{"id":17052,"date":"2016-02-05T00:19:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T08:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=17052"},"modified":"2016-02-04T19:45:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T03:45:00","slug":"gonna-be-a-fun-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/02\/05\/gonna-be-a-fun-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Gonna be a fun night"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Kirson and Jon Steinberg (below) launch this year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival on Feb. 18.\u00a0<\/strong>(photo from Chutzpah!)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone who likes to laugh should attend the opening night of this year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival on Thursday, Feb. 18, at Rothstein Theatre. Watch a few of Jessica Kirson\u2019s or Jon Steinberg\u2019s routines and you\u2019ll see the wisdom in Steinberg\u2019s comment to the Independent<\/em>: \u201cJessica and I, we have very different styles of comedy but we\u2019re both very funny, so there\u2019s something for everyone. If you come to the show and you don\u2019t enjoy yourself, you may be the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both seasoned and acclaimed performers, Kirson and Steinberg have long been funny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always the class clown,\u201d Kirson told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI had no idea that I wanted to do stand-up comedy. I had no idea I was capable. I never thought I could get on stage in front of people. I ended up taking a class and that\u2019s what gave me the strength to actually perform. I was petrified. Once I did it, I fell in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas Kirson initially considered becoming a therapist, following her mother\u2019s example, and went as far as graduate studies in social work, Steinberg\u2019s path to stand-up was more direct.<\/p>\n

\"photo
Jon Steinberg (photo from Chutzpah!)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAs a kid, I always enjoyed making people laugh,\u201d he said. \u201cIn high school, all my friends were into skateboarding but I was really bad at it. So, when my friend Toby made a skateboard video, I did some comedy sketches to go in between the clips of kids skateboarding. It was my way of being included.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne night, I was out with a friend, walking in the rain with a paper bag full of doughnuts when the bag tore open and all the doughnuts rolled out into the street. I started telling people about it and they found it funny, and then I figured out how to tell it in a way that was funnier and eventually this would come to be known as \u2018The Doughnut Story.\u2019 The humor came from the disproportionate level of build-up to pay-off, and also how sad I was about losing all my doughnuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The success of that story led to other stories that Steinberg and a buddy would write for Steinberg\u2019s repertoire. Later, this buddy convinced him to run for high school president, \u201cas a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to deliver a speech in front of roughly 800 students,\u201d said Steinberg. \u201cThat made my first open mic night in front of 35 people seem way less intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first time seeing live comedy was in Toronto at Yuk-Yuk\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those nights with 10 comics on the bill, Russell Peters, Shaun Majumder, and many other great comics. Awhile after that, I did my first open mic at the Yuk-Yuk\u2019s in Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinberg\u2019s comic style is nerdy and calm, his hair being the most out-of-control aspect of his act. Kirson, on the other hand, exudes energy and her facial expressions are a sight to behold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very intense like my comic persona,\u201d Kirson said. \u201cI am definitely not as loud. I am not \u2018on\u2019 all of the time. A lot of people assume that of comedians and it is so not true. I am very silly and love to laugh at myself and ridiculous situations around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is edgy and pushes boundaries in her performances but is, ultimately, kind-hearted. \u201cI never want to be mean-spirited to anyone,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I feel like I am hurting someone\u2019s feelings, I back off. I do, like most comics, love to get people thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinberg, too, steers clear of nastiness. \u201cIf I write something and I believe that it\u2019s funny, and not mean-spirited, I\u2019ll try it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if it consistently gets a poor reaction from audiences, I\u2019ll drop it from my act. Some audiences are more sensitive than others, but my goal is to make people laugh, not to make them sad, so I won\u2019t try to cram something down people\u2019s throats and blame them for not liking it. So, if you\u2019re at my show and I do a joke that you don\u2019t like, just know that I may be in the process of figuring out I shouldn\u2019t do that joke. You might only need to hear it once to realize that I shouldn\u2019t have said it, but I may need to say it three or four times before I come to the same conclusion, so don\u2019t spoil it for me by coming up to me after the show and telling me which jokes I shouldn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his extensive touring, the comedy festivals and television specials, Steinberg admits to still being a little nervous when doing stand-up. However, he said, \u201cI find that helps keep me alert and in the moment. It\u2019s like crossing the street \u2013 you need to be a little afraid of being hit by a car, just enough that you remember to look both ways, but not so afraid that you can\u2019t cross the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirson, too. \u201cI get nervous at times,\u201d she said. \u201cI have done so many kinds of shows for so many years that I know what to expect from certain audiences. If I get fearful, I try to remember that I am seasoned, and most likely it will be fine. I get the most nervous doing television.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she has done a lot of television \u2013 on Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, Oxygen, Bravo, the Women\u2019s Television Network, NBC, Fox, ABC, Showtime \u2026 the list goes on. The Jessy K Show<\/em> YouTube channel has more than 100 videos with more than 2.5 million views in total.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started making silly videos with a friend of mine and posting them online. People loved them and it just grew from there,\u201d said Kirson of the show\u2019s genesis.<\/p>\n

Many Canadians will recognize Steinberg from CBC Radio\u2019s The Debaters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first debate was in 2010,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was when they were doing the TV version, which was taping in Vancouver. I came back to do another one of those shortly after. They stopped doing the TV version shortly after that, but the director of that was a guy named Brian Roberts, and after that he cast me in a kids\u2019 TV show he was doing, which allowed me to quit my day job at an electronics recycling facility. So, The Debaters<\/em> has been good for me in a lot of ways. I do around three to five of the tapings a year, it helps fill out my schedule, and it exposes me to a whole different audience. I have one coming up in March in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

While their comedy isn\u2019t Jewish per se, Judaism or Jewish culture are a part of who they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud to be Jewish,\u201d said Kirson. \u201cI love the traditions, the culture. It means, family, home, it is my rooting in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Steinberg, \u201cthe things that are most Jewish are those that secular and Orthodox Jews have in common, like bagels or potato kugel. I know a lot of people think that stuff is trivial, but it\u2019s what we have in common.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to what else he\u2019d like to do career-wise, Steinberg \u2013 who has appeared on the sitcom Spun Out<\/em> and the drama Remedy<\/em> \u2013 said, \u201cI\u2019d love to do more acting. I\u2019ve done a bit, and it\u2019s a lot of fun, but I\u2019m happy just doing stand-up too. My goal isn\u2019t to be famous, it\u2019s just to make a living doing things I enjoy, so that can include stand-up, acting, writing, or things like The Debaters<\/em>, which combines all three of those things.\u201d In 2014, he released the album Between Me and the Wall<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Kirson also enjoys a breadth of activities. In addition to performing around the world, her TV appearances and her YouTube channel, the award-winning comedian has appeared in film and she recently launched her own podcast. While she would love to have her own television show so she can draw an even bigger audience, she said, \u201cI make a good living at doing something I love. I\u2019m very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on Steinberg, visit jon-steinberg.com<\/a>; for more on Kirson, jessicakirson.com<\/a>. The comedians\u2019 Feb. 18 Chutzpah! opener starts at 8 p.m. For tickets ($36, $21 for students), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Kirson and Jon Steinberg (below) launch this year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival on Feb. 18.\u00a0(photo from Chutzpah!) Everyone who likes to laugh should attend the opening night of this year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival on Thursday, Feb. 18, at Rothstein Theatre. Watch a few of Jessica Kirson\u2019s or Jon Steinberg\u2019s routines and you\u2019ll see the wisdom in Steinberg\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[573,5278,5276,5277],"class_list":["post-17052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-chutzpah-festival","tag-comedy","tag-jessica-kirson","tag-jon-steinberg"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}