Just for Laughs

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.

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

Jacob Samuel records album

Jacob Samuel is at Yuk Yuk’s Vancouver Dec. 27-28 to record his debut stand-up comedy album. (photo from Jacob Samuel)

Jacob Samuel’s headlining performances at Yuk Yuk’s Vancouver Dec. 27 and 28 are special – Samuel is recording his debut stand-up comedy album live.

“I have complete freedom content-wise, and I am trying to record an album that has 45 minutes of the best jokes possible,” Samuel told the Independent. “I’ll mainly be recording jokes from the act I’ve honed over the last five to six years in venues throughout Canada. Part of my act has jokes about being Jewish and Judaism that I’m very proud of because they challenge stereotypes people may have about Jewish people as opposed to confirming them.”

The last couple of years have been productive for Samuel.

In 2017, he was part of the television taping at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and he made his first appearance on CBC’s The Debaters. Since then, he has appeared two more times at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and has returned to The Debaters, as well.

In 2018, he made his debut at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and he was featured on JFL Northwest’s Best of the West Compilation album last year. In total, he has now taped five sets for Canadian TV and has performed even more times on CBC Radio.

“This summer,” said Samuel, “I got booked to go to the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal for the second time, back-to-back. I went to perform on the Hasan Minhaj Gala. The galas are taped for TV in the 3,000-person theatre at Place des Arts.

“Getting on a JFL gala is the most coveted spot in Canadian comedy because those are the biggest shows at the festival. Every year, only a dozen or so Canadian comics get that opportunity.

“JFL Montreal, by the way, is the biggest comedy festival in the world – the entire comedy industry is there. So, when I was there, I was able to connect with 800 Pound Gorilla, an American Record label (based in Nashville) for comedy, and I told them I was doing a gala and wanted to record an album soon and, luckily, they were interested in signing me.”

Success entails doing harder gigs and carries the pressure to produce material at a faster pace, said Samuel, but he seems to be keeping things in perspective.

“I’m in my early 30s now, so the main thing in my life is that I enjoy getting home and going to bed earlier more than I use to. I don’t stay up late hanging out and drinking with other comics as much after shows. Not that I was ever a big partier, but it’s just nice to admit you like being in pajamas now.

“I also met my girlfriend/partner through comedy and we’ve been living together for a year-and-a-half now. So, I do a lot of writing by bouncing ideas back and forth with her. I have many more jokes now about being in a long-term relationship. My partner is not Jewish and did not know many Jewish people growing up, so it’s been interesting observing what she thinks about Jewish culture. I took her to her first Passover seder last year. On the way there, she asked me what it would be like and I said, ‘It’s hard to describe but tonight will be the most excited you’ll ever be to eat a hard-boiled egg.’”

Samuel recalled his early days in comedy.

“When I did my first open mic, I just wanted to see if I could physically do it,” he said. “I did not intend to become a comedian but, somehow, I got hooked and kept going. I’m starting to close in on 10 years and it’s weird to think about because, in some ways, comedy still feels like such a new thing. Having said that, when I look at very old videos, I cringe. I keep a hard copy of some of my earliest jokes in a drawer just to remind myself how far I’ve come (those jokes were very bad).”

When asked how his comedic content, delivery or style has changed since he began, Samuel said, “In short, it’s gotten a lot better. Part of learning how to do comedy is trying a lot of different types of jokes and seeing what works for you. So, now, I have a much better idea of what my ‘style’ is. Also, after countless professional club gigs, five TV tapings and several radio appearances, I’m a much stronger performer than I used to be. I’m able to do more complicated bits of material and I can now take ideas that used to be too abstract or subtle and make them work. I now have way fewer jokes about being single and way more jokes about things like carrot cake and moths.”

In addition to stand-up, Samuel is also a talented cartoonist, even having his work published in The New Yorker. While this aspect of his creative life has been put on the backburner for the last few years, he said, “I’m still cartooning but I’d like to put more time into it after this album.”

Other than that, he said he doesn’t have any other major projects planned at the moment.

“I’d like to do a second album in a few years, when I have more material. In the meantime,” he said, “I’ll keep trying to return to Canadian festivals and TV and radio. My partner and I would also like to do more sketch writing. Maybe I’ll submit to write for Canadian TV.”

Tickets for the live album recording shows Dec. 27 (8 and 10:30 p.m.) and Dec. 28 (7 and 9 p.m.) are on sale at yukyuks.com/vancouver.

Saying what he wants

Ari Shaffir was in Vancouver Feb. 18-20 as part of Just for Laughs NorthWest. (photo from Ari Shaffir)

Ari Shaffir is a long, long way from his yeshivah. The 42-year-old stand-up comedian and actor who lives in New York and Los Angeles appeared in Vancouver Feb. 18-20 as part of Just for Laughs NorthWest and entertained packed audiences with his deep baritone and casual conversation, drawing plenty of laughter.

Shaffir grew up Orthodox and shomer Shabbat in Kemp Mill, Md., attending Hebrew academy and the Jewish day school before spending two years at Beth Midrash HaTorah, a now defunct yeshivah in Jerusalem. When he returned, he enrolled at Yeshiva University in New York. That was the year he lost his religion.

“Mostly it was inward reflection that caused me to turn away,” he said. “I was doing these religious things because I was expected to, and I was succeeding, but I’d never stopped to think why I was doing them. When I really thought about it, I didn’t see a belief inside me. It just wasn’t there.”

At 20, he left Yeshiva University for the University of Maryland, taking arts courses like English and screenwriting. His parents and friends were dismayed by his change in lifestyle. “My friends tried to talk me out of it,” he said. “They would be happier if I were dating a Jewish girl who was a completely worthless human being as opposed to Mother Teresa. When I thought about it, I started feeling mad and decided this is not the way I should live my life.”

When a friend moved to California, Shaffir decided to join him. “I’d done stand-up once in college and had always thought about it, because I was one of the funnier guys at school, but it didn’t seem like a legitimate career,” he said. “Initially, I tried to find a fun regular job, but couldn’t, so I did an open mic one time in California and that was it. I was totally focused.”

Shaffir’s career has been on an upward swing in recent years. His stand-up album Revenge for the Holocaust was released in 2012 and went to No. 1 on iTunes and amazon.com the week of its première. His show Passive Aggressive premièred on chill.com in 2013 and on Comedy Central in 2015, while his weekly storytelling series This is Not Happening premièred on Comedy Central in 2015. Season 2 of This is Not Happening will air this year, and it was recently picked up for a third season on Comedy Central. He hosts the podcast The Skeptic Tank, a weekly interview show that averages more than 100,000 downloads per week, and he just shot a feature film, Keeping Up with the Joneses, slated for release this spring.

He didn’t completely lose his cultural identity, if his performance on Feb. 18 was anything to go by. In one part of his show, he joked about visiting Germany and urinating outdoors anywhere he could, hoping to pee on Hitler’s grave. “If anyone tried to stop me, I’d play the Jew card,” he said. (The part about urinating outdoors was no joke, he admitted in a telephone interview. “I did that.”)

Shaffir says the Bible is now his least favorite book: “There’s a lot of holes in the story.”

He enjoys using material he learned in his religious life in a completely opposite way than how it was intended. “I get joy out of that,” he said. “For example, the Torah says if someone is coming to kill or rob you, you’re allowed to defend yourself up to the point of killing them. A child cost $500,000 to raise and they’re going to take that from you, so the Torah would tell you to kill them to protect your income.”

Defying his parents’ expectations and leaving the community of Kemp Mill wasn’t easy, and there are still things Shaffir misses from that life. “It took my parents years to get over it. My mother was more concerned with me losing the culture of Judaism, the songs on Pesach, the camaraderie. My dad was angry. He had swayed from religion for a little while, but I swayed way further. Years later, he realized he didn’t want to lose me as a son and we were able to move on.”

Shaffir’s casual, unassuming storytelling style accounts for his popularity. His stand-up routine is peppered with sex and toilet jokes, rants on why he hates kids and anecdotes from his travels. Throughout his routine, he appeared relaxed and at ease, and his hour-long performance went by quickly.

If he has any remaining link to his Jewish life, it’s cultural, Shaffir said. “When I hear a news story come on about Israel, my ears perk up a little more than they would about another country. Otherwise, I have nothing left to do with the religion. But I miss the community I had in Kemp Mill, where everyone knew me. You had this gigantic family that you’d see in synagogue every weekend. To lose all that – now I’m on my own and I’m just floating. You lose those friends. You can’t go to restaurants with them because we’re into different things. They’re into family and religion, I’m not into either.”

A page on his website is called Shroomfest and, on it, Shaffir has taken time to write everything he feels others should know about mushrooms. “That’s not a joke, it’s real, and I do it a few times a year,” he said. “I took a lot of time to write that and it helps a lot of people take mushrooms the right way.”

Shaffir described feeling free on stage to say what he wants, but when it catches up with him in a private setting, he feels some guilt and embarrassment. “I feel guilty about all sorts of stuff, not committing to women, not being monogamous. If I’m at a dinner party and it comes up that I had a threesome last week, then, yes, I’m embarrassed.

“I’m proud that I’m a free comedian,” he reflected. “I say and do what I want, what I feel is correct creatively, and both criticism and praise are irrelevant to me. I’m living as a stand-up comedian! It’s one of the coolest jobs in the world and I have an apartment I pay for, just by doing that!”

For a link to his podcast visit arishaffir.com/category/podcast.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.

Join Hotz at Just for Laughs

Jeremy Hotz is coming to British Columbia, starting with a show in Kelowna on Feb. 25. (photo from Just for Laughs)

For a man whose current show is the International Man of Misery Tour, whose CTV special was What a Miserable Show This Is and whose DVD is called What a Miserable DVD This Is, Jeremy Hotz is a very funny and upbeat guy. He’s also really pleasant and cheerful on the phone.

Hotz spoke to the Jewish Independent on Jan. 27 from Toronto, where he was doing a press run for his show, which is being presented by Just for Laughs. The month-long Canadian tour started in Jasper, Alta., but then Hotz returned east to perform in Newfoundland. He is now making his way west and his first of four shows in British Columbia is in Kelowna on Feb. 25. The trip has him performing almost every day, sometimes twice in a day.

“I don’t work in the same order or anything,” he said. “A lot of stuff I make up is specific to the city that I’m in, so it’s quite fresh for me every single time I go on stage. I’m a very free-form comedian. I include the audience in the performance so they’re part of the show. It’s like a comic working without a net. That’s what seems to work the best for me, even though a lot of comics will tell you, ‘you should never do that.’ But, of course, everything that I’m told I shouldn’t do, I do. I put my hand in front of my face, I turn my back to the audience, I do everything wrong, but if you do all those wrong things together, I guess it works.”

Whereas many comedians have their prepared routine and will perform the same jokes from show to show, Hotz has several concepts that he carries from one performance to another – complaints about getting older, for example – but the content will be different. “That’s because I can’t remember the damn jokes,” he said.

He explained that he doesn’t plan anything out. “Planning gives me anxiety,” he said. “I suffer from this generalized anxiety disorder … and what happens to me right before shows when there’s stuff looming and coming up, it can get very bad, almost debilitating…. But, once I get out there, it just melts away, it’s gone. I feel much more comfortable in front of a theatre full of people than in a one-on-one conversation with a stranger.”

He said that he ended up being a comedian in part because he never really got any other jobs when he was younger. “I had to choose stand-up because it really was the only thing that was working for me.”

Humor has always been a part of his life.

“We were Jews, so when we got together for dinners, it was funny,” he said. First starting out as a comedian, “I didn’t even know there were comedy clubs. I didn’t understand why people would have to go to a club to see funny, and then I realized, oh, not all families are funny, I get it.”

While he had a bar mitzvah and attended Jewish school for six years as a kid, Hotz said, “My dad was the one that held the Jewish thing together in the family. My mother, of course, was Jewish as well, but she came from South Africa, like he did, and her family wasn’t observant. We observed the High Holidays, the Yom Kippurs, we had Passovers, things like that, but as far as going to the synagogue every Saturday, we didn’t do that.”

Born in South Africa, Hotz was a year old when the family moved to Canada; he has an older brother and a younger sister. He remained here until he moved to the United States in 1997.

“What happened was I went to the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal and then these people from Disney gave me this big deal,” he explained. “They just threw a whole bunch of money at me to stand there and do nothing for a year. I guess they were keeping me off the market and they were saying they were going to do all these things with me. They did nothing, but they gave me that chunk of money and, on that money, I moved to Los Angeles.”

Joining his household soon will be a purebred long-haired chihuahua named Shackleton, after the polar explorer. Hotz is getting him from a longtime friend and had just seen the puppy while in Toronto for the press run. “We went on Canada AM and he was a fantastic little star,” said Hotz. “He’s only three months old.”

At best, Shackleton might be five pounds at his adult weight, Hotz added. “His nickname, of course, will be Shaq, which will be very funny because Shaq [O’Neal] is the big giant basketball player and this dog will be about five pounds.”

After the Just for Laughs tour, there will be a few projects to which Hotz will return his attention.

“We’re right now working on this documentary that’s going to bring to light this anxiety thing that I suffer from because it’s no joke,” he said. He described it as being “like an evil man that waits around the corner and can just pop out at any second.” While fine on stage, it’s generally “in full force” before the show, so he brings his brother, who’s a psychologist, on the road with him, at least for the beginning of the tours, “to get my head thinking about the right things.”

Even when acting in TV or film – Hotz is in Call Me Fitz, and has done other television shows and the movies My Favorite Martian and Speed 2 – the anxiety affects him. He was diagnosed about two and a half years ago.

In addition to the documentary, Hotz said he and his writing partner, Brian Hartt, have a couple of projects that they would like to have produced. On his wish list for himself is an HBO special.

“I’ve pretty much done the Lettermans and the Lenos and other specials, Comedy Central … but I’d like to do one HBO special. That would be something for me to do,” he said.

Hotz is looking forward to performing at Vogue Theatre. “I think it’s one of the best venues,” he said, “and I really hope that a lot of people are there. I know that there’s a comedy festival [jflnorthwest.com] going on at the right time, which they’ve made me part of, so hopefully that’ll be neat. And it’s a Just for Laughs thing, so that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy because they kind of launched my career. It’s very difficult to get out of Canada – because of Just for Laughs and the festival, that’s how I did it.”

While Montreal isn’t on this tour – and Hotz hasn’t done the main Just for Laughs festival for awhile – he said he’ll be there this July. While locals will be able to watch that performance on television, no doubt, his B.C. dates are a rare opportunity to see the award-winning comedian in person. Hotz is in Kelowna Feb. 25 (Kelowna Community Theatre), Vancouver Feb. 26 (Vogue Theatre), Nanaimo Feb. 27 (Port Theatre) and Victoria Feb. 28 (McPherson Playhouse). For tickets ($45.50), visit hahaha.com/en/jeremyhotz.