Comical or Confusing?

Is comedy funny? Is it the great equalizer? What's the funny thing about comedy? These are all good questions deserving of an answer. This year, Mr. Will Davis, the Executive Director of the Vancouver International Comedy Festival, booked acts with a wide range of cultural influences for the World Stage held at the Tom Lee City Stage. Davis recognizes the cultural diversity of the Vancouver market and booked acts with strong cultural influences. Some of these acts come from other parts of the world, and others are steeped in the duality of being a Canadian with a strong emphasis on their cultural heritage and the experiences they've lived through.

These comedians share the humour in their lives dealing with the cultural difficulties and misunderstandings they've experienced. Rather than being bitter about negative experiences, they have found the comedy of our errors. Incorporating these experiences into their act, they make us laugh at ourselves, educate us about cultural heritage, and give us permission to laugh with them. Doing so allows us to recognize our humanity; the sameness. Humour remains a significant and common element of all cultures.

Heidi Korens, a third generation Canadian of Lithuanian, English, Polish, and a number of other scruffy breeds, was cheerful and recognized the hilarity of our foibles. Everyone makes mistakes, has misunderstandings, buys in to stereotypes, and so on. We both laughed sharing the experience of unknowingly putting our foot in our mouth when relating to someone from another culture. As Korens said; "If you're able to laugh at yourself, it's a lot easier for you rather than getting angry and frustrated. That doesn't help anything. Comedy makes everything easier for everybody."

Tomoko, a Japanese woman who has been here only five months on a student visa, shared with us her love for Japanese comedy. Japanese culture laughs more at the ridiculously stupid things they do to each other. Here, in North America, we've also bought into some of their comedy television programs. She agreed that play-on-words can be very funny and spoke of the combination of language influences that the Japanese incorporate into their sense of humour for wordplay.

On the other hand, the difficulty she has with the North American or Western stand-up comedy is the lack of of her own in-depth language, the colloquialisms, and cultural knowledge. When we play on words, she isn't familiar enough with the English language and Western history to understand the humour. We both found this somewhat saddening, but also worth the journey to discovery. Personally, I could relate to her experience. I was invited to a comedy show years ago in Ottawa to see a black comedian visiting from Toronto. I quickly discovered that I was the only white guest in the audience. It didn't take long to discover just how out of place I was. Performing for a black audience, he had the room in tears - they all laughed so hard. All the while, I sat there wondering what was so funny. I couldn't get the humour because I had not shared their life experience. It occurred to me that there is a real affinity that comes through comedy when related to your own cultural background.

This makes me realize something: comedy is the great equalizer. We all love to laugh. We laugh hardest at ourselves. Comedy gives us permission to be human again, to not take ourselves too seriously. We can admit our faults, accept them and grow.

There will be some great acts on the International Stage at Tom Lee giving us all an opportunity to experience the other side. Two notable comedians with cultural influences are from the Vancouver comedy scene: Jeff Yu, a former teacher who comes across like an Asian Norm McDonald; and Paul Bae, also a former school teacher who is easy going and warm on stage - but watch out for the dark side and his racially charged topics. Above all, enjoy the learning and laughing experience.

For more information on the Comedy Festival whichtakes place on Granville Street during 19-25 October, go to www.comedyfest.com or call (604) 683 0883.

by Lee Down
Published in The Source newspaper Vol.7 No.7 Oct. 5 - Oct. 26, 2004