{"id":42342,"date":"2023-10-12T18:16:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T01:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=42342"},"modified":"2023-10-12T18:41:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T01:41:24","slug":"the-debaters-special-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/10\/12\/the-debaters-special-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Debaters special edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The special Chutzpah! Festival edition of The Debators will be moderated by Kate Davis. (photo from Chutzpah!)<\/em><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival opens with a bold question: \u201cThe Ten Commandments.\u00a0Holy Moses, is it time for some new ones?\u201d And the audience at the Rothstein Theatre Nov. 2 will be the ones to decide which comedian answers the question best at the special festival edition of The Debaters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs holder of stage rights for The Debaters<\/em> comedy format, I have been presenting non-CBC stage productions for awhile, all with radio host Steve Patterson as moderator. These have been very successful, but I\u2019ve also been keen to produce stage versions for specific audiences in different communities,\u201d show creator Richard Side told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cThis Chutzpah! Festival is the perfect opportunity to do that with a cast of comedians and a debate topic that will really connect with the audience and with [artistic managing director] Jessica Gutteridge\u2019s vision for the fest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debating the topic at the Rothstein Theatre will be comedians Jacob Samuel and Charlie Demers, and comedian Kate Davis will act as moderator. But the event won\u2019t just be about making jokes.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Charlie Demers (photo from Chutzpah!)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Demers, a Debaters <\/em>regular, shared \u201chis bona fides for this event\u201d with Side: \u201cI was team captain of the Canadian delegation to the World Schools Debating Championships in Jerusalem in 1998; you can also say that I am a novice Anglican Third Order Franciscan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 3rd order Franciscan movement,\u201d explained Side, \u201cis a group that includes religious and lay people who try to emulate the life of St. Francis of Assisi\u2026. As for how it relates to the topic of the Ten Commandments \u2013 [Demers] is arguing that the 10 commandments do not need revising so, along with the jokes, I am sure he will have some heartfelt points as well. And that is why I thought him ideal for a comedy debate that was not going to just \u2018roast\u2019 the commandments but also might have some insight in it, too. Facts and funny is what The Debaters<\/em> is all about, laughs \u2013 and logic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuel, who is Jewish, is on the other side of the argument. First appearing on the CBC radio show about six years ago, he told the Independent<\/em>: \u201cPreparing for The Debaters<\/em> is always a combination of excitement, stress and wracking my brains on how to squeeze jokes out of a given topic. I do a lot of brainstorming, writing and rewriting, and pacing around going over my arguments out loud. For the Chutzpah! show I\u2019ll be preparing as I always do. However, I am doing maybe a bit more research than I would normally do to try to be as accurate as possible when it comes to the Torah and Jewish beliefs. I think it\u2019s fair to say that this audience may be a bit more knowledgeable about Judaism than the average crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Jacob Samuel (photo from Chutzpah!)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jewish Independent <\/em>readers will be quite familiar with Samuel, whose one-panel cartoons the paper has published and whose comedy career the paper has followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the last time I was in the Jewish Independent<\/em>,\u201d he said, \u201cit was to promote the recording of my debut comedy album in late 2019 (what a time that was!). Well, it turns out, I won a Juno Award for that very album in 2021. I also got married and now have a mini Bernedoodle named Mendl who, to me, is also Jewish (he\u2019s loud, anxious and has a very sensitive stomach).\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuel has learned a lot since his first time on The Debaters<\/em>, which was at the 2017 Winnipeg Comedy Festival. \u201cThe debate was about emojis,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it would be really subversive and clever if I held up giant emoji printouts for my closing argument \u2013 not the greatest idea for an audio-only show but, hey, it was my first time on radio. Luckily, they had me back and enough times that I often lose count.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, a member of the Toronto Jewish community, is also a Debaters<\/em> veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first Debaters<\/em>,\u201d she said, \u201cwas in 2007 in London, Ont. \u2013 \u2018Should dads be in the delivery room?\u2019 Of course, I was for this, as dads are the ones who got us into this mess in the\u00a0first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Davis, being a mom is not just part of her private life, she incorporates it into her writing and gives parenting workshops, too, as well as talks on various related, and unrelated, topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love performing comedy and my speaking is my comedy and everything I believe in,\u201d she said. \u201cOver the years, I have created four\u00a0different\u00a0keynotes on work\/life balance, connectivity, mindfulness and mental resilience, all of which I hope contribute to a healthier, happier\u00a0life. Whether I am writing\u00a0my comedy, books, scripts\u00a0or a keynote, I find being multifaceted is like going to the gym \u2013 you don\u2019t just work out your arms. Each one contributes to each other. I might write an article and think that\u2019s a great joke and try that in my standup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis said she is \u201csuper-excited to be moderator for\u00a0The Debaters \u2013 Chutzpah! Edition<\/em>\u201d that stars Demers and Samuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what great comics they are and, honestly, I think moderating is being a great listener and keeping things going. But, let\u2019s be honest,\u201d she said. \u201cI am pretty excited for the puns!!! Also, to prepare, I will be eating as many matzo balls as I\u00a0can.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to the The Debaters \u2013 Chutzpah! Edition<\/em> (which is not a CBC-affiliated production and won\u2019t be recorded for broadcast), visit chutzpahfestival.com. A portion of ticket sales will benefit the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver\u2019s inclusion programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The special Chutzpah! Festival edition of The Debators will be moderated by Kate Davis. (photo from Chutzpah!) This year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival opens with a bold question: \u201cThe Ten Commandments.\u00a0Holy Moses, is it time for some new ones?\u201d And the audience at the Rothstein Theatre Nov. 2 will be the ones to decide which comedian answers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[22648,31,5278,4333,22649,22647,175,971,22650],"class_list":["post-42342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-charlie-demers","tag-chutzpah","tag-comedy","tag-jacob-samuel","tag-kate-davis","tag-richard-side","tag-rothstein-theatre","tag-ten-commandments","tag-the-debaters"],"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\/42342","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=42342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}