It’s the second year for JFL NorthWest, a comedy festival that brings big names like Trevor Noah and Sarah Silverman to Vancouver while also celebrating the vibrant local scene. It’s this combination which particularly appeals to me, as well as the more unusual offerings like B-Sides, a show where comedians share jokes and stories which are strange, objectionable or not fit for regular performance for various reasons. These oddities and theme shows are part of what makes a festival more enticing than just turning up to a comedy show or a night of stand-up.
But my first show was a showcase for just one comedian, American Fortune Feimster. She, like many of the best and most popular performers of recent years, uses a combination of personal self-deprecating humour with observational jokes about her larger social context. A lot of Feimster’s set is about being fat and being a lesbian. Why shouldn’t a fat woman talk about liking cake for breakfast? She opened with a few yoga jokes, suggesting that she’d been to a class earlier in the day where the instructor allowed her to do modified poses—rather than downward dog, she ate raviolis and rather than child’s pose, she took a nap in the corner. Vancouver: a good town for poking fun at yoga. Anyway, the set flew by with funny material about using Southern abstinence to cover for lesbianism, her dad’s offer to buy her a blazer and a top hat and ingesting a huge amount of marijuana in a five course meal. Feimster has facial expressions, gestures and a persona which makes her really effective and likable on-stage. I like a comedian who laughs at their own jokes. She also did some crowd work which created a few of the best moments of the night, mostly to do with an audience member whose wife was at the barber.
After leaving the traditional comedy club format and setting, I went to a monthly local show called Barely Legal, hosted by Gavin Matts and my favourite Canadian comedian, Sophie Buddle. I discovered Buddle at last year’s JFL NorthWest and I love her. However she let Matts handle hosting duties at this show which included some very funny opening banter and quick intros for the long line of comedians who passed through! A few festival out-of-towners stopped by. Guessing who they might be is always a good time and I like how they often remark on how much they enjoy playing the tiny underground shows after they’ve been used to working regular clubs on the road. Ivan Decker spent most of his set making fun of the sponsor’s water bottle and Charlie Demers was up last, sad that the water bottle material had been thoroughly mined .
One week later...
We were told to expect the unexpected at the two nights of The Alternative Show hosted by Andy Kindler. Kindler flies below the radar but crops up in a lot of high profile places. I attended the first night which included guests Barry Crimmins and Colin Quinn and from closer to home, Chris Gordon from Calgary and Sophie Buddle from Vancouver.
Gordon has a pretty funny joke involving his wolf t-shirt (I've seen him do it twice) and Buddle is always sly and charming. Quinn's jokes had a lot to do with who he was more famous than and who he wasn't. Turns out he's still somewhat famous although his SNL are far in the past.
Kindler is an odd fellow but he's got a confident stage presence and a unique style. As he said, "I don't have anything funny to say but I have great rhythm." His pacing and rhythm really are superb and he was probably the best entertainment of the evening.
Stand up nights are fun precisely because they are a crap shoot. You often have no idea who will take the stage. They won't be up there that long. Maybe they'll hit the funny bone or maybe they won't. But on this bill I knew I'd get some real professionals.
