Comedian Don Burnstick uses humour to talk about hard issues

Thirty-eight years ago, Don Burnstick was sitting in re‐ hab trying to figure out his life. He had to process the trauma and hurt he'd en‐ dured as a child. It was un‐ comfortable.

It's these experiences he draws from that make him so relatable to an Indigenous au‐ dience.

Burnstick performed a one-hour set in Six Nations, Ont., before a sold-out crowd last week. He uses humour to talk about the hard issues.

"Women are so far ahead of us in healing," said Burn‐ stick.

"They'll talk about what happened to them and very openly. They'll pick up a mi‐ crophone and tell their story. Men are not even close to that. I'm taking it upon myself to help men, this next go around.

"Indigenous men don't do wellness. The only time men show up for a community workshop is for lunch and then they leave."

According to Burnstick, the only time men's wellness is prioritized is when there's a crisis and once it disap‐ pears from the headlines, it's no longer a concern until an‐ other crisis happens.

Burnstick, 59, is Cree from Alexander First Nation in Al‐ berta. He's been travel‐ ling, bringing comedy to In‐ digenous communities for over 30 years.

"This elder came to me and she said 'Don, this is my daughter, this is my grand‐ daughter and here's my great granddaughter. I watched your VHS and now my grand‐ daughter watches your Tik‐ Toks,'" he said.

His shows aren't script‐ ed, Burnstick said. He prays, and he trusts his process be‐ fore he goes on stage.

His material includes jokes about Indigenous women's laughter, the Auntie bun, dys‐ functional relationships, and any Indigenous nation is fair game. He does this without being derogatory.

He has eschewed the mainstream comedy scene and doesn't perform in bars or clubs. He also doesn't swear on stage based on ad‐ vice he received from his El‐ der.

Burnstick said he believes Indigenous people are still scrutinized today.

"It's 2023 and there's a lot of people who still think we're drunken Indians," he said.

Jace Martin of Six Na‐ tions runs the Darren Ross Agency representing Indige‐ nous artists like Crystal Shawanda and Juno win‐ ner Murray Porter. He recent‐ ly signed Burnstick and hopes to advance his career into the larger American market.

"We want to really take that step to expose him to those kinds of audiences be‐

cause he's a great comedian; he's not just an Indigenous comedian," said Martin.

Artie K. Martin traded his pho‐ tography skills for a ticket to Burnstick's show in Six Na‐ tions, the first time he'd seen

Burnstick perform live.

"He's one of us. He was up on the stage sharing our per‐ spective and it was funny," he said.

"I was laughing because the audience was laughing."

Burnstick's comments on men's wellness resonated with him.

"There's no one talking about how men need help," he said.

"Women have it together. They have a whole support network and workshops and wellness around that kind of stuff. Whereas men have to figure it out as they go it seems."

He said Burnstick's hu‐ mour is "good medicine."

"He was poking fun at some people in the audience and they were laughing about it," he said.

"Even after his show was over, he stayed, and he want‐ ed to meet everybody who wanted to meet him ... There was a huge line that went down the hall."

Burnstick said he was overwhelmed with emotion following his show.

"As I turned to walk offstage — the emotion — I could feel the love of the peo‐ ple. I should've turned and just accepted it," he said.

Burnstick has another show in Six Nations this week‐ end, with a portion of the pro‐ ceeds going to support the community's lacrosse.