Victoria Standup Comedy Matchups

So the last time I made up a list of Victoria people, it wasn't "positive" or "with charity" and I was told I'd "never work this town again as long as [I] keep making stupid lists". So I wanted to do another exercise, but this time something that couldn't be taken as mean, or pitting my friends against each other. So this blog post is "comedy pairings" or which comics I'd like to see working together more, with banter back and forth together on stage. Or maybe on a podcast together or something. Or one opening for the other (not saying which). Or a suggestion for Drew's show. Really it's just a thought experiment, not about level of skill or funniness, just which styles would look interesting together.

• Matt Basky and Logan T Smith. For good, clean, family-friendly, positive comedy. Mostly. 
• Evan Mumford and Josh TreLeaven. I wrote this list, so I get to pick who I want. 
• Mark Robertson and Ryan Bangma. 
• Erin Haley and Tristan Ryan. 
• Shane Priestley and Justine Drummond. Shane and Justine have obviously known each other for quite some time, but I feel like I hardly ever see them interact. Probably because Justine hardly interacts with anyone. 
• Chelsea Lou and Ben Fawcett. This one's a bit obvious, and we've already seen a bit of this, but I want to see more of what this dynamic is like. Ben is also a highly matchable figure, as I'd like to see him interact with all kinds of people. But Chelsea picked him as a roommate, so I'm going with this.
• Paul Oppers and David Bruce.
• Carilynn Nicholson and Mikey Dubs. 
• Steve McMath and Curran Dobbs.
• Wes Borg and Elyott Ryan. 
• Jim Schmidt and Quincy Thomas.
• Myles Anderson and Lucia Ribeiro. 
• Darcy Collins and Rob Webber. Two reasons: pretty much anyone I match Darcy with is bound to piss him off. And anyone I match Rob with is bound to be pissed off by Rob. I'm just killing two birds with one stone here. 
• Mike Delamont and Colton Turcotte.
• Gary Barker and Paul McKinnon. I'm hesitant about this, maybe the world would end if this much wisdom and experience was in the same place at the same time. I'll risk it.  
• Darren Millar and Sean Proudlove. 
• Darren Millar and Jenny Auld. Yes, Darren's on this list twice. 
• Henok Meresa and Evan McDonald.
• Aidan Dunsmuir and Shiraz Higgins. 
• Drew Farrance and Rosa Graham. I know Rosa is relatively new to the comedy scene, but she's bold, so she'll be fine with Drew. I don't know what that means. 
• Katharine Ferns and Jayden Worth.
• Shawn O'Hara and Rebecca Broome. I'm pretty sure these two haven't even met. 
• Daniel Belkin and Sharon Mahoney.
• Jason Lamb and Lisa Powell.
• Dave Copeman and Andrew Mack. 
• Dylan Williamson and Patrick Boyle. 
• Pete Hudson and Ryan Levis.

Just an honourable mention for Morgan Cranny: I didn't match him up with anyone in particular because I think he'd go well with just about everyone.

And for the people I forgot, I apologize for forgetting you. It's not you, it's me.

Who's left:

Nick Chlumecky, Amit Solanki, Steve Girodat, Max Bank Jaffy, Mike Sauve, Vaughn Brackage. I feel like I haven't seen enough of these performers to get a sense of who they'd match with. Perhaps I'm leaving out someone who'd be perfect for them. A few people I haven't seen in a long time: Swerve Philips, Jeff Corntassle, Geoff Davidson, Ben Gerbrecht, Eric Isfeld, Robin Valerie, Nicole Castle, Sean Morris, Tanner Mac, Martin John, Patrick Solembier.

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.

Logo

Testing out posting pictures to the blog. Going to figure out how to get podcatchers to pick up this image or one like it from this blog post.

Opening post for the Très Laughin' comedy blog and podcast

This is the first post of my new home for the Très Laughin' with Josh TreLeaven comedy blog and podcast. Josh is writing this. Hello!

Previously my comedy podcast was called Spaceboot One. Then I changed it to Spaceboat One, because I found out there was a very cool band called Spaceboots in my area, and I thought the name was too similar. Well now I'm changing it again, and it's going to be called "Très Laughin' with Josh TreLeaven". Once again, making terrible decisions by including nonstandard characters, but hey, technology is always improving and if you can't find me by typing my name into Google, then you're just going to have to be one of my offline fans.

My comedy podcast is about my journey through open mics and starting out a career in standup comedy. And as I go, I document what's happening in the Victoria, BC, Canada comedy scene, and I managed to get a couple of really cool guests along the way. The podcast isn't exactly meant to be funny, but hopefully as I immerse myself in comedy I will become funnier by osmosis. Since this podcast comes with a blog, I will be creating some written text content as well.

Coming up on this blog: I'm going to be posting some old episodes of the podcast, gradually, just so in the future you will be able to find them and hopefully they'll be in order (and this should also make it easier for the software I'm using). I'm not sure how proud I can say I am of the early podcasts, but I am proud to have  done them, and I want there to be a record of where I came from.

If you find out you really love me and you can't get enough of me, there's this other podcast I do with my good friend Ryan Kirkby, we call it the Simulationist, and it's about my other passion in life: games. Yeah, it's a pretty broad topic, but it makes it so we feel free to go anywhere with any topic. Anyways you can check out that podcast at https://thesimulationist.blogspot.ca/

I'm also on Twitter @josh_treslaffin, and Instagram @joshtreslaffin. I also have a Facebook comedian page.

Thanks for clicking and scrolling, and living and breathing and laughing. Ta!