TAKING BACK THE MIKE
Montreal’s female anglo comics get a boost at the first Ladyfest
There was a time not long ago in this town when it would have proved downright difficult to place more than a couple of anglo women cut-ups on a comedy night bill. Times have changed.
Sure, Montreal has produced a disproportionate number of anglo male comics — thanks in part to Just for Laughs and cultural quirks that foster both insecurity and creativity. But it has also produced an impressive array of female anglo comics, too.
So much so that the Women in Comedy Montreal collective is presenting the first Ladyfest of giggles, Friday to Sunday at Théâtre Sainte-Catherine. The fest will feature 20 female wits and at least two fellows, most of whom hail from here. Also represented will be a few comics from New York and Toronto.
Of note, that list of talent does not include such local stalwarts, among others, as Heidi Foss, DeAnne Smith and Jess Salomon, who presumably have other commitments this weekend.
“The festival was born out of a desire to celebrate the increasingly larger pool of funny and talented female comics, storytellers and improvisers in the city and beyond,” says Erin Hall, one of the four Ladyfest organizers as well as a principal force in the city’s annual Sketchfest.
“But the festival was also created as a response to a distinct lack in female presence at comedy festivals and Open Mic nights in Montreal and elsewhere. We want to create a solid backbone of opportunities.”
Ladyfest’s other organizers are comedy performers Katie Leggitt, Lar Vi and Lise Vigneault — the latter also serves as host Narwhal, a mythical sea critter. Evidently, Narwhal sees her role as helping her fellow artists “navigating the wild waters of comedy, busting through the ice and on to the stage.”
Leggitt points out that the group had been organizing evenings of women’s comedy for the last year. “But our goal from the get-go was eventually to produce a festival, to provide more opportunities for women performing in the city.”
Vi explains that more and more women are getting gigs at the comedy festivals. “But looking at the percentage ratio, there are still significantly less women performing than men,” she says.
“It was encouraging to see the various women headliners at the Just for Laughs galas this year and the programming of other talented women comics. We want to see what happens when we are able to create even more opportunities to give women comics a chance to flourish in the community.”
It’s no mystery to Vigneault, a veteran performer with eight years of experience on the scene, as to why women comics here are coming into their own. “It’s all about confidence,” she says. “They feel they can succeed, and they have the drive to do it.”
The festival opens on a high note, Friday, with performances by such highly charged local stand-ups as Eman, Tranna Wintour, Emma Wilkie and Natalie Willett as well as newcomer Miriam Khan and T.O.’s Aisha Alfa.
For something really different, from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, there will be a workshop conducted by the League of Lady Wrestlers Montreal. The topic: Put Doubt in a Chokehold, “confidence-building through embodiment, voice, vulnerability and improv tactics.”
The Saturday night spectacle showcases Montreal’s sketch collective Tall Tall Lady (three women and one guy), Nisha Coleman and The Significnts, along with highly touted New Yorker Amanda Xeller and Torontonian Jess Fitzpatrick.
There will be an improv workshop, led by Sandi Armstrong, Sunday at 5 p.m., followed by a closing soirée of improv with Armstrong, Leggitt, Vi, Susan Hill, DJ Mausner, Deirdre Trudeau, Sehar Manji, Mariana Vial and Kathy Slamen.
The focus may be female, but the organizers are quick to add, in unison, that fellas will be warmly received at the fest and that plans are already underway for a second edition next year.
Lorne Michaels, the Saturday Night Live mastermind, doesn’t necessarily know what the magic ingredient is that has catapulted so many performers under his wing to stardom. But he offers a hint: “There is a category of people with whom I work who are infuriatingly talented — who connect with audiences.”
Michaels is speaking about the late and hilarious and infuriatingly talented Chris Farley in the documentary I Am Chris Farley, which premières Monday at 9 p.m. on the Movie Network.
Then again, even Farley, who died of a drug overdose at 33 in 1997, was at a loss to explain his popularity: “Maybe I’m not the norm. Maybe I’m not camerafriendly.”
Maybe not, but this largerthan-life phenom from Madison, Wis., was the funniest, according to his SNL cronies and fans. And according to his brother John Farley, the world only got to see the tip of the comedy iceberg that was Chris.
Farley’s family and cronies all concur that he was on the verge of passing from a party act to a world-class artist. There was much evidence of that in such classic SNL sketches as the Chippendales — wherein he was paired with Patrick Swayze auditioning for the famed troupe — or his motivational rants as Matt Foley.
And who can forget Farley’s hysterically fawning interview with Paul McCartney? “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Pause. “Is that true?” Farley asks the Beatle.
To which a flummoxed McCartney can only utter: “Yes.”
In the doc, fans will soak up some of Farley’s unforgettable SNL sketches as well as testimonies of his greatness from his brothers as well as from cronies like Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Bob Odenkirk, Bob Saget, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon and David Spade — the latter, his close sidekick and frequent sketch partner.
The consensus: There was no comedy mould from which Farley had been fashioned. He was simply one-of-a-kind.
They make the point that beneath the surface Farley was ultra-sensitive, vulnerable and kind with an addictive personality, but that fame came too fast for him to handle — so much so that he took refuge in drink and drugs and subsequently underwent a staggering 17 stints in rehab.
The tragedy, according to those who knew him best, was that Farley was never capable of loving himself as much as others did.