Heckler's show report: Ivan Decker, Jason Lamb, Mark Robertson

I don't know how many of these I'm going to do in the future, since I don't know if I have the stamina to review every single show I see in Victoria. I just wanted to mark the occasion tonight though, because Heckler's set a new record for Josh's favourite show ever: a record previously held by Brad Upton. So this is my show report (review? whatever).

The bar staff was kinda pressed and running around, what with the boss being out of town, but they handled everything super well, and they rose to the occasion. Mark Robertson opened the night up with a strong set, despite the fact that the sound wasn't at 100% for half his set. We were also a bit worried about a big bachelor party that came in with a giant red helium balloon, since bachelor parties can get a bit talkative sometimes. Turns out we had nothing to worry about, they were super respectful, and it also turns out it was another new comic, and a friend of mine, Jayden Worth, whose bachelor party it was, so obviously he knows what's up when it comes to comedy shows and bachelor parties. I heard his laugh loud and clear in all the right places, so it was evident that he was enjoying the show.

Jason Lamb did a 25-minute set, which I rarely see him do, and he was at his best. That's good though, because Ivan Decker headlined, and Ivan is one of Canada's funniest comedians. I don't know how else to describe Ivan's set, except that it secured this show as my personal favourite. Ivan has an extremely laugh-rich style, plus a highly-calibrated comedic voice that reaches the exact pitch for each joke. What I'm saying is he does funny voices, but not like extreme exaggerations, just voices of archetypes you might recognize from the line at the grocery store or whatever, with a comical spin that makes it obvious he's making fun of them, but not in a mean way. Hmm, that's too many words, and you're probably just better off downloading a free podcast of Ivan Decker, because he's all over CBC and other stuff.

But yeah, I'm sure at some point this show will be topped, but it's my new benchmark for Heckler's shows, and it was amazing because it all happened on July 2nd (a difficult date to fill the venue, although perhaps it was actually a boost that there wasn't a Friday show, since anyone who would have come on Friday had to come on Saturday) with the boss out of town, so it had a couple of factors working against it, and still the show came out my favourite.