Podcast episode 451ish: Joel Plaskett

First off, happy 13th birthday to What's So Funny? On April 18, 2004, we hit the airwaves with our guests Dana Alexander and Paul Bae, with my trusty manservant Kevin Smith on the controls. Look how far we've come: Dana has been living in England for years and tours her standup all over Europe. She's also got a podcast with the apt title of Comedians of the World. Paul has retired from standup but has a very popular – and creepy – podcast called The Black Tapes. And, of course, Kevin retired from pushing buttons after ten years of service and is now in hiding.

But that was 13 years ago. What's the latest, you ask? Why, it's nationally adored singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett, aka Joe Plastic. Based in his home and native province of Nova Scotia, Plaskett junior and senior (his musician father) were on tour and playing the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver so I nabbed him on Sunday afternoon for a free-ranging chat on all things Plaskett. We discuss me fake-kissing his now-wife, plus he tells us about his mom and Jimi Hendrix, how hecklers on Twitter get him down, and his dream of driving John Candy's van across country on tour.

It's all right here for you to enjoy, if you like. Just click and the soundwaves will hit your eardrums. Or take us with you on the road. Go search for us in your favourite podcast peddler, be it iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, or what-have-you.

Podcast episode 360ish: Dana Alexander

Dana Alexander was the first guest on What's So Funny? a decade ago. She was also on a missing episode in 2007. So this is officially her second appearance, even though it's really her third. She currently lives in England, which is her hub on her road to world domination. She's performed in about 20 countries. Even though she could only list off 17 of them, I'll believe her. We had a good time on this episode reminiscing about her days in Vancouver and she told us what it's like to be a Canadian in the old country.

You can stream the whole thing right here. Or go download it at iTunes, Stitcher, PodcastLand or anywhere fine podcasts are distributed.

Sept. 28: Dana Alexander

This show's very first guests back in April of 2004 were Dana Alexander and Paul Bae. You'd think we were going alphabetically, but that was not the case. I'm not sure when Dana moved away first to Toronto and then to the U.K. but it couldn't have been much after that. Now here we are in 2014 and Dana's back with us. She just spent the weekend headlining Yuk Yuk's so we scooped her up to reminisce.

We're on the air at 11 pm, exactly the same time slot as a decade ago. Different frequency, though, since we moved to 100.5 FM a year or so ago. You can livestream us in Edmonton, Toronto or London (or anywhere fine internet is found) at coopradio.org.

Dec. 19: Paul Bae

Boys and girls, class is in session. Tonight, playing the part of Scrooge in our weekly radio show is stand-up comic/TV personality/high school teacher Paul Bae, who will no doubt spread a little Christmas cheer in our last episode of the year. Paul is the answer to the trivia question, Who was the very first guest on What's So Funny? in April of 2004? That was our pilot episode. Because of his good job guesting along with Dana Alexander that night, the show was picked up and we've been going strong(ish) ever since. He came back on his own one year later but that was the last we've seen of him, so we've got lots of catching up to do.