“42 Things, 10 Days, 1 Pass” reads the Just For Laughs festival website. Last week, 42 comedians made their way into Toronto, determined to make the city laugh — and if our experiences are anything to go by, they certainly succeeded. Forty-two acts is a lot to get through for even the most determined comedy aficionado, but we tried our best, and there were certain stand-ups that seemed to stand out from the pack. With this in mind, we’ve reviewed our favourite shows from the 10-day affair for your consideration.
Dave Attell
Throughout the Just For Laughs festival, I received constant emails about special promotions — on the first night, I was offered a free ticket plus one to see one of Dave Attell’s shows. I’d seen some of his stand-up (Comedy Central’s Insomniac with Dave Attell) and thought he was funny, but found myself wondering if it wouldn’t be a great act, since they weren’t able to sell out his shows. Sitting in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre a few hours later, I was proven very, very wrong. People who should not see Dave Attell: young children, conservative types, and your grandmother (if she’s anything like mine).
People who should see Dave Attell: literally everyone else. To say that he killed his set would be unfair — it was a massacre. Attell let forth a non-stop stream of filthy jokes, delivered with perfect timing and a constantly nonplussed expression. Obviously reading the room without seeming to, Attell would wait until the crowd had settled down before delivering a quick, dry one-liner that would result in a roar of hysteria. To my right, a middle aged man developed a case of the hiccups, while to my left, a pair of sisters clutched each other in a silent fit of hysteria. Attell delivered his act with the ease of a pro, and the audience, myself included, gave him the laughs he so richly deserved.
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Tim Minchin
Musical comedy is one of those niche areas of entertainment that is dominated by a core group of instantly recognizable performers (“Weird Al,” The Lonely Island, Flight of the Conchords, etc.). Well-deserving of a spot amongst the pantheon is Tim Minchin, who lit up Just For Laughs with his first performance in two years. Unfamiliar with his material, I was left in stitches by his two-hour performance left me in absolute stitches, though it left those already acquainted with his work slightly less amused (such is the downfall of musical comedy). Looking like a mix between Captain Jack Sparrow and Russell Brand, Minchin’s talent is equal to his biting wit, both of which are on perpetual display; songs such as “Prejudice,” “Confessions,” and “Thank You God” aptly highlight both his musical dexterity and his ability to cleverly offend you with socio-political satire. His show flows seamlessly, connected by stand-up between songs, proving him to be both a wickedly funny man and a pretty talented musician to boot.
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Mike Birbiglia
“I’m going to tell you some stories,” said Mike Birbiglia at the beginning of his 2008 one-man show, What I Should Have Said Was Nothing, starting off the hour with humility and honesty instead of theatrics and volume. Six years later, that line still stands. Ever since studying theatre and screenwriting at Georgetown University, Birbiglia has been more enthralled with plays than stand-up comedy, and his new tour, Thank God for Jokes, is a hybrid of the two. That is to say, Birbiglia is more so a storyteller than a stand-up comedian. His stories are all devastatingly funny but all connected. His latest show focuses on jokes themselves and the role humour has played throughout his life. With perfectly honed delivery (predominantly subtle but hilariously emphatic when it needs to be), Birbiglia brilliantly weaves an hour-long narrative that is rife with both sadness and humour, putting him a step above other comedians and defining him as a stand-alone artist in the stand-up realm.
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Lena Dunham
When looking over the list of performers at JFL42, Lena Dunham’s name was an immediate stand out — which is interesting, because in a festival packed with stand-up acts, she was scheduled for a book reading. Nevertheless, her show sold out almost immediately, and the Sony Centre was packed with excitedly whispering Dunham fans. Most people know Dunham from her hit HBO show Girls, but her show at JFL42 centered on her soon-to-be-released book, Not That Kind of Girl – A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned.” Dunham shared an excerpt and then discussed the work with the host of Q, Jian Ghomeshi. The talk was a highlight of the festival for me, because it really was so different from any of the other programming that was offered. The tales of preteen angst Dunham shared with the audience were funny, as was her banter with Ghomeshi. But what the evening became was an insight into Dunham as being, as her book so aptly puts it, “not that kind of girl.” Under a thin layer of back and forth joking, she and Ghomeshi spoke about how she managed to get to where she is now at such a young age, the idea of feminism and whether she identifies with it, and a whole host of other quite serious topics. While I normally find Ghomeshi a bit of a trumped-up public character, who spends a bit too much time picking out jackets to wear with his ripped jeans and practicing how he says “Good morning,” even I have to admit that he and Dunham had an extremely engaging conversation about what it means to be a young woman in comedy today – something that was sorely lacking from the rest of the JFL42 line up.
