This was a long time coming. Sorry about that. But it's sweeter with the wait, isn't it? I had one email from a listener asking when we'd get the episode up. And I spoke to one comic who couldn't wait for the podcast so he cheated by going to the radio station archives. Unfortunately, that only records the first hour and this puppy went about 90 minutes. So here it is in all its glory.
Harry Doupe was our last live guest of 2013. He recently moved back to BC after 20 years living in Toronto. He spoke of his hoarding, told us what it's like working as a writer on the Junos, the Geminis and for the Olympics, we tested his encyclopedic knowledge of sports and music, and he tells tales of Paula Poundstone, Mike Bullard, Robbie Robertson, Burton Cummings, Stan Mikita, Norm Macdonald, and David Foster.
In case you've forgotten how to do this, you can listen right here and right now by clicking below, or you can head on over to Stitcher or iTunes or Podcastland. The podcast world is your oyster. We're good to go at all those places.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Stewart Francis interview
One of my favourite comedians is in town this week. Stewart Francis hasn't been here since 2008. He hasn't been anywhere in Canada, in fact, other than on vacation. Certainly not in a club. But he's tearing it up in the UK, where he's lived since 2006. He plays Yuk Yuk's on Cambie tomorrow (Jan. 23) through Saturday (Jan. 25). He's not playing anywhere else in the country on this trip, either. By the sounds of it, I'm not certain he ever will. So I'd highly recommend checking him out. Here's a phone interview I did with him two weeks ago.
Stewart Francis
January 9, 2014
"We don’t have a star system in Canada for the arts so all of us have to go further afield to find success. That’s disappointing but having said that I’m grateful for the way it’s turned out for me." – Stewart Francis
Stewart Francis:
Hello?
Guy MacPherson: Stewart
Francis! This is Guy MacPherson in Vancouver.
SF: Hi Guy
MacPherson in Vancouver. How are you?
GM: I’m well. How are
you?
SF: Good, thank
you.
GM: What city are you in?
SF: Just outside
of Edinburgh.
GM: Are you touring there
or do you live there?
SF: We’ve got a
little place up here. We live in London but we just come up here to see some
family members and go to a rugby game on Saturday.
GM: Are you a big rugby
fan?
SF: Uh, yes. It’s
a good excuse to hang out with my uncle. And the local team’s doing good, too.
GM: I’m glad you’re
coming back here. It’s been a few years. Are you performing elsewhere or just
in Vancouver?
SF: Just in
Vancouver. First club date in seven years in Canada.
GM: When did I write
about you?
SF: It’d probably
be 2006. That’s when I did my cross-country tour.
GM: You know when it was?
It was the festival and it was 2008.
SF: 2008? Oh
really. That was the festival. I wasn’t actually booked into a club for a
weekend. This is the first in seven years because we left in 2006.
GM: Yeah, you had left
already. You were playing Lafflines out in New West.
SF: Yeah. Anyway,
this is the first time in ages. Let’s not fall out over this, Guy.
GM: The time in 2006 was
when you, Garry [Yuill, the current franchise owner of Yuk Yuk’s Vancouver] and I went and had coffee together between shows.
SF: That’s right.
GM: And now look at him!
SF: He was so
impressed by what he saw, he bought it.
GM: He’s like Viktor Kiam,
the razor guy. But it’s funny how now he owns a Yuk Yuk’s.
SF: Yeah. He’s
always been a funny fellow. I could see that in him when we played baseball
together in Toronto. I didn’t know what he did for a living, quite honestly.
GM: Well, I’m excited you’re
coming because you’re one of my favourites.
SF: Oh nice.
GM: You told me after I
wrote that review on you last time that it was the first review in Canada you’d
ever received.
SF: Yeah, if I
said it, it was true. We’d get previews. That’d probably be the extent of it,
that so-and-so is coming to town. If you’re lucky to get that because previews
would kind of suggest that people had heard of the person. But that was the
first genuine review.
GM: That is nuts. And
you’d been a comic 20 years already. And was that the last review you got in
Canada.
SF: In Canada,
yeah. Over here it’s a different scene altogether.
GM: Oh, I know. That’s
what I was getting at. You move to England and you’re written about all the
time, you’re on TV all the time. It’s remarkable.
SF: Thank you.
It’s kind of what I hoped would have happened in my home and native land but as
you well know, we don’t have a star system in Canada for the arts so all of us
have to go further afield to find success. That’s disappointing but having said
that I’m grateful for the way it’s turned out for me.
GM: Canadians want that
acceptance that some other group likes them first. Have you found that here or
do they still ignore you?
SF: Not ignore
me. The word I use is adorable, without sounding too arrogant. I recently went
back to Toronto and I was in the lift, or elevator, and the guy I was on the
elevator with turned to me and said, ‘You a comedian?’ I said yeah. And he
said, ‘I’m a huge fan of yours.’ And I said, ‘Oh, thanks!’ And he said, ‘What’s
your name again?’ And that just really sums it up. We know what we like in
Canada, obviously. I said, ‘Thanks, I appreciate it.’ I wasn’t offended; I
found it quite funny. But technically if you’re a huge fan of someone’s, you
would know their name, I would have thought. But it just kind of summed Canada
up for me in a way, if I needed any summation. We’re really good, we’re really
a talented bunch, but to find that success, we have to travel.
GM: Glen Foster is ‘That
Canadian Guy’ because people don’t know his name.
SF: I think Glen
did that when he started coming over here to the UK. It doesn’t make that much
sense when he’s back in Canada on a show with three or four other Canadians.
But he probably had the t-shirts printed so he’s gotta go with ‘That Canadian
Guy.’ But it made far more sense over here when you go to the comedy club and
who did you like? ‘Oh, I liked that Canadian guy.’ As opposed to the Irish guy
or the English woman. So it made sense.
GM: I know you often tour
with Craig [Campbell] and Glenn [Wool]. They’re what I picture when I think of
Canadian comics in England. You’re the outlier, the different one. They’re
lumberjack-looking guys. But you’re the sophisticate.
SF: Exactly. When
we did Edinburgh two years ago, I grew a beard. That was my contribution to
looking like a lumberjack. I wore a plaid shirt. I tried. But they’re
definitely more the rough-and-tumble looking, beautifully disheveled. Whereas I
come with my hair all perfectly in place. I’m the tidy lumberjack. That was a
long time coming because we did The Lumberjacks about 17 years ago in
Edinburgh. Craig and I split the bill because we were relatively new over here
and had no profile whatsoever so we thought if we split an Edinburgh show doing
a half-hour each that would be good. I don’t know if we knew if we had half an
hour to do. And then a couple weeks into that, Glenn joined us. So it’s come
full circle in that we did the tour last year.
GM: I know Phil Nichol is
there, too. How many Canadians are on the scene there?
SF: I don’t know.
They come and go. So I’m not quite hip to the scene, as it were. But yeah, Phil
and Tom Staid and Sean Collins and Alyson Smith. I would say upwards of ten.
Tony Law, although he never did standup in Canada. He started over here because
he was living over here. I don’t know if he’s been back since. But yeah,
there’s about ten of us that are kind of mainstay Canadians over here. I’m the
king of that list.
GM: That goes without
saying!
SF: (laughs) It’s
worked out nicely.
GM: You mentioned 17
years ago playing Edinburgh. So you’ve been over there throughout your career
but only moved there permanently seven years ago.
SF: Yeah, I moved
over full-time seven years ago and about five years ago, through some
successful TV appearances, I was kind of launched into the psyche of the
British comedy fan.
GM: How did those
appearances come about?
SF: An agent
asked me if I wanted to do a couple of panel shows. They were kind of back to
back. There was one called Eight out of
Ten Cats, which was okay. Then I did Mock
the Week, which really speaks to my style of comedy because it’s a panel
show so you’re doing all sorts of topical stuff. There was also a segment where
you’ll see a topic come up and four performers and each will have one topic.
Then you do a group of jokes on that topic. And being a one-liner guy, that
kinda really resonated with the viewing audience. Subsequent to that I’ve done
17 or 18 of those shows. So I’m suddenly entrenched into the people’s brains
where they now know me by name. The power of television, I’m telling you.
GM: Do you still do it?
SF: I’ve handed
in my resignation a couple of times. The producer called up and talked me into
doing it. I did it a couple months ago but you don’t want to overstay your
welcome. There are other things I’ve got, television-wise, that I want to
pursue. And there’s a lot of other guys and gals over here that just do way too
much television. I’ve never wanted to be that performer where it’s, ‘Oh, not
him again.’ It’s funny how I’m coming from Canada, where you’re craving
recognition. I’m grateful for it and I do need it over here, but I turn down
more television work than I accept over here because I pride myself in,
whenever you see me on TV, it’s gonna be good. I hope that’s always been the
case and I work to that being the case in the future.
GM: You mention that the
one-liners work well for that style. I’ve seen you in different venues and they
always work well. They’re great. But England has more of a storytelling
tradition.
SF: No, there’s a
lot of one-liner guys. Back in the day in the gentlemen’s clubs, the clubs were
rife with one-liner guys. I see storytelling being more – although there’s
great storytellers from this part of the world – as far as standup goes, more
of an American thing. But there’s both over here now and I’m sure there always
has been. When we look at the comedy legends, a lot of them are one-liner guys:
Les Dawson and Tony Cooper. They blazed the trail for the likes of me. There
aren’t that many one-liner guys now. There’s more now because of the success of
myself and a couple other guys like Milton Jones and Tim Vine and Jimmy Carr.
But fortunately there’s not that many doing it very well. There’s nothing worse
than a bad one-liner. It’s kinda painful to watch. But it’s a big part of the
culture over here, the one-liner.
GM: Maybe I’m confusing
it with the Fringe shows in Edinburgh where they come up with a new theme and
hour per year.
SF: Yeah,
definitely. You’re right there. The Fringe really speaks to what you’re talking
about, the storytellers talking about their travels to Cambodia and doing the
whole hour on that. It’s very challenging because a lot of the guys and gals that
are doing that, some will come up here seven years on the trot and coming up
with a new hour every year. It sounds great but it might not be great. I don’t
go to a lot of the shows up here. Probably for that reason because there’s
gotta be, at some point, where you don’t have a great year.
"To reveal myself or to pontificate, it’s just too self-indulgent. I’m being self-indulgent enough going on stage and holding court. I don’t want to push my luck. I am interesting and I do have interesting views, as we all do, but I wouldn’t dare take up your time with that." – Stewart Francis
GM: In America, the
personal style of comedy is really in fashion. Everybody has to reveal
everything about themselves while you reveal absolutely nothing about yourself.
SF: Yeah. Long
may that be the case. There’ll be bit that comes out but my contract with you,
the audience member, is just to make you laugh for as long as I’m on stage,
which is probably why I’m a one-liner guy – just get up there and tell as many
jokes as I possibly can and get back off stage. To reveal myself or to
pontificate, it’s just too self-indulgent. I’m being self-indulgent enough
going on stage and holding court. I don’t want to push my luck. I am
interesting and I do have interesting views, as we all do, but I wouldn’t dare
take up your time with that.
GM: So that’s the reason.
You’re not trying to hide from people.
SF: No! In an
interview like this, I’ll probably say way more. Like, I’ll hang up the phone
and ‘What the fuck did I say that for?’ So there’s no dark, deep mystery. But
that’s one-on-one. Hopefully if I’m talking to somebody, I will want to open
myself up. On stage, I don’t need that audience to know anything about me other
than, hopefully, I’m hilarious. If they take that away from the evening, we’re
both winners.
GM: Is it a conscious thing,
too, where one joke you’re married, the next you’re single, the next you’re
gay, or whatever it is?
SF: Yeah,
exactly. I’m one of those three things! But you, as the audience member, don’t
need to know that. It’s unlimited now. If I’m married in that joke, and gay in
this joke, then I can go all over the show because there’s no rules when it
comes to one-liner guys. Or storytellers, because they could be telling a
complete made-up story. But the one-liner stuff is my favourite style of
comedy. You get more bang for your buck. If you don’t like that one, there’s
one right after it. I think if I delve deep, it probably came from my early
days on stage. There’s nothing worse than no laughter from the audience. So if
I’m talking, in the form of me telling a million one-liners, at least there’s
noise in the room. And the better I am, the more that noise is filled with
laughter. There should be two noises: either me talking or you laughing. I gave
that thought recently. I thought that could be part of it. That’s not the main
reason; it’s just I love that kind of comedy. Like watching The Naked Gun and Police Squad. We’ll watch that till the day we die and loving it
because there’s gag after gag after gag. It’s just silly.
GM: After the first
contradiction you give, audiences may sit up and go, ‘Oh, he made a mistake. He
forgot his character.’ But when you do it more than once…
SF: Oh yeah. That’s
ridiculous.
GM: Yeah.
SF: Take each
joke at face value as opposed to, ‘Wait a minute!’
GM: So that was a conscious
decision from the beginning or was it a mistake and you went ‘What the hell,
these are all one-liners’?
SF: Steve Martin,
before he started making the crap films, he was, as you well know, a brilliant
standup comedian. And he was all over the show. There were no rules. It doesn’t
have to make sense. That surreal aspect to comedy obviously registered deeply
with me. I love it. I’m also a cartoonist. In cartoons there are no rules. It
doesn’t need to make sense. The only thing it needs to be is funny. And
hopefully more times than not they are.
GM: The Road Runner goes
over the cliff and the next scene he’s fine.
SF: Exactly. As a
kid, maybe you’re, ‘What? That doesn’t make sense.’ But it doesn’t need to make
sense.
GM: I know you’re a
cartoonist, but what does that mean?
SF: It means most
recently that my cartoons came to life in the form of my book I just had
released in November. It’s a collection of my jokes, and over 30 of my
cartoons. It was Plan A.
GM: Was it?
SF: Oh,
absolutely.
GM: Is it available here?
SF: It’s
available on Amazon so you can order it. My DVD is also available there however
they’re not formatted for North American consumption which is disappointing.
But the book you can actually buy and it’s called Pun Direction. We had to call it something. But yeah, I’m cashing
in on my second favourite band.
GM: Your first being?
SF: Megadeth.
GM: Of course. I spoke to
Brent Butt yesterday and he was also a cartoonist.
SF: Oh my
goodness. I’m such a huge fan of his. And Glenn, when we were on tour were
talking about it and I said I’ve never met him. He couldn’t believe that.
GM: Get out of here.
SF: No, I’ve
never met him.
GM: I was in a coffee
shop with him yesterday.
SF: Well, lucky
you. All of us should be able to have that privilege. He’s absolutely one of my
favourite comedians.
GM: He lives here, you
know?
SF: Yeah. And
he’s over the moon with his Roughriders winning the Grey Cup, I can only
imagine.
GM: His movie’s coming
out in March.
SF: Oh, wow, I
didn’t know he did a movie. I’m a huge fan of his. If you do see him again,
tell him I’m a huge fan of his as is my lovely Scottish wife.
GM: I’ll tell him to go
to your show.
SF: Yes! (laughs)
Never meet your heroes.
GM: In the book we don’t
get to know you either, right?
SF: No, of course
not. No.
GM: Good Lord, why would
we want to?
SF: No! Again,
I’m not Johnny Carson weird; I’m private. It’s not that kind of book. And it
would never be. I would never write an autobiography. It’s just too
self-indulgent.
GM: I’ll write an
unauthorized biography of you, how’s that?
SF: Yes, now
you’re talking! That I would read.
GM: You made a real
seamless transition over there, obviously. I know your parents were British and
you spent a lot of time there, so that’s probably why. I heard one joke of
yours that you adapted. You changed ‘trunk’ to ‘boot’.
SF: Exactly.
GM: And I went, ‘He’s
sold out!’
SF: You have to.
There are certain words, obviously, you don’t change. And the more successful
I’ve become, the less I do do that. But back in the day I had to make it a
‘boot’ so they fully understood what I was talking aboot. Now I understand the world’s gotten smaller through social
media and television and films; everybody kind of knows elevator’s a lift and
that kind of stuff. I’ve adapted the other way around: Here I refer to it as ice hockey. They got me. I just can’t
win.
GM: British comics come
over here and don’t change a single word or phrase. We just have to figure it
out through the context, but they don’t adapt.
SF: As you’re
saying that, one of my favourite stories came to mind. Bobby Keele, Jr. was
coming over here back in the day and was trying to make some inroads into the
UK. He was asking someone backstage at the Comedy Store or somewhere if they
have Freedom 55 commercials. And they don’t. His big parting piece was a
Freedom 55 commercial parody or something of that ilk. And he did it anyway
even though ‘we don’t know what Freedom 55 means’. He was dismissive, saying,
‘They’ve got retirement plans. They’ll know what I’m talking about.’ And he
went out there and they didn’t know what he was talking about. So you’ve got to
make some adjustments. I probably did ‘trunk’ in the early days when I did that
joke and maybe it wasn’t getting the response it deserved. So someone might
have said, ‘You might want to change that to boot.’ It’s funny. Canadians saying ‘boot’? We can’t say it enough.
GM: I’ll let that go
then.
SF: (laughs)
Listen to you! Not that I’m trying to get back in your good books, but it
doesn’t happen very often. ‘Boot’ and ‘lift’ are the only two things that come
immediately to mind but the rest stays. No one changes me!
GM: You’re not coming
here just for the shows, are you? Are you vacationing?
SF: Originally it
was going to be I was going to pop down to L.A. and do the Conan O’Brien show,
but I opted out of doing that. I’ve got an open invitation, as I understand it
– look at me! But I was coming over to you guys because I was going to do
Conan, I was going to do a whole bunch of Leaf games. But I thought I’ll just
do the club for Garry because he’s asked me a couple times and there’s not a
lot of pressure involved in that and the Leaf games are just joyous. Hopefully.
I didn’t want to put pressure on myself for the trip. I wanted it to be more or
less nothing but pleasure. So I will do Conan or another late night show down
the road.
GM: Have you been on
Conan before?
SF: Nope. No, I
have not. I would have loved to have done The
Tonight Show because that was the first late night show that I fell in love
with, with Johnny Carson. So that would have been rather wonderful. Maybe after
my next tour I might do something and just really just do – as I would anyway –
a killer set of more or less three tours’ best of material in a 5-minute set
and just blow the doors off the place and just see what happens. I don’t look
to conquer America. It’s no longer on my list of things to do, which just takes
all the pressure off me to go over there and just do an incredible job.
Although I already did that with the Craig Ferguson show so I don’t know why
I’m doing it again. You talked me out of it.
GM: Just remember to
change ‘boot’ back to ‘trunk’ again.
SF: I will do.
GM: Is this for real?:
You’re doing standup on Mt. Everest?
SF: Yes. To the
best of my knowledge. I’ve met with some people and they put it on the internet
so it must be true. Like everything, I’ll believe it when I see it. But there
will be medicals and some prep work leading up to it but it’s full steam ahead
as far as I’m concerned.
GM: How high up are you
going?
SF: Base camp.
Which is five-and-a-half thousand… What would it be? I don’t know if it’s feet
or metric. I don’t know what it is. [note: it’s metres] It’s base camp. It’s an
auction for 50 people. They’re trying to raise money for Save the Children.
It’s huge to be involved with such a noble charity. People will bid against
each other to get the 50 allocated seats. It should be incredible.
GM: You’re going to hike
up there? And there’ll be a stage?
SF: Yeah. A stage
and we’ll have sherpas. Yeah, it should be incredible.
GM: I hope the mics don’t
cause an avalanche.
SF: That would be
something, yeah.
GM: Are you much of a
hiker or outdoorsman?
SF: I did Machu
Picchu about six years ago with my wife. We did the 4-day Andes Trek to see
Machu Picchu. I do a lot of walking. Still working out in the gym and playing
ice hock— Ice hockey! I play hockey whenever I get the chance. But this could
be the highest I’ve ever gone. It’s gotta be. I think it’s higher than Machu
Picchu.
GM: And it’ll be filmed,
right? For a documentary?
SF: I think
there’s a documentary involved. It’s a charity organizer I’ve been working with
for a number of years over here and he approached me two years ago. ‘Yeah,
yeah, sure, sounds good.’ And it did sound good but you hear a lot of things
and you don’t want to put too great an importance on it happening because it
might not happen so why set yourself up for disappointment. But it seems we’re
closing in on it.
GM: What’s this nonsense
I hear about your retiring?
SF: I say that
from time to time. That was taken out of context. I didn’t know I was going to
do a second tour. During the first tour in interviews I said this will probably
be it. I truly thought that. More to the fact it was 18 years of accumulated
material. I thought I’d have to wait another 18 years to do another tour. But I
put pen to paper and 18 months later I came up with my second tour. So after
that I thought, well, that was a really good one. It was well received. You
don’t want to push your luck. And I started putting pen to paper again so I
think I’ll do another tour. So each time I say it, I’m not saying it in a
dramatic way. But at one point I will mean it.
GM: So it will be true
eventually.
SF: It will be
true. Unless I’m happy with the tour, and how the writing’s come along, that
will be it and I’ve absolutely no qualms about that whatsoever. But there will
be another tour in 2015 and then that probably will be it! But that’s how I put
these things out there. Without being dramatic but it’s always taken as ‘oh
he’s going to quit after that.’ I don’t remember saying it quite as
dramatically as that. But it is what it is.
GM: Maybe the tour will
be over here.
SF: I don’t know
about that. That would be disappointing. Just because my profile is
non-existent in comparison to over here. I’m a semi-celebrity hanging out with
rock stars and royalty. To go back to Canada would be a disheartening step back
just doing clubs.
GM: No, I meant a theatre
tour here.
SF: I can’t put
bums in seats in the comedy clubs based on my profile, and largely based on
promotion of me by said clubs. They gotta go hand in hand and give me something
to work with. But I just don’t see Canada as being a country that can support
that kind of… You know, Brent can do it and Derek Edwards can do it. They’ve
stayed there, obviously. Me leaving seven years ago won’t help my profile much.
GM: Danny Bhoy comes here
every single year. And Tommy Tiernan comes here frequently, too. I always
wonder if there are enough people here who even know who they are, but they
keep coming back.
SF: Ah, well
maybe I will. I can’t get back to Canada quick enough. It’s just weird that I go
back there on holiday. But I’m very connected to Canada because through
technology I get to watch my Leafs. I’ve watched every game of theirs the last
two years. Yeah, feel my pain.
GM: I watch every Raptor
game. Does that count?
SF: I’m starting
to. I’m getting excited about them. They’ve had a nice run. And now Toronto FC
are gonna make some waves.
GM: Is the downsize of
the coverage comedy gets in Britain that you say one thing and then there are a
bunch of articles about you retiring?
SF: That’s
disappointing to hear that you’ve seen articles. I will retire. It’s just
inaccurate. Hopefully it won’t do any damage.
GM: You say you’re
hanging out with rock stars and royalty.
SF: Yes!
GM: Is that an
exaggeration or true?
SF: Famous people
know me. That’s kinda weird.
GM: Like?
SF: Uh… I can’t
name names.
GM: Come on. Throw me a
bone.
SF: Um… You
almost got his name. One of them. Bone. Rock star. Bone?
GM: I don’t know.
SF: Bono.
GM: Oh!
SF: The other one
was Roger Daltry. I did a gig for him at the Royal Albert, as you do. He’s the
patron for a charity. I think it’s Children in Need. So backstage there’s other
performers there and I went over and introduced myself to him and he said, ‘I
know who you are.’ He was frustrated by the fact that I would dare to… But you
can never assume. And one of the princes is a fan of mine. Not Prince, but a prince, came over to me after a night
where I was supporting Ricky Gervais. He was a fan of mine and he was
recounting some of my jokes and I introduced him to my wife and he said, ‘Oh,
you are Scottish!’ That was one of
our favourite moments in show business. I’ve met Ben Guyat in Canada.
GM: Who’s that?
SF: He’s the host
of Comedy at Club 54.
GM: Oh, that’s right!
SF: So I’ve met
him. That’s my equivalent [in Canada]. And I met Al Waxman the day Bruno
Gerussi died.
GM: So you’re connected
to Canadian royalty, too.
SF: I think so.
It was weird to meet one television legend the day the other one died.
GM: Maybe you’ll meet
Brent Butt the day Al Waxman dies.
SF: Oh, wow.
GM: Or has he already
died?
SF: Oh, see what
you’ve done? I don’t know. I don’t want any part of this.
GM: You opened for Ricky
Gervais when?
SF: That was 2010
for 60 shows.
GM: That’s brave of him
to put on a far superior comic in front of him.
SF: I reminded
him of that multiple times. But that’s just how confident the man is. Yeah, it
was great.
GM: He’s not really a
standup, is he? He became one.
SF: Well, he is.
It’s all there. Set-up, punch. He is a standup in that sense. He’s not in the
truest sense of the word. He kind of ventured into it after he established
himself as a television star.
GM: Is he good?
SF: Yes. Yeah. I
only saw the tour that I did. I think that was like his fourth tour. It’s all
there. It was difficult for me to be a support act because no one wants to see
a support act. So I’d have fun with that and I was cheeky and all that kind of
stuff. But we determined, did Ricky and I, the reason it wasn’t quite as
magical as I’d hoped it would be because I was establishing myself over here.
And we reckon it wasn’t anything to do with the fact it was me but that people
were coming out to see Ricky and they weren’t really comedy fans; they were
fans of Ricky Gervais, this global superstar. There would be evenings where my
act would suffer as a result. And his too, to a certain extent, because he’d
come on and blow the roof off the place but if the auditorium’s not packed with
comedy fans, it’s not going to be much fun for them.
GM: But the plus side is
you’re playing to these huge crowds and to people who may not otherwise go see
comedy and because you bang out the jokes, it would really increase your
profile.
SF: He was
grateful for that. He told me many times. He’s had a bunch of support acts and
this was the best and for that reason. It set up the room. I did close to 20
minutes every night and it got them warmed up. The unfortunate thing is that
there was an interval of 20 minutes to a half-hour. That kind of takes some of
the momentum out of the room. But it was a great night for them and they got to
see the legend that is Ricky Gervais. And hanging out with the man, that was a
very unique experience to have that kind of five-star lifestyle and to see the
man. He’s a genuinely nice fellow and very accommodating to his fans. He’s just
a regular nice guy because, I think, success found him later in life. He was I
think in his thirties when The Office
became the hit that it became.
GM: And he’s a generous
laugher, too.
SF: (chuckles)
Yes, but it’s one of those kind of laughs that you just know he’s in the room
so I don’t know how much of it is a natural laugh or how much of it was
attention seeking. But yeah, you were definitely aware that he’s around.
GM: I think I got enough
here, Stewart.
SF: Beautiful.
GM: It’s great talking to
you. I look forward to seeing you at the show.
SF: Do you know
what night you’re coming out?
GM: No.
SF: No. Listen to
you!
GM: I may come all
nights, I’m such a fan.
SF: It’s been a
while since I’ve performed on stage. I’m just trying to figure out what I’m
going to do. And I’ve got to change words back to the Canadian version.
GM: Otherwise you’ll just
get blank stares.
SF: Exactly.
Well, that’s kind of what I’m used to, in Vancouver in particular. It’s
renowned for its laid-back audiences. That’s going to be an adjustment.
GM: Comedy’s gotten a lot
more popular here in the last few years. The rooms are full and the crowds are
hot.
SF: So they’re
getting good audiences?
GM: Yeah. I hate to jinx
that for you.
SF: No, that’s
great. I’m looking forward to it. We feed off of that. It makes for a better
evening.
GM: Totally.
SF: Okay-dokey,
chum. I look forward to seeing you. And thanks for helping spread the word.
GM: Thanks very much.
SF: Okay, chum.
Have a great day.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Jan. 19: Peter 'n' Chris
Peter 'n' Chris also have surnames. Peter Carlone and Chris Wilson have only been performing sketch comedy together since 2009 but have already won a Canadian Comedy Award, been nominated for others, played the Just For Laughs festival and sketch festivals all around North America. And now they get to perform in Vancouver's very own Sketch Comedy Festival, which takes place Jan. 23-25. They have an in, though, since Carlone is the Artistic Director.
We'll talk about Peter, we'll talk about Chris, we'll talk about Peter 'n' Chris, and we'll talk about the festival. So tune in tonight at 11 pm PT to CFRO 100.5 in Vancouver. Or livestream the station at coopradio.org.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
2013 breakdown
I'm a little late with our 2013 breakdown. But only a little bit. Big thanks to all What's So Funny? guests last year.
We were a little light on the number of guested shows. In 2009, we did 42 shows with guests; in 2010 we had 38; in 2011 we had 44 (with a total of 53 guests thanks to some doubling up); and in 2012 we had 41 (with 47 total guests). This past year marked our low point, thanks to a summer of takin' it easy. But all in all, we finished with a respectable 35 shows (with a total of 37 guests). So big ups to the following, listed here in order of appearance:
We were a little light on the number of guested shows. In 2009, we did 42 shows with guests; in 2010 we had 38; in 2011 we had 44 (with a total of 53 guests thanks to some doubling up); and in 2012 we had 41 (with 47 total guests). This past year marked our low point, thanks to a summer of takin' it easy. But all in all, we finished with a respectable 35 shows (with a total of 37 guests). So big ups to the following, listed here in order of appearance:
- Paul Hooper
- Shirley Gnome
- Monica Hamburg
- Kyle Jones
- Gerry Swallow
- Dino Archie
- Sunee Dhaliwal
- Nelson Giles
- Hari Kondabolu
- Darren Frost
- Kenny Robinson
- Karen O'Keefe
- Matt Davis
- Marcus Ryan
- Shaun Majumder
- Mark Leiren-Young
- Darrin Rose
- Dave Merheje
- Kevin Foxx
- Kyle Bottom
- Steve Bays
- Jeff McEnery
- Ewan Currie
- Paul Anthony
- Ryan Hamilton
- Brian Regan
- Dave Nystrom
- Michael Gelbart
- Alan Zweig
- Godfrey
- Adam Ray
- Ian Harris
- Dave Martin
- Alex Nussbaum
- Ed Hill
- Marion Grodin
- Harry Doupe
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