Braxton Comedy Festival underway in St. John’s
The Braxton Comedy Festival opened on Monday, with an apt inaugural event, “My First Festival Time.”
The festival challenged seasoned and new performers to write five minutes of new material throughout the month of June – think of it as an RPM challenge for stand-up.
The tagline “perfect for beginners as well as seasoned veterans,” could be used to describe the festival as a whole, which saw up-and-coming and well-known names on the bill.
Running until Saturday, the festival offered many events to take in. The Tuesday panel discussion on Women in Comedy at the LSPU Hall’s Cox & Palmer space was top on my list, moderated by rising star Katie Thompson and featuring Amanda Bullman and Swervy Garland (Cara Winsor Heiher).
The trio discussed the many issues female comics face in the comedy world. The panelists elaborated on the kinds of humour no longer accepted in the St. John’s comedy scene – racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and transphobic jokes are simply not funny.
This topic led to an interesting conversation about how “freedom of speech” also equals “freedom to react” to unwelcome material.
Informative and thought-provoking, the women noted that while there is still a way to go, female comedy has come a long way in St. John’s – three years ago, an all-female comedy night would have been impossible, and today, there are enough female comedians to fill the bill, and then some.
The panel was followed by the Bittersweet Comedy Open Mic, also hosted by panel moderator Thompson, and headlined by Veronica Dymond.
I headed back to the Hall on Wednesday for “Boyventure,” my highest point of intrigue in the festival lineup.
Described as “a monster punchin’ mystery solvin’ fun havin’ improvised laugh em’ up,” comedians Scott Lloyd and Mike Fardy delivered an improvised mystery caper, a la “Hardy Boys.” Gleaning a topic from the audience – “The Heartbreak Wrestler” – Lloyd and Scott jumped into their act, beginning with the idea to start a wrestling league, called “One Murder Wrestling Club” – “because everyone has that one murder they wanna do,” Fardy said.
In character as 13-year-olds Danny and Todd, Fardy and Lloyd scoped out potential venues for their league, only to come across a murder scene.
The plotline featured multiple characters, all played by Lloyd and Fardy, and though the tangents were aplenty, the pair always managed to loop back around, neatly tying up loose ends.
“Boyventure” originally opened at Bad Dog Theatre in Toronto, and Fardy, an ex-pat Nler, was excited to bring it home.
The festival continued on Thursday with “The Town,” performed by the local Stanley Braxton main cast. On Friday, festival-goers enjoy the “Veterans of NL Stand-up,” headlined by well-known local hoot John Sheehan. After a series of Saturday workshops, the festival wraps up at the Luxus Boutique Hotel & Lounge for the closing gala.
Headlined by ex-pat Lisa Baker, revered for her performances with local legend Mike Lynch, the closing gala will feature a slew of beloved local comedians. St. John’s comedy troupe Halfhandsome presents an homage to Codco – would love to see that.
If these comedians were getting paid by the volume of laughter, they’d be rich. For all of us attendees, we’re richer for the experience.