Sharing Metamucil part of new normal
Comedian finds humour in return to parents’ Kelowna home to wait out the pandemic
Stuart Jones is back in his parents’ Kelowna home, waiting out the pandemic.
For seven years prior, the standup comedian lived in Vancouver, where he honed his act. His debut album, By the Slice, was recorded at Yuk Yuk’s in November of last year and is scheduled for an Aug. 24 release on local label 604 Records.
We talked to Jones about his new record, comedy in the time of COVID-19, and working clean.
QWhat was it like making the transition to the Vancouver comedy scene when you moved from Kelowna seven years ago?
A
Some Vancouver comics would come out and do shows in Kelowna. I got to meet some of those people and make a few connections. So when I moved to Vancouver I was able to kind of slide right in and get shows and just build off that. But the big difference was, in Kelowna there was just one group of comedians. And then in Vancouver, there are so many more people. Because there’s more opportunity, it turns into more competitiveness.
QIs the record made up of new material or from the span of your comedy career?
AIt’s a little bit of both. The
album name is a bit of an homage to when I first started. At open mics, a lot of the time you encounter a lot of dudes who love dirty jokes. In Kelowna there was a lot of that. And I would have jokes about pizza and my car. So there are some old jokes that have been reforged over the years, some that I wrote in year two or three and I’ve developed over time, and others that are more recent.
QIs it weird releasing an album of pre-COVID-19 jokes during COVID times?
A
Yeah, it does feel a bit strange. I don’t know if that’s going to be refreshing for people or if it’s going to seem like none of it is relevant. The world has changed so much just in 2020. The album was supposed to be released in April but then it was pushed back. No one really knew how long the pandemic was going to last. I left it in the hands of the 604 team and they’re doing a great job. When they say, “Now is the time,” I trust them on that.
QThe temptation for comedians right now must be to write jokes about the pandemic. How do you find a fresh take?
A
I think the trick is, rather than writing about COVID itself, it’s more like writing about what you’ve done during the quarantine. In my case, I remember in mid-March I wrote a few jokes, coronavirus this, coronavirus that. But then in April I moved back in with the parents and it’s my first time living with them since I was a teenager. Now I’m 34 and, rather than it being mom, dad, and a teenager it’s three adults. I wake up at three in the morning to take a pee and there’s a lineup at the door. Or it’s like, “Mom, did you take my Metamucil?”
QAnd you work clean, right? A For the most part. I have a few swears on the album but no topics that are controversial. My big closing bit that I’m most proud of is a four-minute story about buying an iron. That’s my magnum opus.
QThat sounds like something Brian Regan might talk about.
A
He’s the greatest ... I saw him at the Orpheum and sitting in front of me were three generations of a family, the parents, their kids, the grandparents. And they were all laughing because he is that good.