comedy

A spoof on true crime

Left to right: Sophia Paskalidis, David Underhill, Drew Ogle and Mai Stone (seated) co-star in Tragedy, Slander & Wine. (photo by Sarah Cherin)

When a community theatre production ends with an actor dying on stage, the media descends on the small B.C. town. Conspiracy theories flourish and no one is above suspicion.

This is the plot of Tragedy, Slander & Wine by Jewish community member David Volpov, which premières at the NEST on Granville Island Nov. 13-19. The mystery/comedy explores, among other things, media literacy.

“My goal in writing Tragedy, Slander & Wine is to bring awareness about the issue and to invite audience members to think more critically about the media they consume. So, that’s where the idea of true crime entered the play,” said Volpov, executive director of Promethean Theatre, which is presenting the work. “I see true crime lovers popularize a lot of sensationalistic interpretations of well-known deaths. I think people tend to want to believe wild hypotheses instead of the cut-and-dried truth simply because it’s more entertaining. This conspiratorial thinking can become dangerous if it impedes on innocent people’s lives, which is what happened in real life to the town of Moscow, Idaho, after several infamous deaths.”

On Nov. 13, 2022, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were stabbed to death in the young women’s off-campus (University of Idaho) house. False accusations and other misinformation proliferated, causing much harm to the community. Eventually, suspect Bryan Kohberger was charged with their murders, and his trial continues.

In Volpov’s fictional story, the play’s description notes, “The finger-pointing grows so rampant that the victim’s sister, Shannon (Mai Stone), can’t even have a healthy relationship with her own mother. Shannon’s longtime friend Alec (Drew Ogle) promises to help Shannon replenish her image in the public eye and shed her status as a pariah. But they find out that manipulating the media is harder than they anticipated. They have to get past power-hungry reporter Penelope (Sophia Paskalidis) and gatekeeping publicist Colin (David Underhill). Soon, Shannon uncovers a secret plot that upends everything she thought she knew about the tragedy.”

The play features four actors on stage and seven performers who act only on screen.

“I knew that I needed a multimedia film component in the production to spoof true crime,” Volpov told the Independent. “We filmed interviews with the townsfolk, who give the audience information about the circumstances of the mystery of the play. The film is played on TVs, which are onstage during the entire performance.”

This approach was new to many working on the production and Volpov said he appreciated the help of a few film artists who offered their guidance. In particular, he noted, “Our videographer, Bruna Xavier, and our film editor, Ian Tan, are both godsends. I’m really excited for audiences to see what this collaboration created because it’s not something that Vancouver audiences have seen before.”

Tragedy, Slander & Wine is Promethean Theatre’s sixth production. Formed in 2018, the company’s mandate is “to create work opportunities for emerging artists,” said Volpov. “There are some apprenticeships open to emerging artists in Vancouver theatre companies, but I keep hearing from my peers that these positions only take them so far. They feel stuck in what they consider a trainee limbo before they can get a shot at a role they want. That’s why Promethean puts emerging artists directly in positions of creative leadership. In that sense, we act as a launchpad for artists who want to continue expanding their practices.” (For more information, visit prometheantheatre.ca.)

photo - With Tragedy, Slander & Wine, playwright David Volpov invites audience members to think more critically about the media they consume — With Tragedy, Slander & Wine, playwright David Volpov invites audience members to think more critically about the media they consume. *(photo from Promethean Theatre)*

Volpov joined the producing team after having acted in Promethean’s first production, Saint Joan. He graduated from the bachelor of fine arts acting program at the University of British Columbia in 2020.

“Like many people who graduated then, my final play at UBC was cut short after just three performances due to COVID,” he said. “This experience really opened my eyes…. I always knew acting is a difficult profession, but to see virtually every theatre and movie set shut down spiked my existential worries a lot. There’s a silver lining, though. I returned to playwriting during the lull period in 2020 because I realized that writing was a way I could create art while social distancing. I learned that I didn’t have to wait for theatre work to come to me; I could generate work myself. In hindsight, I didn’t actually know what art I wanted to make when I graduated UBC. It wasn’t until I began writing plays that I found my voice and had something to say about the world.”

Tragedy, Slander & Wine is one of the works Volpov began writing during the pandemic. “I felt troubled by how quickly conspiracy theories spread,” he says in the press release for the play. “I saw this cycle repeat after each major world event. Our abilities to engage in meaningful discourse eroded while our reliance on bias-confirming news increased. With so much misinformation online nowadays, how is anyone supposed to parse through what’s fact and what’s fiction?”

“Research shows that feelings of anxiety, disenfranchisement and isolation cause people to think more conspiratorially,” Volpov told the Independent. “People feel comforted by believing that their enemies cause their bad fortune (as opposed to random chance). One of the reasons conspiracy theories endure is because they have a backfire effect: when someone confronts a conspiracy theorist about their beliefs, it is interpreted as confirmation. Theorists think ‘of course, the higher powers want to convince me I’m wrong, that’s part of their plan.’ I don’t think conspiracy theories will ever go away, unfortunately.”

Nonetheless, Volpov is doing what he can to improve the situation, in addition to writing about it.

“Promethean Theatre partnered with a media literacy platform to provide education about the topic,” he said. “They are called Ground News and are a Canadian company based out of Kingston, Ont.

“I believe that there are many ways that people can combat their confirmation biases and to have a well-rounded knowledge about current events,” he continued. “The number one thing people can do is to read multiple sources about one story. I know it probably feels like a chore, but reading different perspectives can mitigate our political blindspots.

“After that, I recommend cutting your social media use when engaging with current events. Traditional media isn’t perfect, and it’s rightfully facing scrutiny from the public, but social media can be especially pernicious because the algorithm can steer people to engage with content that already supports their beliefs. Also, the algorithm boosts sensationalistic content while ignoring nuance, which I think is necessary for every discussion.

“My next piece of advice is, be diligent about claims you read. If information can’t be traced back to a source,” he said, “it can’t be verified as true.”

Tragedy, Slander & Wine is recommended for audience members age 16+ because of its “mature content, including references to substance abuse, murder and suicide.” Among the performances is a matinée for high school students Nov. 15, and artist talkbacks after the Nov. 18 and 19 matinées. For tickets, visit plainstage.com/events/tragedy-slander-and-wine.

The Debaters special edition

The special Chutzpah! Festival edition of The Debators will be moderated by Kate Davis. (photo from Chutzpah!)

This year’s Chutzpah! Festival opens with a bold question: “The Ten Commandments. Holy Moses, is it time for some new ones?” 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.

“As holder of stage rights for The Debaters 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’ve also been keen to produce stage versions for specific audiences in different communities,” show creator Richard Side told the Independent. “This 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’s vision for the fest.”

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’t just be about making jokes.

photo - Charlie Demers — Charlie Demers *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

Demers, a Debaters regular, shared “his bona fides for this event” with Side: “I 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.”

“The 3rd order Franciscan movement,” explained Side, “is a group that includes religious and lay people who try to emulate the life of St. Francis of Assisi…. As for how it relates to the topic of the Ten Commandments – [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 ‘roast’ the commandments but also might have some insight in it, too. Facts and funny is what The Debaters is all about, laughs – and logic.”

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: “Preparing for The Debaters 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’ll 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’s fair to say that this audience may be a bit more knowledgeable about Judaism than the average crowd.”

photo - Jacob Samuel — Jacob Samuel *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

Jewish Independent readers will be quite familiar with Samuel, whose one-panel cartoons the paper has published and whose comedy career the paper has followed.

“I think the last time I was in the Jewish Independent,” he said, “it 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’s loud, anxious and has a very sensitive stomach).”

Samuel has learned a lot since his first time on The Debaters, which was at the 2017 Winnipeg Comedy Festival. “The debate was about emojis,” he said. “I thought it would be really subversive and clever if I held up giant emoji printouts for my closing argument – 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.”

Davis, a member of the Toronto Jewish community, is also a Debaters veteran.

“My first Debaters,” she said, “was in 2007 in London, Ont. – ‘Should dads be in the delivery room?’ Of course, I was for this, as dads are the ones who got us into this mess in the first place.”

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.

“I love performing comedy and my speaking is my comedy and everything I believe in,” she said. “Over the years, I have created four different keynotes on work/life balance, connectivity, mindfulness and mental resilience, all of which I hope contribute to a healthier, happier life. Whether I am writing my comedy, books, scripts or a keynote, I find being multifaceted is like going to the gym – you don’t just work out your arms. Each one contributes to each other. I might write an article and think that’s a great joke and try that in my standup.”

Davis said she is “super-excited to be moderator for The Debaters – Chutzpah! Edition” that stars Demers and Samuel.

“I know what great comics they are and, honestly, I think moderating is being a great listener and keeping things going. But, let’s be honest,” she said. “I am pretty excited for the puns!!! Also, to prepare, I will be eating as many matzo balls as I can.”

For tickets to the The Debaters – Chutzpah! Edition (which is not a CBC-affiliated production and won’t be recorded for broadcast), visit chutzpahfestival.com. A portion of ticket sales will benefit the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s inclusion programs.

Playfulness & laughter

Left to right: Gyda Chud, Carol Ann Fried and Tammi Belfer at Jewish Seniors Alliance’s Spring Forum May 28. (photo from JSA)

The first in-person Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum after a pandemic-imposed hiatus was held at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture on May 28. It got people out of their seats, moving about, meeting others – and laughing.

Laughing Matters was presented by Carol Ann Fried, an energetic and inspirational speaker and consultant. She was introduced by Fran Goldberg. Tammi Belfer, president of JSA, welcomed the 40-plus people in the audience. Belfer spoke about JSA’s partnerships with other organizations, but especially with every person in the room and all its members.

Most of us who attended Laughing Matters did not expect to have to change tables, to speak to strangers, to scream at others, and then tell them they are awesome. But this is exactly what happened! The session was a whirlwind of movement, playfulness and laughter. Meeting new people is cause for celebration – to do so in the form of a game involves even more fun.

So, we played games. In one, we each took the lead and, while introducing ourselves, made announcements at our respective tables. How else would we learn that Gyda Chud’s mother would turn 100 next Saturday? Or that Naava Soudack’s daughter would be acting in Henry V at Bard on the Beach this summer?

We also imagined holding a cellphone with a photo of an important event in our lives and described it to the group. We learned about mother-of-the-bride/groom wedding dresses, about grandchildren and about trekking trips. All these exchanges were accompanied by laughter and delight.

We then switched tables and initiated a conversation with a total stranger, with the objective of finding commonalities. Some of us discovered that their tablemates grew up in the same city, same neighbourhood and went to the same school, but they had never met – how wonderful to finally do so!

At my new table, we were asked to complain. About what? My partner, whom I had only just met, complained about American politics, but then found a silver lining about the States. In turn, I complained about Israeli politics, but then described the beautiful country I grew up in. Yes, there are always two sides to each coin. We ended our encounter with a high five, exclaiming: “You are awesome!” It was a nice way to make a new acquaintance.

Throughout the entire session, Fried delighted us with her good humour and charm, her creativity of mind and spirit. Gyda Chud, past president of JSA, thanked Fried for introducing us to new people, new friends and new activities.

Tamara Frankel is a member of the board of Jewish Seniors Alliance.

Laugh for good causes

Helen Schneiderman headlines and David Granirer emcees the Stand Up for Mental Health show at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on June 1. (photos from JCC)

“There are many comedy shows out there, but not many like this one,” Kyle Berger told the Independent. “I keep saying that this will be the ‘feel-good comedy of the year,’ but it really will be. These comics will show us that we can laugh at just about anything and feel inspired at the same time – with all proceeds going to incredible causes. I can’t wait!”

Berger is the sports coordinator at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and the delegation head of JCC Maccabi. He is also a stand-up comic and a producer with Rise of the Comics. It is in all these capacities that he is participating in the Stand Up for Mental Health comedy show at the JCC on June 1, 7:30 p.m.

A joint fundraiser for the Stand Up for Mental Health (SMH) Comedy Society and JCC Maccabi Vancouver, Berger is producing the event, with the support of Stand Up for Mental Health, and will be performing a set himself. “It will be a huge honour for me to share the stage with this crew,” he said.

“This crew” includes SMH founder, counselor and comedian David Granirer.

“Stand Up for Mental Health is my program teaching stand-up comedy to people like myself with mental illnesses as a way of building confidence and fighting public stigma,” Granirer explained. “We have been around since 2004 and have trained approximately 300 comics and done hundreds of shows for government, corporations, the military, correctional facilities, medical schools, etc.”

photo - Kyle Berger — Kyle Berger *(photo from JCC)*

Berger attended one of those performances last year, in which SMH Comedy Society showcased “their students’ incredible talents, and I absolutely loved it,” he said. “I knew some of the SMH Comedy board members from working together in the comedy scene and made the connection right away. They are always looking for venues and new audiences and I knew I wanted to do something with comedy as a JCC Maccabi Games fundraiser, so inviting them to team up seemed like a no-brainer to me.”

Also performing next week will be Helen Schneiderman, who headlines the show.

Schneiderman’s comic career began in 2018, when she took a comedy course at Langara College that was taught by Granirer. She said she did it, “mainly to get off the couch. I didn’t expect to love it so much, nor to continue doing it after the class. But, once I got my first few laughs, I was hooked. Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten more comfortable sharing my experiences and perspectives, and I try to remember to always have fun up there.”

Being able to do stand-up comedy has influenced how Schneiderman navigates through life.

“I now see the world through ‘funny glasses,’” she said. “Every interaction and experience has the potential to be a joke – not always a good joke, but a joke nonetheless. My day job is delivering leadership training and so I get to have a captive audience, even at work.”

In addition to her day job and other involvements, Schneiderman has been on the board of SMH Comedy Society for four years, and board president for the past two years.

“I’m involved with the organization because it’s doing really important work to tackle the stigma of mental health,” she said. “It’s a fantastic program, and I am in awe of the comics who share their stories with so much vulnerability and smart humour.”

People can find out more about SMH at smhsociety.org. Post-pandemic, the society is once again holding live classes and shows, as well as continuing to put on Zoom shows. The pandemic, said Granirer, “made me realize that, by being creative on Zoom, we could reach people all over the English-speaking world. It also made me realize how much people need to have in-person contact in order to maintain their mental health.”

One of the reasons SMH is teaming up with JCC Maccabi Vancouver for this show, he said, is “because they’re a great organization and exercise is crucial to maintaining good mental health.”

The decision to partner was easy for Berger.

“As the delegation head for Vancouver’s JCC Maccabi squad, I am always looking for ways to raise money for scholarships so that anyone who wants to participate in the JCC Maccabi Games experience can do so,” he said. “At the same time, producing and performing stand-up is another hobby and passion of mine, so it always makes sense to me to raise money through laughter. I always love the opportunity to work with other causes or charities, and this one was a match made in heaven.”

The June 1 Stand Up for Mental Health show is being presented by JCC Maccabi Vancouver and Life is Still Funny, which Berger described as “a group of local comedians who might be considered, well, not particularly young, but still quite young at heart! Made up of locals like Helen, Ray [Morrison], as well as recent Canada’s Got Talent contestant Syd Bosel. They are all involved with SMH Comedy Society.”

In addition to Schneiderman, Berger and Granirer, Morrison will perform, as will a few SMH students. Tickets are $20 (plus fees) and are available at eventbrite.ca. There will be a cash bar and a raffle draw at the show. Berger said half of the proceeds will go to SMH Comedy Society and half to JCC Maccabi Vancouver.

Part of New Wave’s Season 3

Laura Leibow is one of the 14 comics featured on The New Wave of Standup, now streaming on CBC Gem. (photo by Emily Cooper)

The whole thing was a highlight really! I still kind of had that post-COVID ‘I can’t believe I get to take the stage again’ sense of wonder in me at that time,” comedian Laura Leibow told the Independent. “Combine that with getting to see comics I respect and love do their thing made the whole experience very cool. Plus, I love staying in hotels.”

Leibow was speaking about the taping of the latest season of The New Wave of Standup, a Just For Laughs Vancouver and CBC original series, which is now streaming on CBC Gem. Leibow and fellow Jewish community member Jacob Balshin are two of the 14 comics featured on the show.

“I try really hard to approach taped sets in the same way I’d approach ones that are not being taped because, ultimately, it’s just about that live experience between you and the crowd and, hopefully, the tape will capture that,” said Leibow. “The only major difference is I mind the subject matter I cover a little more when I’m being filmed, so my mommy and daddy don’t get mad at me!”

Balshin went into the New Wave set having worked out more of what he was going to say than he usually does. “I love writing and try and work every day on my comedy. I do not like repeating the same set over and over again though,” he said. “It can make me depressed. Leading into the taping, I only ran the set a few times. I was just getting back into comedy after the last COVID lockdown in Ontario and did not want to take a break from having fun to repeat the same jokes over and over. I try not to overthink things. Comedy is the easy part of my life. The rest is the struggle.

“After I got off stage that night, I went to another show,” he said. “It was next door to where we were shooting and was actually part of a tour I was on…. I was able to make it in time to do my spot. I bombed trying new stuff. No one in the audience knew I had just filmed for TV 20 minutes earlier. Both sets held the same weight to me – I just want to make people laugh, and get better. I do not think any one set matters that much. And, if it does, I will be prepared because I know I have put in the work.”

It took Balshin time to find his comedic voice. “I did not know my own voice when I started comedy, so I would speak like other people who I was a fan of,” he said. “Now, it is not something I think about. Everything I do is naturally me. And that feels like a really good place to be – and something I always wanted. To me, the goal is to be yourself. Anyone can be funny, but only you can be yourself. So, over the years, it has been more about actually living a life and less about what happens on stage.”

While Leibow seems to have experienced a less drastic evolution, she, too, has reached the point where, she said, “I’m far less concerned now with trying to impress certain people than I am with just talking about what I think is funny.”

Leibow said, “My comedic voice is driven largely by my ADHD [attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder], friendship, laughter, feminism, silliness, clay, and Jews. No, I don’t know if I can really nail down my comedic voice other than saying that it really is largely driven by my scattered brain and throwing spaghetti at the wall. If something really tickles me, and it seems to be making other people laugh, then that’s great!”

Both Leibow and Balshin have topics they won’t cover in their acts.

“I won’t tell a joke that denigrates or harms a marginalized group and I prefer to stay in my lane when it comes to certain issues,” said Leibow. “I’m not going to boldly speak out of turn on a topic about which I’m not well informed. I also try not to violate the privacy of my family members. Unless I think of a good joke that would require me to do so.”

Balshin only writes material that is about him. “I only have my own story to tell,” he said. “I hope my comedy makes you feel good when you watch it. And I always feel bad when someone has a bad night. If any joke I ever tell hurts someone, I am interested to know why and am willing to listen.”

On stage, Balshin interacts with the audience quite a lot.

“It is a part of my comedy that naturally developed from doing comedy in rooms in Toronto, where the audience … [wants] you to feel present and talk to them,” he said. “I struggle with social anxiety off stage and rarely talk to people. It is pretty fun to have a space where that seems to not exist for me at all. And I love when the audience opens up to me. It feels like the reward I get for being so open with them. And to know they trust me sometimes is really special.”

photo - Jacob Balshin — Jacob Balshin *(photo by Emily Cooper)*

Balshin tours the country regularly. “I’ve performed in places with populations in the hundreds many times in my career. For many, I am the first Jewish person they have ever met,” he said. “From my own experience, I would say there is a big difference between hate and ignorance. I would say the vast majority of what I have encountered firsthand is ignorance. Most people though do not care that I am Jewish. We are all just people.

“I hope to be funny and genuine enough on stage so that anyone who came in with any misconceptions or hate towards Jewish people can recognize someone who has nothing but love to give. Even though we are different, we can all relate to the weird experience that is living.”

In addition to being part of The New Wave of Standup, Balshin’s debut standup comedy special will be airing on his YouTube channel in the next few months. “It’s called 30 and Breathing Funny,” he said. “It was recorded on my 30th birthday and it would mean a lot if you gave it a watch. It better showcases my style of comedy and includes some material about being Jewish that is not in the CBC taping.”

Balshin moved to Vancouver last year, after a breakup. “When I arrived at the airport, friends Bobby Warrener and Malik Ellassal [also on New Wave this season] picked me up and immediately helped the move feel far less lonely. Getting to do my first TV taping with both them a few months later helped relieve me of that same feeling of loneliness,” he said. “And getting to watch them both kill, knowing how hard they both work and how much they deserve it, was definitely a highlight. Go watch their episodes! They are two of the funniest young comics in Canada.”

Rounding out The New Wave of Standup lineup are Brendan D’Souza, Travis Lindsay, Rachel Schaefer, Courtney Gilmour, Charles Haycock, Seán Devlin, Dino Archie, Heidi Brander, Jackie Pirico and Mike Green. To watch, go to gem.cbc.ca/the-new-wave-of-standup.

New season of standup

Jacob Balshin (photo by Emily Cooper)

Just For Laughs Vancouver and CBC have announced that original series The New Wave of Standup is returning for Season 3 beginning March 24 on the free CBC Gem streaming service.

The third season showcases 14 Canadian comedians with diverse backgrounds and unique comedy styles who perform standup sets that explore topics including dating, workplace politics, family dynamics and overall observations about life and finding the humour in it. Among the rising stars are Jewish community members Jacob Balshin and Laura Leibow.

Balshin was the winner of I Heart Jokes Awards Newcomer of the Year in Toronto and was later nominated for Breakout Comic of the Year. He has recorded sets for CBC’s Laugh Out Loud and Sirius XM. He is currently fresh off a month-long run of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. His standup clips on TikTok have amassed millions of likes and a loyal group of fans who enjoy his personal, loose and free style of joke-telling.

In 2022, Leibow was chosen to be a part of New Faces at Just For Laughs at the Montreal and Toronto festivals and also did a taping for CBC Gem’s New Wave of Standup. She has a witty and laid-back comedic style, performing on the club circuit, in alternative rooms and in theatres. She has performed in clubs like the Improv and Micky’s in Los Angeles, and Gotham and Broadway Comedy Club in New York City. She is the editor of the comedy website Unoriginal and hosts two podcasts for the Canadian Jewish News. She can be heard frequently on SiriusXM and on 604 Records’ comedy compilation album The Great Canadian Comedy Rumble.

photo - Laura Leibow is one of 14 comics on the third season of The New Wave of Standup — Laura Leibow is one of 14 comics on the third season of The New Wave of Standup. *(photo by Emily Cooper)*

The new season also features comedian Brendan D’Souza, a fast-talking non-binary comedian and podcaster. Travis Lindsay – an on-air correspondent and writer for CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes – brings a mix of jokes and storytelling. Rachel Schaefer has been featured on CBC Radio’s Laugh Out Loud, and appears on the JFL Original’s comedy album Stand-Up BC: Yee-Haw Hell Yeah.

Courtney Gilmour has written for and made appearances on CBC’s The Debaters and Humour Resources. Using a rapid-fire joke style and laid-back demeanour, Bobby Warrener has performed standup at multiple festivals, on TV and on tours across Canada. Charles Haycock has performed at many festivals, as well.

Seán Devlin was a 2022 Juno nominee for his comedy album Airports, Animals, and was a consulting producer on Borat: The Subsequent Movie Film, as well as writer and director of the satirical feature film When the Storm Fades. Dino Archie made his network late-night debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, while Heidi Brander is a writer for CBC’s Son of a Critch, Baroness Von Sketch Show and Still Standing, who has served for three seasons as head writer of This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Jackie Pirico has multiple Just For Laughs television tapings under her belt and a feature film (Sundowners); she also has made appearances on Viceland TV and Crave’s new mockumentary series New Eden. Malik Elassal is a stand-up comedian, actor and writer, performing in clubs across Canada and appearing on various TV shows, while Mike Green produces shows Secret Standup Series and Comedy At the Handsome Daughter, which is one of the longest running weekly shows in the country.

To watch the season, visit gem.cbc.ca/the-new-wave-of-standup.

– Courtesy C2C Communications

Just for Laughs returns

Phil Rosenthal of Somebody Feed Phil takes part in Just for Laughs Vancouver on Feb. 19. (photo from JFL Vancouver)

Just for Laughs Vancouver returns for another year’s festival, presented in association with SiriusXM Feb. 16-25. It welcomes back Best of the West, highlighting local talent, and reintroduces the Creator’s Series, with the ﬁrst guest conﬁrmed surely to be an entertaining afternoon: Phil Rosenthal. Listed below are some of the Jewish community members participating in the festival.

A Conversation with Phil Rosenthal / Feb. 19, 5 p.m., at Vogue Theatre

Rosenthal is the award-winning creator, executive producer and host of Netﬂix’s hit Somebody Feed Phil, as well as a New York Times best-selling author. The Emmy-nominated unscripted documentary series combines Rosenthal’s love of food and travel with his unique brand of humour and he recently won a 2022 Critics Choice Real TV Award for Best Travel/Adventure Show on behalf of the series and garnered a 2022 James Beard Award nomination. He also recently released Somebody Feed Phil: The Book, which instantly landed on the New York Times bestseller list.

Sarah Silverman: Grow Some Lips / Feb. 23, 7 p.m., at Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Silverman is a two-time Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, writer and producer. She currently hosts her weekly podcast, available on iTunes and wherever podcasts are available. She can next be seen as the host of TBS’s Stupid Pet Tricks, an expansion of the David Letterman late-night segment. She recently wrapped production on Netﬂix’s Maestro, a biopic on the life of composer Leonard Bernstein, where she will star opposite Bradley Cooper.

Ari Shaffir / Feb. 25, 9:30 p.m., at Vogue Theatre

Shaffir is best known for the storytelling show he created and hosted on Comedy Central called This Is Not Happening. His last Netﬂix special, Double Negative, won a Grammy for best comedy special before the award committee realized it was too ﬁlthy and didn’t represent the high standards that the Grammys has long stood for so the honour was stripped from him. Shaffir has had numerous appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, as well as WTF with Marc Maron, The Adam Carolla Show and Your Mom’s House. His own podcast, Ari Shaffir’s Skeptic Tank, is a chart topper that comes out every week.

Sarah Sherman / Feb. 16, 9:30 p.m., and Feb. 17, 7 p.m., at Biltmore Cabaret

Sherman aka Sarah Squirm is currently a featured player on Saturday Night Live. Outside of the show, she is known for her unconventional and popular live show, Helltrap Nightmare. She was chosen as one of the 2021 Just for Laughs’ Montreal’s New Faces of Comedy.

Jared Freid / Feb. 22, 9:30 p.m., and Feb. 23, 7 p.m., at Rio Theatre

Freid is a stand-up comedian based out of New York City, with a strong focus on dating and relationships. His comedy is current and reﬂects the ordinary daily thoughts of everyone you know, especially if you know a lot of millennials who are obsessing over dating apps, trying to be real adults, and worrying about their bodies. He co-hosts the podcast U Up? with Jordana Abraham, where they discuss their takes on modern dating, and recently launched a new show, Dating Makeover, a podcast presented by Spotify.

An Intimate Evening with Adam Pally / Feb. 17, 7 p.m, at Rio Theatre

Songs, stories and jokes come together just like Momma used to make it. Enjoy the stories, sing along to the songs, hopefully think the jokes are in fact jokes and the price of the ticket and commute and being around a bunch of strangers was worth it. I, uh, I mean whoever is writing this, definitely not Adam Pally, is so thankful for the opportunity to entertain you.

Hannah Berner / Feb. 18, 9:30 p.m., at Rio Theatre

Berner was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and played competitive tennis for the University of Wisconsin. She emerged on the comedy scene by directing, editing and acting in videos on Instagram and writing viral tweets. She has two podcasts, Giggly Squad and Berning In Hell. Berner is an advocate for mental health, animals and napping.

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For the full Just for Laughs Vancouver lineup and show tickets, visit JFLVancouver.com.

– Courtesy JFL Vancouver

One is never too old to learn

I had the privilege of seeing Mark Leiren-Young’s play Bar Mitzvah Boy when it premièred at Pacific Theatre in 2018. It was funny, edgy and insightful, and well-acted by Gina Chiarelli and Richard Newman. It contained a lot of local references, making it even more special.

What I see from the Playwrights Canada Press edition, which was published in 2020 and arrived at the JI sometime in 2021, is that Leiren-Young’s notes on various aspects of the play allow productions to change certain references and pronunciations to localize the action, thereby making it special no matter where it is performed. For instance, the audience first meets Rabbi Michael Levitz-Sharon, who is in her mid-30s to maybe 45 years old, on a jogging path, “dressed in sweats and a ball cap for a local sports team.”

The next scene: in the rabbi’s office, there sits a man in his mid-60s or older, Joey Brant, “decked out in prayer regalia – including tefillin, which are on incorrectly.” This is our first hint that he, despite initial appearances, is not a rabbi or a religious Jew. When Michael arrives, Joey assumes that the relatively young woman in running gear doesn’t belong at the synagogue – and certainly isn’t the congregation’s spiritual leader. This exchange sets the tone for the essentially two-person play that unfolds. The other cast member is Sheryl, the receptionist, who is never seen, only heard. As described by Leiren-Young, the actor of this role (which was Jalen Saip in 2018 at Pacific Theatre) should have “the accent you want the woman who runs your local deli to at least pretend to have.”

I love having these types of stage direction “made public.” It is a completely different experience to read a play than to attend it in person. It’s almost like listening to the acoustic version of one of your favourite pop musicians – if they are able to sing on key and play their chosen instrument skilfully, they really are excellent at their craft. Similarly, if the words of a play still make you laugh and cringe and move you emotionally in other ways, with no cues from actors or audience members, it is a very well-written play. Bar Mitzvah Boy in book form made me do all those things – I chuckled a lot throughout, and also got teary near the end. Michael and Joey (the bar mitzvah “boy,” btw) are both dealing with some serious, raw issues.

Since I finished the book, I’ve been revisiting some of the many topics it covers. I’ve thought about my own beliefs about Judaism and faith, what happens after we die, what makes a good friend, parent or spouse, how people navigate challenges differently, the ways in which a congregation (or any other group) can be both supportive and trying at the same time.

Leiren-Young dedicates the publication to his mother, Carol Leiren: “I guess it was worth sending me to Talmud Torah.” For viewers or readers of Bar Mitzvah Boy, it certainly was worth it – thank you.

A crush leads to new career

Liz Glazer headlines the Nov. 24 Chutzpah! event Celebrating Queer Jewish Comedy. (photo from Chutzpah!)

Lawyer-turned-comedian Liz Glazer shares the Rothstein Theatre stage Nov. 24 with the Holy Sisters, Israeli drag queens Ziona Patriot and Talula Bonet, in the Chutzpah! Festival event Celebrating Queer Jewish Comedy. The evening is hosted by multidisciplinary artist and performer Yenta, whose alter ego is Stuart B. Meyers.

Based in New Jersey, Glazer is an award-winning comedian. Before taking to the stage as a career – and engaging in other creative endeavours, including acting and writing – she was a tenured law professor.

Of comedy, Glazer said, “I never intended to get into it. I had a crush on a woman who asked if I ever thought of doing comedy (no) and said she would put me on her show (to which I initially also said no, then realized she would probably be at her own show, so I said yes). I loved it so much from that first performance, and I think what I loved about it wasn’t even the laughs or attention or even that this woman I had a crush on was in the audience, though all of those things were nice, but that all I had to be to do it was me.

“I enjoyed teaching law, but there was always something about it where I had to fit what I wanted to say or write about into a framework of legal analysis. I had to have the topic of whatever I was saying or writing be the law, not just my own life, because there would eventually be something like a bar exam. When I did comedy, all I needed to talk about was myself. Though I should note: after all of my shows there are exams, so audience members should be prepared for that.”

Glazer’s first comedy performance was on March 5, 2013. She admitted to having been “a wreck.”

“I wrote stuff to say,” said Glazer, “but had the thankfully correct instinct that it wouldn’t connect with the audience or be funny or good, so I called a friend with experience performing comedy and she told me to just say something vulnerable to the audience at the beginning of my set.”

Thinking she got the message, she hung up before realizing she didn’t know how to be vulnerable.

“They don’t teach you how to do that in law school,” she said. “So, I paced around a bunch trying to think of something vulnerable to say, couldn’t really think of anything, then headed to my front door to leave for the show…. I see a package at my front door, and I hadn’t ordered anything.”

With time to spare before the show, Glazer brought the package inside. As she was about to open it, she said, “I realize[d] a trick to being vulnerable is not knowing the answer to something, and I didn’t know what was in the package, so perhaps the vulnerable thing I could do to start my set would be to open the package on stage. So I did.

“Turns out the package was from my mom, who had visited my apartment a couple weeks before and noticed that my white fluffy cat Mona – who would climb to the top of my closet – was shedding her white fluffy fur on my dark suits I would wear to teach class, making me look like a white fluffy law professor. My mom said I should buy vinyl suit covers … [but] knowing I wouldn’t, she ordered me three packs of six of them and sent them to me without my knowledge. So, my first set ever began with my opening this package on stage and explaining to the audience my relationship with my mother and my cat Mona, and how I’m a law professor who teaches class with white fluff all over my suits. And it worked! I think because, even though I had no idea how to do comedy, I couldn’t not be myself because I was genuinely reacting to what was in that package in the moment I opened it for the first time along with the audience. And/or because, as a rule, vinyl suit covers are very funny.”

Glazer no longer relies mainly on improvisation, but it still is an important part of her act.

“I do write a lot of jokes,” she said, “and much of my shows consist of prepared material but also improvising is everything, to quote the great Joan Rivers (in a very short interview I saw somewhere and am not sure where). Live comedy, whether it’s written down ahead of time or not is, by nature, dependent on interaction and connection with the audience which is, by nature, improvisational. So, to prepare for a show, I make sure I know what I want to say – sometimes a set of things and, more often, one big idea I want to get across – and I annoy my wife for a few hours repeating it aloud while she tries on clothes and asks me if I like them. And I try to meditate before [a show] because the key ingredient for me is clearing my focus so I can be present with the audience in the moment. That’s really the stuff. Connection and clarity.”

Glazer is married to Rabbi Karen Glazer Perolman, a spiritual leader at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, N.J.

“I was raised going to Orthodox Jewish day school, a Conservative synagogue, and I’m now married to a Reform rabbi, so I think that makes me Chassidic,” Glazer joked. “I do talk about being Jewish in my comedy, and I do comedy for Jewish organizations and synagogues frequently. I talk about being married to a rabbi and, when I do comedy for Jewish audiences, I talk more extensively about my upbringing and how I learned in school all of these rules about what not to do, then lived in a house where we ate pepperoni pizza on trayf silverware on Shabbos.

“At an even deeper level,” she said, “my lineage consists of four out of four grandparents who survived the Holocaust. Not to brag, but it’s true. And I think of them constantly when I do comedy, especially when it’s explicitly about being Jewish and especially now as antisemitism is on the rise, unfortunately. There’s always a fearful part of me that wonders how much to talk about being Jewish in situations where there might be antisemitic people in the audience or if I post a video that may spark antisemitic comments, but I think of my grandparents in those moments, too. I think, if they survived for me to not be loudly Jewish, what was the point?”

Glazer doesn’t shy away from who she is or what challenging circumstances she has faced.

“I’m recording an album soon called Still Born Sorry, about grief and trauma and stillbirth (and it’s funny!) that will be an audio album available wherever you get your music and such, and also part of a documentary film about how I was supposed to record an album and have a baby last year, and neither of those came to fruition when I thought they would. That prior album was supposed to be called Born Sorry, and was postponed due to a stillbirth, so this one (the album and the documentary) will be called Still Born Sorry, which may be the best pun I definitely did not intend.”

In addition to the Nov. 24 performance at Chutzpah!, Glazer will be leading a two-hour workshop on the afternoon of Nov. 25. Participants will explore their “personal experiences, opinions and overbearing family members to find funny material to bring to the stage,” as well as setting up a “punchline joke structure and what it means to find a comedic voice.”

For anyone a little nervous about trying to seek out that voice, Glazer said, “I adore nervous people, so I really encourage especially those who are, to come to the workshop.”

Glazer encouraged readers to check out her website, dearlizglazer.com, and send her “a nice email! I would love to hear from you!”

For tickets to Glazer’s workshop and any Chutzpah! performance, visit chutzpahfestival.com.

Welcome back, TUTS!

Much of the humour in Something Rotten! comes from Nostradamus (Jyla Robinson), right, leading Nick (Kamyar Pazandeh) astray with incorrect visions of the future. (photo by Emily Cooper)

Theatre Under the Stars is a fun, relaxing way to ease yourself back into theatre after the COVID hiatus. Its two productions, Something Rotten! and We Will Rock You, are happy fare that alternate nights through Aug. 27, outdoors at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl.

The Independent saw Something Rotten! on opening night, hoping to see Jewish community member Daniel Cardoso, who plays Jewish moneylender Shylock in the TUTS productions. However, it was understudy Simon Abraham who took on the role of the moneylender that night. He and the entire cast put on a great show.

In this comedy, set in 1595, Shakespeare is monopolizing the theatre industry and playwright siblings Nick and Nigel Bottom are trying to write a hit. They face several challenges, including being in debt to Shylock, who is willing to forgive that debt if they permit him to produce their new production. However, they initially refuse because he and they could be put to death, as Jews at the time were permitted few professions, one of which was moneylender.

Something Rotten! takes on – in very light manner – antisemitism, the treatment of the poor and the place of women in Shakespeare’s time. It also takes on these issues as they are depicted in Shakespeare’s plays and poetry.

“Shylock has been a very interesting character to explore and I extremely grateful to our director, Rachel Peake, for giving me the chance to do so,” Cardoso told the Independent in an interview before the show opened. “In researching for this part, I certainly took a cursory look at Merchant of Venice, but only so I could have an idea of who Shakespeare’s Shylock is. Because of how much Something Rotten! subverts the audience’s expectations of these well-known Shakespearean characters, there are only a few similarities between what I’m doing and what we see in Merchant of Venice. I don’t think that antisemitism is a central theme of this show, but we certainly get a view of it through Shylock.

“I also dove into what antisemitism looked like during the time of the Renaissance,” he continued, noting that Jews were “expelled from England in the late 13th century and only officially allowed to return in the mid-17th. However, it does appear that there were indeed Jewish people living in England during Shakespeare’s time and that some even fled to England from Spain and Portugal, due to the Inquisition.”

Cardoso sees parallels between Shakespeare’s time and today’s undocumented immigrants in both Canada and the United States and the refugee crises around the world. “In trying to find a way into the Shylock ofSomething Rotten!,” he said, “I found myself drawing on these modern-day examples, as well as trying to imagine what it must have been like for Jewish people in the time of the Renaissance or various other points in history. I found that, given my own connection to the community, this hit quite close to home for me. At the end of the day, he’s a smart guy who works hard and, despite the obstacles in front of him, he is able to be an equal and a friend to many of the characters in the show.”

Not such a smart guy is Nick Bottom (Kamyar Pazandeh) who, in trying to skip the hard work and best Shakespeare (Daniel Curalli), seeks out a soothsayer, Nostradamus (Jyla Robinson), who tells him that musicals are the popular theatre of the future. Nick sinks the last pennies he and his wife Bea (Katie-Rose Connors) have into a musical production with a reluctant Nigel (Vicente Sandoval), who has Shakespeare’s talent but lives in his brother’s shadow. It is only after Nigel meets Portia (Cassandra Consiglio), the daughter of Puritans, that he becomes to his own self true.

The homage to and satire of both musicals and Shakespeare makes for a lot of laughs and reference guessing – is that line or musical snippet from Annie, Evita, Rent, A Chorus Line, or more than a dozen other shows? Standout songs are “God, I Hate Shakespeare,” with the Bottom brothers’ differing views of their main competitor; “The Black Death,” a cheery ditty about the plague, the Bottoms’ first musical attempt; “Will Power,” Shakespeare enjoying his rockstar status, amid fawning, crying, screaming, fainting fans; and “Make an Omelette,” the title song of the Bottoms’ new musical. Foreseeing Omelette instead of Hamlet as Shakespeare’s best-ever play is only one of the soothsayer’s many slightly incorrect visions.

“It’s been a privilege to get to work on Something Rotten!” said Cardoso, who has been in four other TUTS productions. “It’s an extremely funny show and, if you’re a fan of either musical theatre or Shakespeare, then you’ll have a fun time at this show. And, if you like both, even better!”

For tickets to either of this season’s productions, visit tuts.ca.