I love that there are so many different ways to package and deliver comedy. Lots of them are codified and have strict rules (the “yes and...” of improv) but in another sense, anything goes. A funny story can be a few words or a few hours. Storytelling has had a renaissance in the last decade or so, but it is often positioned in opposition to comedy and I was keen to see as many genres mix as possible.
So I was curious to see Ari Shaffir’s Renamed Stoytelling show which was stingy with pre-information—there was no way to know who would perform, how many performers would appear or what they would talk about.
Shaffir has that sleepy self-satisfied look, which often works well for comedy. He seems in the know, party to a whole sea of jokes that the audience can only dream of. He is effective at communicating his amusement though, as evidenced by the sold-out crowd and the popularity of his stand up comedy television series This Is Not Happening on Comedy Central (now with a new host).
On this evening, as in his regular show, he invited a group of comedians to talk on a specific topic, something like drugs or travel or, in this case, families. He opened with tales from his Orthodox Jewish upbringing. Let's just say that he is very angry with the rabbi responsible for defining electricity as work and therefore banning it from the Sabbath.
Chris Griffin, formerly of Calgary and now a Vancouver resident, was the local in the show. He stretched the theme a little by telling stories of older father figures, one a raspy comedian called Stan, and another a man who gave him a ride home and turned out to be a car thief (and much worse). I’d heard the grand theft auto story before, but Griffin has a wide-eyed commitment which makes him appealing and I was happy to hear it again.
Ronnie Chieng is shooting up to stardom as a correspondent on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and came to comedy via Malaysia and Australia. He is compact, a bundle of taut energy which is controlled and vibrating in the perfect balance. He told the story of his three weddings, organized in Australia, Malaysia and America due to the needs of his Asian family. In the middle he told a story about New Yorkers and their fights with (not on) the subway. It seemed like a tangent until he brilliantly brought all the threads together into a dramatic climax. And then an anti-climax. Very impressive.
The only disappointment of the night was Tammy Pescatelli, who seemed edgy and nervous, and bickered with the crowd. The other comics seemed to be performing versions of material they use regularly, so perhaps Pescatelli’s difficulty was that her piece felt off the cuff, which was more of a challenge but harder to pull off. Her story began with a promise to deconstruct the very foundation of her family when she referenced a surprising DNA test, a topic she then dropped. She did, however, tell the tale of being called away from a comedy show to spend three days in a psych ward with her brother. She’s got a lot of experience and a lot of awards, so maybe she was just having an awkward night.
The final storyteller was Ali Siddiq, who arrived with a world-weary air and then proceeded to delight in the escapades of his family, who never say no to a fistfight. These are not hooligans though, but university professors and nurses, who end up in gas station beatdowns and large scale brawls with neighbours. Siddiq told the tale with obvious relish and made it truly come alive.