Comedy tour makes its way to St. Jacobs
Etay Kuperman is one of the three comedians in the Life Sucks, Let’s Tour event Mar. 14 at Block Three Brewing
ALTHOUGH HE HAS
ALWAYS LOVED comedy, Etay Kuperman didn’t set out to be a comedian. The stand-up comic graduated with a degree in statistics from Western University before altering course for a career path that brings him to St. Jacobs next week.
“When I was in university, I was listening to a lot of comedy podcasts at the time and a lot of them were just talking about starting in comedy, and I thought, ‘Why not give it a shot?’ I went to a local open mic in London and I absolutely loved it. I just never looked back,” Kuperman said.
While that first open mic show went well, Kuperman admits the job of making others laugh did not come naturally to him and it took work to get there.
“I was bad for a while. I was really bad…,” he said, noting he kept pushing himself to get better.
“The first time I ever did stand-up really well, I kind of just kept going and… I would see some kind of growth every month or two. So I thought I was on to something and if I kept going, I would just keep getting better,” said Kuperman, who will mark five years doing stand-up in May.
At this point Kuperman has the foundation, but says he is still finding his footing.
“Definitely middle ground. I don’t feel like
I’m an amateur anymore. I definitely get a lot of pretty good opportunities,” said Kuperman who counts Louis CK, Doug Stanhope and Jerrod Carmichael among his comedic inspirations.
As part of his rise in comedy, Kuperman is one part of the three-person “Life Sucks, Let’s Tour” event that makes its way to Block Three Brewing in St. Jacobs on March 14. He’ll be joined by Ben Bayfield and Angie St. Mars.
The three did several shows in BC last fall and are now on tour together.
“We both, quote unquote, are rising stars in the industry,” Kuperman said of Bayfield.
“We sat down [to plan the tour] and then we
brought on Angie because we thought that’d be the perfect person to kind of mix it up. We’re all different comedically, but we can also all hold our own. That provides a good kind of environment where, no matter where you come from… you’re going to get something out of the show, you should be able to enjoy it,” Kuperman explained.
The son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who came to Canada in the ’80s, Kuperman’s set includes very personal stories on the culture shock they went through, as well as his dating life.
“I [also] have a lot of observations, stuff like that. Some of my jokes are like ‘I was walking down the street and I saw what’s up with that?’ I call them discrepancies, almost in a way. There’s a lot of stuff like that.”
The tour has also been a learning opportunity, given that Kuperman is used to doing short 5- to 15-minute sets in places like Toronto. His set on this tour is 25 minutes.
“You have to learn to adapt quickly and you kind of have to gain that muscle to do that longer set. That was definitely a learning experience. Comedically, it was definitely a challenge.”
While his future plans include potentially moving to the USA for more opportunities, Kuperman is taking his comedic path one step at a time for now.
“I think you have to be shortsighted and farsighted at the same time. So, definitely concentrate on the tour, make sure the tour goes as great as you can. Then kind of keep pushing out there. And then maybe start planning the next one,” he said.
Life Sucks, Let’s Tour runs in St. Jacobs on March 14 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.eventbrite.com.