July 29, 2008 18:07
Even though the folks on stage kept calling it a competition, the all-Canadian “best of homegrown” show put on at Absolute Comedy on Friday really wasn’t a competition at all. It had been, but that had been a week prior when the same nine comics did, in some cases, the same nine sets during the real Just for Laughs in Montreal, playing for agents and talent bookers up from the U.S.
The show at the Yonge Street club — part of JFL’s second and mostly successful spin-off in Toronto — was more like a real-time instant replay. A little less exciting if you happened to know who won (Psst! It was Tyler Hawkins) but a cheerful showcase of lesser-knowns nonetheless, blessed by the up-close feel of the room (Who needs Massey Hall? Bah!) and comics who seemed to have relaxed a little after the make-or-break ardors of Montreal.
Not that “relaxed” is the best way to describe the high-energy set by Chris Gordon — the guy with the eye patch and the lit sparkler taped to his chest — but he was flanked by low-key delights including runner-up Phil Hanley, with his bits about living with his parents, and Perry Perlmutar’s playful deadpans about domestic life.
There only a few misses. Johnny Harris may have looked like a class act in that pinstripe suit, but opening the show with “Show of hands, who has Irritable Bowel Syndrome?” and his ruminations on the physics of farts made for some awkward silences early on, and Pat Thornton did a puzzling bit about a bear loose on a train that scored high on the WTF? scale.
Who knows? Maybe the French got it.
Best bets:
U.S. elections make good funny, a golden rule not lost on the folks at Second City who premiere their latest, Barack to the Future, on Aug. 7, with Kerry Griffin of Bad Dog Theatre and Reid Janisse on stage with the returning Marty Adams, Darryl Hinds, Karen Parker and Leslie Seiler. 8pm. $23. 51 Mercer. www.secondcity.com.
Other People’s Stuff is back from its two-year hiatus at the Rivoli on Wed., Aug 6, with Marcel St. Pierre, The Williamson Playboys, Laurie Elliot and Kevin McDonald on the bill, doing “covers” of routines by other comics. Can’t wait to hear the Playboys sing something by Bob Newhart. In support of cancer and MS research. 9pm. PWYC. 334 Queen W.