Kristine Sostar McLellan

Imagine this: you’re a Vancouver comic—and dang! You’re pretty good. In fact, you were recently a Yuk Yuks fast tracker (a program where Vancouver’s finest up and comers are hand-picked to work consistent nights, among other perks). Night after night you’re getting out around town and killing it.

The catch? You also get up in the morning and go to your nine to five job. What I’m saying is, in this particular scenario, you may be funny but you put your pants on one leg at time like anyone else and you know it. In real life, this mix of talent and humility combines to make one Stuart Jones.

This month I got to chat with Stuart, a real life nice guy (please refer to his joke about why this may mean you’re not sleeping with him) who loves food but sensibly draws the line at dog. That part actually didn’t make the interview cut, but trust me, it’s true.

Stuart Jones: I’m just gonna’ grab a coffee.

Kristine Sostar McLellan: You drink coffee this late?

SJ: Well, not regularly. [Dramatic pause] But on a Friday?

KSM: Cut loose!

SJ: I’ve been pretty wiped. Waking up early and then being on shows at night.

KSM: How often a week do you go up?

SJ: Two or three times a week. On a regular week. On a good week, four or five.

KSM: And you’ve been doing this with a full time job for how long?

SJ: Almost a year.

KSM: Do you remember your first set?

SJ: I was talked into it by some people at work. This was in Kelowna and a colleague was going to try. I thought, I’ll give it a shot. I had a few topics written down, but some people are just natural performers.

KSM: Are you?

SJ: Half and half. I think of all these people who are way more charismatic on stage.

KSM: Your material is probably funnier the way you deliver it.

SJ: There’s a way to perform it… But I’ve also found that it seems like a cheap trick if you put too much energy into it. Because a lot of the time it seems funnier if someone is screaming.

KSM: Totally. Okay, back to the beginning. Was this something you thought about before?

SJ: Sort of. I had a few premises, but it was pretty nerve-wracking the first time. I had six or seven people there for support, and the other comics were supportive.

KSM: I think that comics are generally supportive to first timers here in Vancouver, too.

SJ: Depends on your material.

KSM: How?

SJ: Well, there’s quite a few newbies and all their jokes are just shock. It’s like, this is what you find funny? Can’t you find humour in something else? If someone’s like that, or extremely arrogant, they aren’t going to get much support.

KSM: How soon did you do it again?

SJ: The week after. It was a cool show hosted and run by Tim Nutt who’s an awesome comedian in Kelowna. I remember watching him on the Comedy Network in middle school, so it was really cool that he was there. And he’s got a great laugh. If you can make him laugh, it’s awesome.

KSM: Who are your other favourites?

SJ: I like Doug Stanhope. Bill Burr. I like Brian Regan. He’s like as far as you get here, and Stanhope’s way over there [motions a spectrum]. Regan is totally squeaky clean. That’s his great appeal.

KSM: What do you think you are?

SJ: I never found dirty stuff to be too funny.

KSM: Do you ever enjoy that kind of comedy?

SJ: It has to be clever. A lot of comics have great admiration for someone who can be so funny, and be completely clean.

KSM: There’s an interesting fixation on that. Like how Jerry Seinfeld feels he’s let himself down if he swears because there was another, better solution. But sometimes it just feels good, and it’s funny, and whatever! [Laughs] So what if audiences laugh when you yell or swear? What’s so wrong with that?

SJ: Well that’s the argument. Your goal is to make people laugh.

KSM: I think that anything, if it’s funny, is kind of worth it.

SJ: My friend Amy has this great bit. Both of her parents are clowns, so she’s got this bit about the first time her parents had a safe sex talk to her. It ends with her pulling out a balloon animal balloon and going, ‘so they gave me one of these and said to be safe. I had some fucked up expectations.’ She thought it was kind of cheap to use a prop, but I think it was necessary for the joke. It’s not cheap.

KSM: It’s funny because you’re supposed to be fearless and able to tackle anything. Then there are these weird, arbitrary lines about what is and isn’t okay. Is it more about worrying what other comics think?

SJ: I don’t know. You don’t want to deface the profession of comedian.

KSM: Yes.

SJ: If you’ve been on stage ten times and you’re doing just this horrible stuff. [mocking voice] Oh freedom of speech! Don’t call yourself a comedian. It’s the same reason I can’t go to a music open mic, strum a guitar not knowing what I’m playing, then smash it on the stage after and be like, I’m basically The Who.

KSM: Tell me about your worst show.

SJ: Hmmm. I have a temper.

KSM: Do you? I didn’t know that!

SJ: I’ve gotten very angry on stage before.

KSM: Tell me about that reaction.

SJ: I can tell you what my worst heckle was. It wasn’t even like a true heckle.

KSM: But it rattled you.

SJ: It was a fundraiser in Kelowna. I was doing a joke and a woman in the front row turns to her friend and goes, so am I driving you home? Like, they’re already planning how they can get out of there. It was, ohhhhh, awful.

KSM: I was about to say I love that… [Laughs] But I’m sorry that happened.

SJ: No, it’s funny in retrospect.

KSM: It’s funny because it’s totally different things than people expect that leave you feel feeling gutted.

SJ: Other heckles, like, you suck! They’re like, whatever. Or, you’re not funny! It’s like, well, some people think I am. So there.

KSM: What’s the best way that you’ve dealt with it?

SJ: One time I asked this person who making a lot of noise if they were a smoker and they said yes. So I went, well, why don’t you go for a smoke?

KSM: That’s good! Most people don’t realize that heckling isn’t usually insults. It’s mostly people trying to be helpful. Like, I love that too! And you’re like, shhhhhh, you ruined my punchline.

SJ: And sometimes there are jokes where the entire premise, entire bits, can be thwarted by a quick, simple fact. The whole premise of the joke is wrong to begin with. And then I can’t enjoy the rest of the joke because it’s based on this false premise.

KSM: So you overthink things.

SJ: I find continuity errors.

KSM: But when it’s going fast, the audience doesn’t care. People seem to have an inherent interest in comedy. Actually, the question that I get asked most often is why I do it. What do you say to that?

SJ: I say it’s fun. It’s awesome. It’s a good creative outlet. You have to be creative somehow.

KSM: So what’s your end game?

SJ: I mean, I’m kind of a realistic person.

KSM: I can believe that…

SJ: Yeah. [Laughs] I don’t expect myself to get super famous. That’d be great, but, at this point I would just I would like to be able to live comfortably in Vancouver.

KSM: Off comedy?

SJ: I mean, if I could, and not be broke all the time. I just started a TFSA. [Laughs] I’m trying to play it smart. As a realistic goal, I would like to be able to keep my job and just do shows around BC. Get to Just For Laughs. That would be great.

KSM: I think that’s more than realistic. You will do that. So what, if anything, is off limits in comedy for you?

SJ: I don’t think anything is off limits. But I do think there has to be a joke, or something clever, or a point about it. It just has to be clever. Cause, if you’re doing something that is very edgy or controversial and you’re not making a good point, then you just look dumb.

KSM: I hear two things. It has to be funny and it has to make a good point.

SJ: Ideally. But that’s just my sense of humour. That’s just what I find funny. Some sort of opinion.

KSM: And continuity.

SJ: Yeah.

KSM: Okay, what’s one thing that you think people don’t know about standup.

SJ: I don’t want to say that it’s more rehearsed than people think, but to some people it looks like they’re making it up on the spot.

KSM: If you’re good, yeah, it looks like that. And what’s one thing that people don’t know about you.

SJ: I’m not a very interesting person. Hmmm, let’s see. I could list off a bunch of things. I’ve got really bad eyesight. I could burn things with my glasses. They’re like magnifying glasses. I’m a nerd, most people know that…

KSM: Something we don’t know, please.

SJ: I play magic cards. And I love pizza. Well, everyone knows that.

If you liked Stuart Jones as much as he loves pizza, you can catch him at Yuk Yuks where he will be advancing to the second round of the Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Competition in August.

You’re not the first to complain that Vancouver is no fun. You don’t like stretch pants. You don’t like gluten-free liars. You don’t like little dogs (you’re a sicko). That said, it’s true, there are some limitations to our fair city. We can’t drink outside. And we can’t bring dogs to the pub. You’re thinking of London, England. Sorry, but I’ve never seen a British comedy that I “got.”

Yet, every night of the week in Vancouver there is a room full of amazing comics baring their hilarious souls for you. Bet you didn’t know that. Every single night, all over the city.

You may not have known it before, but Vancouver is teeming with talented comedians you are going to wish you swiped right for once they get famous. And just like when you find out your cousin’s boyfriend’s brother’s friend does comedy, we’re going to ask them why they do what they do.

This month I sit down with comic Mark Hughes, and we talk about getting on stage for the first time, and the world of dark and dirty niche comedy.

Kristine Sostar McLellan: What’s the first thing people ask you when they find out you’re a comic?

Mark Hughes: Oh, where do you perform? And I go, all over the place. Oh really? Where? Have you ever been to that one on Burrard, Yuk Yuks? Then I go, that’s actually not Yuk Yuks. So I just say, you name it, I’ve done it.

KSM: There is that much comedy in Vancouver.

MH: Yeah, there’s dozens of shows a week. We have tons of shows, tons of comedy, but it’s like, the audience doesn’t know. I think they would come if they knew.

KSM: What I get asked most is why I do it.

MH: Why not? It’s fun. I started doing comedy a little over two years ago. I had been told for years that I should do it, because I used to write jokes on Facebook. One day someone said that I need a creative outlet, and I went, oh, okay. I think they meant pottery or oil painting or something like that.

KSM: And how did you start?

MH: Let’s take a couple steps back. I saw a comedian in 2012 named Jason Rouse do comedy… Keep in mind, I wasn’t like, a comedy guy. Unlike most comedians, who know all this comedians, I only knew the big names. That’s about it.

It was the first show I had ever been to and he did a bunch of comedy that I felt was really funny, it’s sort of offensive… I didn’t think you could do comedy like that. I thought it was too offensive and no one would… Even though I thought it was funny I didn’t know enough people would.

KSM: So you didn’t know there was niche comedy?

MH: Exactly. And this was at the Rio. Each of us paid ten bucks to be here. That thought just simmered. And the next year I tried standup.

KSM: That is a different story from most, who tend to grow up idolizing comics.

MH: It just had never been on my radar, I hadn’t been exposed to it. It’s funny… a lot of people I know, and noticed since I started doing comedy, have only seen the “big ones” too. Most people I know have never been to a comedy show. But I do think comedy is on an uprise. I think because of Netflix it will make a resurgence. More people will start trying it too.

KSM: So tell me about your first experience.

MH: I took a class, that’s how I did it. The classes are somewhat controversial. I’m glad I did it because it gave me… I paid $200 to get on stage. If I didn’t do that, I never would have gotten up. The class at least taught me, yeah, you gotta keep doing it, move the mic stand out of the way. I had a good time, I thought, I wanna keep on doing this.

KSM: And you’ve continued for more than two years… So I know you’ve had a bad experience by now. What was one of your worst?

MH: The most uncomfortable set I ever had was when, just as the MC was introducing me, half the room got up to smoke. Nothing to do with me, they just needed to smoke. The dynamic was just gone. And, I do the material and some of it’s a big edgy and there’s no annonymity in the audience, it feels like, like people aren’t allowed to laugh at it.

A girl even said to me “hey! That’s not funny” – and not in a bantery way. It was like, ugggggh. [motions a knife in the heart] I felt it in my soul. I wasn’t skilled enough to deal with that yet.

KSM: And now? How do you deal with hecklers now?

MH: I think I’m just more confident, so I’m better able to deal with it now. If shit like that comes up I can get into it with people. I’m not as scared about it.

KSM: Your comedy touches on a lot of personal stuff, but you really seem comfortable in your own skin and have a strong identity. Do you think that helps?

MH: Considering the way my life has been, it’s always weird to hear something like that. But it resonates with part of me, too. I think comics can talk about whatever they want as long as its funny.

Where I’m a bit different from maybe some of the comics we know is I’ve had a personal experience with every single dark subject I talk about. Friends dying of aids. Sexual abuse. Prostitution. Drug abuse. Overdose. Addiction. Kids being apprehended. My whole life for a long time was all that stuff.

KSM: So on the topic of dark comedy, let’s talk about the show you produce.

MH: I do a show called Comedy Shocker at the Rickshaw. It’s a dark and dirty comedy show, the only recurring one in Vancouver. On July 4th the headliner is Kathleen McGee. We have a lot of other people on it, too.

KSM: What drove you to create a show like this?

MH: My friend Jason [Kryska] and I started it because we got tired of hearing from people “oooooh, you can’t say that. You can’t say that. People don’t find that funny.” I know that there are people who find this funny. I wanted to make a show that is a safe zone for this kind of humor. No one is walking in, and not knowing what it is. If you’re someone who gets offended by x-y-z, then… We want everyone to have a good time… It really is like, a free speech room and if you don’t like it, then please don’t come.

KSM: You’d really rather not sell the ticket?

MH: I don’t want people who might get offended there, because no one is having fun then.

So, if you’re the kind of person who can handle it, don’t miss The Comedy Shocker Presents: Downward Spiral at the Rickshaw Theatre.

I’m painfully on time for everything, so I arrive at Yuk Yuks for Yo! Vancity Laughs Vol.9 with a friend at 7pm sharp. Which is great, except it turns out that it doesn’t actually start until 8pm. So we grab a seat and chat as we watch the night’s comics filter in.

Two of the comics, who turn out to be the show’s MCs (and who will later transform into their glib hip hop alter egos, Game Genies, complete with literal money bags, a Tupac mask, and a comically large watch that I could have used earlier…) come over and introduce themselves.

Gracious and welcoming, they joke that they want to say hello because, in a minute, we’re going to think they’re “really ignorant.”

And in a minute the show does start, but they don’t start it – because no proper hip hop show starts without a hype man. As I learn the minute the show starts. Then, once we’re all hyped up, Game Genies take the stage.

“If you’re here tonight this means you must love comedy, and you must love hip hop,” they exclaim. “Who is your all time favourite hip hop artist?”

With their pick of people who look like they hail from Kitsilano, they choose a young woman who doesn’t manage to dart her eyes away fast enough.

“I like musicals?” She says, in the kind of adorable upspeak that gets the other guy the job.

But the hosts are charming and adept at loosening up a crowd, and the diverse pool of talented comics doesn’t hurt, either: Devon Alexander, Kwasi Thomas, Jonny Paul (who is never more charming than in those improvisational moments brought on by “helpful” audience members), Brendan Bourque, and headliner, Patrick Maliha (who does one dope urban impression that is as natural as me typing dope – but it was hilarious).

By the end, the audience is as comfortable screaming “How old school iz you” as they are asking if that loaf of bread is gluten free. The only thing the show was wrong about is that you have to love hip hop to have a great time – you don’t. You just have to love comedy and let yourself get swept up in the hype.

For information about upcoming shows, visit: yukyuks.com

immixUNA1Michael Slobodian — immix by Montreal choreographer Giconda Barbuto (Michael Slobodian photo)

Appreciation for the arts should be a given. Still, we live in a world of uninspired internet quizzes (what kind of cheese are you?), and wealthy, bored women fighting on TV as entertainment. I was excited to see Ballet BC’s final production of the 2013/2014 season, UN/A, but was also nervous that, as someone who is not a frequent ballet attendee, I might not “get it.”

Broken into three acts, UN/A premiered the original, distinct sequences of three individual choreographers:

Twenty Eight Thousand Waves, Cayetano Soto’s first work for Ballet BC, began with an ethereal, vocal harmony. The figureless dancers began to move in slow, almost stop-motion movements. With the men in muted grey and the women in nude, non-repetitive motions and fluid transitions slowly give way to a frantic burst. As the music becomes frenzied, the dancers move like molecules, kinetic with heat. The final seconds display more energy than all the time preceding. And then, as the music stills, the breathless dancers produce no sound other than the smudge of their shoes as they spin furiously and then come to a full stop.

The second act, Lost and Seek by Spanish-born Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, began with melodic piano and cool on-stage lighting. The dancers—androgynous and childlike—make long, willowy movements that are both deliberate and gravity-defying. The scene is playful, showing what appears to be children wrestling, laughing, and even chasing a giant wave—a perfect moment before inevitable change.

TwentyEightThousandWavesMichael Slobodian — Twenty Eight Thousand Waves by Cayetano Soto (Michael Slobodian photo)

And finally the third act, immix by Montreal choreographer Giconda Barbuto, begins. Opening with nothing but a thin stream of light that gleams across the audience, the intense music is the sole cue for tone. The dancers emerge to deliver forceful actions while stark lighting intensifies the twisting and running. It’s like watching the inside of a clock and the dancers are the cogs from within; their bodies serve as catalyst to each others’ movements, each limb acting as a lever propelling forth a powerful exchange.

By the conclusion, I find it almost unimaginable that we could give our time to such banality as reality TV. Instead, UN/A is a transfixing performance that demands focus while allowing the mind to wander to places great and vast. From fluid weightlessness, to uncomplicated delight, to industrial deliberation, UN/A delivers three diverse pieces that fit together effortlessly and make time race.

Author Archives: Kristine Sostar McLellan

Interview // Stuart Jones

Interview // Mark Hughes

Review / Yo! Vancity Laughs Vol. 9

Review / Ballet BC’s UN/A