Those sketch troupes, they’re so mean. The way they make their fans actually get off the couch, leave the apartment and go all the way downtown to see them perform. And in 2007 they really took it too far — the way acts like Boiled Wieners, the gang at Bad Dog or the still-hard-to-define Sean Cullen put on regular-ish shows at clubs, bars and what-have-you all over the city. Don’t they know we’re afraid of fresh air and nightlife?

“It’s good to see so many rooms opening up and giving that kind of access,” says Peter Hill, one third of Approximately 3 Peters, looking back on the year that saw his troupe hone its material with monthly shows at the Cameron House, in between revues at Second City.

“There are a lot of new troupes in town,” he adds, nodding to Project Project and Ten Thousand to Flight, among others, “and it’s gotten a lot of people excited about comedy, and that’s the only way the form evolves.”

If only they would perform in our living rooms. Now stand-ups, on the other hand, they know how to treat people right. And, this year, folks like Debra DiGiovanni headed for television, where comedy-­goers (and the press, thank you very much) could catch them without getting up off our ratty Ikea fold-outs.

DiGiovanni was one of two locals who made the cut for NBC’s Last Comic Standing — along with Yuk Yuk’s vet Gerry Dee. And though she only lasted a few episodes and “had to wear a fucking jester costume,” she’s still high from the screen time. Watch for her on Live at Gotham, and at Laugh Resort on New Year’s Eve.

“[Appearing on the show] probably meant more to us Canadian folks,” she says, chattering at auctioneer speed. “I tell people I feel like I got a promotion! The office with a view and the big desk!

“I started in 2000 and everyone said, ‘Oh, you missed it. You missed the big boom of the ’80s. But I really feel like stand-up is back,” DiGiovanni continues, pointing to Russell Peters as an example. “What he’s done for Canadian comedy has been huge.”

Which brings us to, like it or not, the biggest story of the year in Toronto comedy which, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, really wasn’t so much from Toronto as it was imported from Montreal. The local spinoff of Just For Laughs — the storied fete that for a quarter century has been casting a very long shadow all the way from Quebec — put Peters front and centre for two days along with the likes of Lewis Black and (insert eye roll) Howie Mandel.

“I’ve been working with JFL in Montreal for years now, so it was fun to just be able to do those same style shows here at home,” says Peters, via email, adding he was “blown away” by the crowd that turned out for the free show he and others put on in Yonge-Dundas Square. (Fun fact: I almost got into a fistfight with a heckler during Trevor Boris’ set. The guy just would not shut up.)
Peters is partway to being on TV yet again, this time with a series about his Brampton family for Fox, though the pilot he’s working on has been stalled by the writers’ strike. “All we can do is hope that everyone’s still in love when the strike ends,” he says.