Review by Wendy Walters • Halifax • 2025-04-24
I’ve been in a wonderful if not cliché lesbian relationship for the past 8 years. We did the UHaul second date, moved in together, luckily bought a house before COVID in the suburbs, and spent more time hiking, camping, and binge-watching TV in our little cocoon.
While I haven’t ventured out into our community as much as I should have the past few years, I did crawl out from under my heated blanket for a few live comedy shows and festivals. This show exceeded anything I’ve seen in our city (in relation to my taste, not a slight against the exceptional quality of the comedy we have on stage in this city).
Tonight’s show was both entertaining and cathartic. While I watch stand-up comedy specials on TV just about every week, I don’t want to critique individual sets and performers. For one thing, I feel that humour is subjective and should be explored individually not because someone has given it value in a review. And, I’d have a better right to talk if I had the courage to actually get up on a stage to try a few of my own jokes.
The line up included Abhishek Bhuchar, Catherine Robertson, Willy Coombes, Steff MacNeil, Patrick Cadegan, Adam Myatt, special guest Tamara Appleton, and headliner Clare Belford.
I love to laugh more than anything. I’m eternally seeking that next high, that one that comes from laughing so hard your stomach hurts and tears stream down your cheeks. It’s harder to find these days. I’m older, more contrary than ever, a bit burned out, and the world is lousy with genocide, fascism, war, terrorism, climate disasters.
Tonight, I caught the elusive high multiple times.
Tonight, I caught the elusive high multiple times. I attended with my partner and two friends. I could hear them laughing as loud or louder than I was through the entire show. It was a surprise and a delight. I expected one or two funny acts but not an entire lineup of them.
Every single performer got laughs from the crowd. Every single performer had amazing well-formed jokes that were reflective, current, funny, and didn’t require punching down on someone else to raise a laugh. I often find that some performers opt for the low hanging fruit and stay there when it produces a laugh. Not here, just pure talent and quality joke writing.
We talked about this on the way home, how excellent the show was and could it just be that queer people are funnier? My therapist and I could have a good riff about that and why it may be true. However, tonight, it was a salve I needed after holding my breath for weeks waiting to hear the election results on Monday that may change the trajectory of our country and our place of safety in it. It was powerful to be in a space surrounded by a group of very diverse people who mostly seem to share a similar perspective and want for a safer world for everyone (except maybe a few choice dictators). I felt like I could breathe easier and laugh harder. I got the jokes because they were made by people who know what’s at stake here. And those little cues were hints that we are all very different, but we are in this one together.
Adam Myatt was one comic who also knows how to unify a crowd in troubled times, just get them chanting for change. Let’s bring back that 12 foot party sub already!
One show only: April 25
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