Review: (Montreal) Mike Birbiglia: Thank God For Jokes

Smiling for 75 minutes
by Chad Dembski
@surpriseperform

Until two years ago I had barely heard of Mike Birbiglia other than he was one of the many stand- up comics from New York. Then I saw his film Sleepwalk with Me (2012) and was blown away by the mix of humour, vulnerability and fantastic storytelling ability. I quickly followed up that film with his previous Off-Broadway show My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (2013) that really cemented him as one of my favourite modern storytellers.  

Reviews: (Toronto / Comedy) SheDot wrap-up - SheSktechProv, SheFresh, SheMom, SheStories, SheUnleashed

Wrap-Up

SheMom
by Dena Jackson
@deendawg

I’ve always had a close relationship with my mother, but it wasn’t until watching this talented group of Mom Comics or “Momics” at the SheDot Festival that I fully understood what moms are thinking. From what I can tell, parenting has its funny moments and these moms found ways to share their views in very unique and hilarious ways. 

The show began with the host, Martha O’Neil (creator of SheDot) sharing her experiences as a Mom and onlooker on the subway that had the audience in stitches. Martha engaged with her audience in such a way that made us felt like she was our very own step-momic!

Martha was followed by Rachelle Elie who shared the joys of being able to say phrases like, “Don’t forget to wash your balls!” to her kids and the audience couldn’t get enough. Kate Conner discussed the joys of a sexless marriage and what it means to be an extrovert married to an introvert. Amy Sloan blew her audience away with stories of trading places with her teenagers and reflecting on days when she was so frustrated that she asked a police officer for a drink…while he stopped her roadside.

Review: (Toronto / Comedy) SheNot TDot, SheLBT

Amped and Inspired
by Lauren Mitchell
@internetLauren

Friday was my first night of checking out shows at SheDot, there were four great shows for me to choose from, but time constraints being what they are (and me lacking the ability to travel through time, I am working on it though) I could only see two. I ended up going to see SheNot TDot and SheLBT, both on the mainstage at Comedy Bar, both a great start to my time at the festival.

I was super jazzed to see the SheNot TDot show because I really wanted to check out my competition from outside of Toronto. Totally j/k, what I mean is that I wanted to see all the goddamn talented women from all over the country that I don’t get to see on the regular. SheNot TDot was hosted by Toronto’s very own Allison Dore, who got the show started off with, you guessed it, boob jokes. Allison was a gracious and funny host who, after really fucking up Erin Hawkes name (she called her Kristen, but hey, hosting ain’t easy), came out in different costumes from the Comedy Bar green room, picked specifically by Erin. Which is to say, Allison spent the second part of the show looking slightly crazier every time she came back on stage, and took it like a goddamn champ.

Review: (Toronto / Comedy) SheDot TDot

So Much T[Dot]alent!
by Dena Jackson
@deendawg

What a line-up we had last night at SheDot TDot! There was so much talent in one room and an (almost) packed house, bringing great energy for the comics. Sara Hennessey hosted the show with her natural comedic charm and kicked off the show by inviting the entire audience out to brunch afterwards. I have already RSVP'd. 

I don’t know whether it was Julia Bruce’s comparison to the smell of farts and hot dogs or Candice Gregoris’s compassion for Rob Ford (as he’s basically Toronto’s Lady Diana) that made me giggle harder. Keesha Brownie’s witty commentary on food courts being the perfect place for judgment and Hoodo Hersi’s ability to engage her audience while defining racist compliments had me both laughing and pondering at the same time. 

Bonus Feature: Becky Bays on SheDot Comedy Festival

Your True Voice

by Becky Bays

The first time I tried stand-up comedy, I was 20 years old and living in London, England. I was studying theatre, and had a sketch comedy duo with a friend, but one night I decided to get up on stage at a pub where we were performing sketch and give stand-up a try. “I make people laugh all the time!” I thought, “I’ll just get up and talk about my day and it will be so much fun!”

As you can guess, it was pretty much a disaster, with lots of awkward pauses and I slunk away thinking that this whole thing was much harder than I would have guessed! When I was in my late 30s, a bunch of my friends were getting into stand-up, so for a lark I decided to take a stand-up writing class. I swore that I would only perform in the class show. I still had the memory of that awful night in the pub, but I knew that this show would have an audience made up of the performers’ friends and family, which would be much friendlier than strangers staring at me bombing while slowly getting drunk.

Bonus Feature: Cristina Markham - Inside SheDot And The "Women Aren't Funny" Theory

Think women aren’t funny? Then you don’t know the right ones…
by Cristina Markham

Introducing Cristina Markham:
Cristina Markham is an amateur comedian who dislikes the word “comedienne.” You can catch her at various open mics around the city, and as part of Absolute Comedy’s amateur showcase on May 21st. Follow her on Twitter at @cristinamarkham for mediocre jokes and pictures of epic brunches.

I have been a comedy nerd as long as I can remember. Instead of keeping up with the Top 40 like any normal teenage girl, I obsessively listened to a weekly comedy show on the radio, recording my favourite episodes and memorizing my favourite bits. I may not remember my times tables, but I know just about every word to Steve Martin’s “Comedy isn’t pretty.”

After nearly three decades of voraciously consuming every form of standup I could get my hands on – and foisting the best of it on ever-patient friends – it only made sense for me to finally try my hand at it myself. Thanks to the expert tutelage of Dawn Whitwell and her “Comedy Girl” classes – a course taught out of Toronto’s “Comedy Bar” that teaches gals how to put together their own 5-minute set – I finally got the nerve to take the stage myself.  One year and several dozen sets later, I am still totally enthralled with the world of stand-up.

I am blessed to have a partner who is supportive of my weird hobby. A few weeks ago, he made an interesting comment. “That show was great,” he said. “But why were you the only woman who performed?” He had seen me perform at so many female comedy events that he hadn’t realized just how male-dominated the field can be.

Bonus Feature: Lauren Mitchell's Top-5 at SheDot

SheDot: Top 5 shows I am looking forward to

by Lauren Mitchell

Introducing Lauren Mitchell:
By day, I work in academic publishing and by night, I am all over the city telling jokes. I like to sleep, I just don’t (totally jk I am the Queen Of Naps). I have always liked to write and I have always loved talking to people but mainly I love the sound of my own voice, so it was probably inevitable that I get into stand up at some point. It did take me a while to figure out though, and I spent a lot of time in school, serving coffee, and being an office monkey before I thought, oh man, I could probably just get on stage and run my mouth and maybe people wouldn’t totally hate it. All of that started about 9 months ago (just gave birth to a comedy baby, no big deal) and I have been telling jokes all over Toronto (and once in London, once in Hamilton, and a couple times in Edmonton) ever since. Other things you may want to know about me: I love Drake + all rap music, I don’t generally watch movies until they have been out for roughly two years, my style icon is Jessica Fletcher, and I think chocolate covered pretzels might be the best thing that we, as a people, have managed to come up with.  

Folks, it is almost upon us. SheDot is just around the corner, and I know you’re all probably like 'I am so excited, but also, so overwhelmed by all of the amazing shows.' Fear not friends, I am here for you. There are so many good shows for you to see, but I’m gonna let you know the five I am most excited about checking out in order to make your life so much easier. You’ll thank me later, promise.

Bonus Feature: Anna Gustafson on SheDot

“Behind the Scenes”, or “Inside the Delivery Room”?  
by Anna Gustafson

We’re having a baby. It’s a girl. She is the SheDot Festival, Toronto’s First Festival of Funny Women, and she is our first.  

Comedians are by nature very open with our lives. We offer it up every time we grace a stage. Each new brave endeavour is, in part, laying our reputation on the line. That is if you still have a good one intact to lay. It’s a giant leap, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Like parenthood. There is no 'kind of' pregnant, or 'kind of doing a festival'. This is only 'All in'.  

This baby was conceived in the feverish part of 2013. There were drinks. A blissful honeymoon phase followed where we believed we could simply call up comedy superstars and they’d be unfailingly available and generally affordable. Like us. 

Bonus Feature: Martha O'Neill on SheDot

Funny Peculiar; Funny Ha-Ha
by Martha O'Neill

Comedy is a funny business; as in, both funny peculiar and funny ha-ha (hands up, who misses Les Nessman?).

Comedians live in a separate space in the entertainment world; we write our own material, can truly only rehearse in front of a live audience, we book our own shows, create our own websites, hustle, fail, triumph – it’s really all down to an individual effort.  (With the exception of those who have managed to rise to the top – those (very) few often have managers and agents who help them book shows, promote themselves). Truly, it’s a look-out-for-number-one business.

Once we have spent years honing our craft and begin to work professional shows, we still deal with the promotion of those shows, the bringing the funny under sometimes less than ideal circumstances (read: late show Friday = drunk people from who we often need to wrestle the spotlight), poor pay… Also, dealing with hecklers (honestly, how this has been allowed to become a thing, I’ll never understand… you’re not helping the show!), fighting to get our pay, driving hundreds of kilometres to a gig that barely pays the gas money… on and on.  My point being, comedy is hard. I mean, not roofing-in-the-height-of-summer hard, but for a creative person, it can wear on the soul.