.
GM: He’s a Canadian
comic. He’s Indo-Canadian, born and raised in Montreal, so he speaks and
performs in English, Punjabi and French.
EI: Yeah, I think
I have heard of him, actually. And he does standup in three languages?
GM: For different audiences,
yeah.
EI: That’s
excellent. That’s really good. Some people are bilingual or trilingual, and
that’s good to a certain extent, but it’s even better if people hack their way
into a language and not be a natural speaker because then you can really feel
the sweat and you can feel the journey they’ve taken.
GM: You perform just in
those three languages or are there more?
EI: No. At the
moment it’s just English, I’m pretty good at French now so I’m touring in that,
German I’m just beginning. January and February will be the German ones. Then
once I get German, I’ll do Spanish. Once I’ve got Spanish, I’ll do Russian.
Once I’ve got Russian, I’ll do Arabic.
GM: I read your
biographical chapters on your website. Is this going to be a book?
EI: No, I think
that was from a book. There was a touring book when I toured America big time
in 1998, so I think that’s from 1998. So there is one book out, which is
supposed to be a tour book and I think the book company turned it into an
autobiography and I said, ‘No, no, that wasn’t how I planned it.’ And I talked
to this really good journalist but then he took himself out of it and then it
became like this autobiography. So it was a little bit weird but anyway that’s
what that is. A real autobiography will come at the end of my days.
GM: You don’t know when
that’s going to be, though.
EI: I know, but
I’m going to do a US Grant at the end of it. I’ll do it right at the end.
GM: I read in there you
have an older brother. What did he do?
EI: He teaches me
the languages. He’s going to be there with me in Germany. He’s my tutor in
French and German and Spanish, as he speaks those three. And then I’m going to
drag him into Russian. We’re going to learn Russian together. And then we’re
both, as we were both born in Yemen, we will learn Arabic in Cairo. It’s a
beautiful journey to do with your brother.
GM: What did he do for
work?
EI: Languages is
his thing. A translator.
GM: So your family always
got a kick out of watching you perform through the years and get famous?
EI: Not hugely. I
mean, initially there was a distinct resistance. My dad was always kind of cool
on it. My step-mother was less into it. And I was doing accounting and
financial management so, ‘Do that, don’t do this. It’s crazy.’ And it wasn’t
working, either. But once it started working, then everything’s been fine. And
dad was always saying, ‘As long as you’re happy.’ And now my step-mother’s
happy about it as well.
GM: You travel all over
the world. Do you get to spend any quality time anywhere or is it all hotel
rooms and onto the next place?
EI: It’s a little
bit of hotel rooms and stuff, but we do try and do things in different towns
and cities and look first at the history. I’m a big history buff so I do like
looking into big chunks of history lying about the place. In Boston we were
doing tours of Lexington and Concord. I was just saying to my promoter in
America I’d like to play Gettysburg. He said, ‘I’ll look into it. I’ll find a
venue.’ So that would be great. And we visited Shiloh when we were going down
past Nashville. So I like looking around. The Eastern European countries are
great to visit because there’s so much of that, hundreds of years of history.
GM: Not as much history
in Vancouver. But you’ve got two nights here so you’ve got to get out at some
point.
EI: Yes, I have
to get in that speed boat and go up the river and visit those places that you
can do. You’ve got speed boats.
GM: You did that in the
‘90s here, didn’t you?
EI: Yes, I know.
I like doing it. It’s like the thing I do because I just can’t believe that you
can say, ‘Yeah, I can drive a speed boat.’ ‘Okay, get in. Off you go.’ It just
seems so weird. Because we have rowing boats in England and you have to say,
‘Can you row a rowing boat? Yes, I can. Alright.’ ‘Pedalo. Can you do a pedalo?
Yeah, I can do that. Alright, you can go in that duck pond.’ Whereas in
Vancouver you can say yes you can go in this huge river.
GM: It’s the ocean.
EI: Yeah, the one
I went up was a river.
GM: Well don’t fall in
like you did in Lake Ontario.
EI: No. Well,
that was more just the rip tide pulling me back out. I was dragged out of the
water. I screamed help. And initially I was thinking I can’t say help because
of British embarrassment. It’s too embarrassing to say help. And then I was
like, ‘Nope. Fucking help!’
GM: Yeah, it’s too hack
to yell help.
EI: Now I think
it’s funny. Not funny, but it was true. I was not in a good place and I was
dragged out of the water.
GM: Did you keep in
contact with that girl through the years?
EI: With the family.
There was a gap and then I came back and started playing Canada and filming in
Canada. And I’ve been in touch with them ever since. Me and my brother went
back I think it was two years ago. We went back to the house up in Cambleford
north of Belleville and we all hung out there. My brother brought his kids. So
it was great. And they’re coming to the show on Friday.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Dec. 1: Alex Nussbaum
Wow, December already? Seems like it happens every year around this time. Crazy. Tonight we've got a first-timer but a comic I've seen a few times over the years. He always makes me laugh. Toronto standup Alex Nussbaum took some time off performing live in favour or doing voice-over work and writing on kid shows. But he's back doing what he should be doing. He lived for a few years down in LA before having to come home, but he's trying to get back down to Hollywood where he feels he belongs. Alex was headlining Yuk Yuk's last week and I sat down with him in his hotel room for this episode. He did not impersonate a goose so your ears are safe.
We start at 11 pm on CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio, 100.5 FM. You can livestream us at coopradio.org, too, if you like. Or wait a week to get the podcast.
We start at 11 pm on CFRO, Vancouver Co-op Radio, 100.5 FM. You can livestream us at coopradio.org, too, if you like. Or wait a week to get the podcast.
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