Comedy festival challenges funny folk

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Can you tickle people's funny bones? FunnyFest, the second largest comedy festival in Canada, is looking for Aboriginal stand-up comics.

The Calgary-based festival, which runs from April 28 to May 14, is holding a talent search every Saturday from Feb. 5 to March 26 at the Sheraton Suites Eau Claire. The festival, in its fifth year, draws comedians from around the world to perform at its nine venues and 70 shows.

"If you think you've got it in you, then get up, wherever you are, whatever city you are living in and give it a shot," advised last year's winner of the FunnyFest talent search, Paul Kuster, a Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation Cree from Saskatchewan.

FunnyFest's executive director, Stu Hughes, hopes to do an Aboriginal showcase this year. With only 15 or so First Nations stand-up comics in Canada, Hughes said that there is a need for Aboriginal comics in the underserved market.

Although more Aboriginal comedians are emerging, Kuster said that the quiet, shy nature of most Native people probably keeps them off the stage.

"Native people tend to be very quiet, right. That's just a cultural thing, and especially in a scene where there's not a lot of other Native people," said Kuster.

But the festival may be an excellent way to get started because of the safe, comedy club environment, Hughes said.

"A lot of comics in Canada have to start out in pubs and stuff like that, which is not always receptive," said Hughes, who also does stand-up comedy.

Kuster agrees.

"When you are in a comedy club, the people are there for the comedy, and they'll sit and they pay attention and they're usually into it. And sometimes when you're in a bar where they're not expecting it, they're just kind of like, 'what? Get that guy to shut up; we're trying to talk over here,'" he explained.

Kuster said he was always a fan of stand-up comedy, particularly the twisted stand-up comedy of Steve Martin. It took a lot of encouraging by Hughes before he gave stand-up comedy a try.

"I started by going up just at the end of the shows when they would invite people from the audience to come up and tell a joke. And while most people where telling knock-knock jokes, I was trying to just tell a real joke, something that happened to me or something like that."

Hughes finally convinced him to do his own routine at last year's FunnyFest talent search. Since winning the competition, he has managed to do shows in Calgary and a few tours in Saskatchewan despite working full time at Global television. He plans to be back for this year's FunnyFest.

Although working as a reporter has given him confidence, Kuster admits that he still gets very nervous before performing.

"They say comedy is one of the toughest things you can do and sure enough it is because it really becomes a craft on how to make people laugh and how to properly tell a joke."

According to Hughes, it's a craft Kuster is mastering.

"He's got a unique style of presenting ideas. He's got a lot of growth he has to do in stand-up comedy, he realizes that, but I think that he's a fresh face, someone that's trying to make a go of it and he can articulate himself fairly well."

Kuster pulls his material from his unique background. Adopted by a white family, he discovered his natural family about 12 years ago.

"I've got some material on that, growing up a Native kid in a white neighborhood and about finding my natural family, and it's ... stuff I'm just beginning to tap into 'cause I know there's a whole pile of material there. I just have to find a way to dig it up and make it funny," he said.

"I've always found First Nations people to be sometimes so dry that they're a fire hazard," said Hughes. "So it's very, very funny, but also the fact is there's nothing taboo. I mean there's nothing really taboo that an Aboriginal, First Nations person can say, to me."

Native people, said Kuster, come by it honestly.

"It's been said time andtime again about Native people that they've always had a good sense of humor, and it's usually Native people saying that because you needed that to survive. I think it's honestly part of the culture," said Kuster.

For Hughes, this kind of material brings Aboriginal issues to the forefront while at the same time demonstrating that Aboriginal people are just like everybody else. In addition, Hughes said that comedy reveals clashes, and social conflict creates new perspectives, something that Aboriginal people can use to find their voice.

"Stand-up comics are basically on [the] collective psyche of our society. They're the ones that find the pulse of what's going on and then they just focus on that and sometimes it's very, very relevant," explained Hughes.

"[Aboriginal people] can point things out that are contradictions in our societies of bigotry, of just things that are just flippant, also things that are topsy-turvy, upside down, and hypocrisies," said Stu Hughes. "So I think it's important that they have a voice, and laughter ... bridges a lot of gaps."

Paul Kuster is not afraid of tackling serious social issues and Native stereotypes.

"He does talk about the Saskatoon City Police. He says stuff like, 'OK, they've dropped me off. Thanks for the Saskatoon City Police for dropping me off here tonight,' and that gets a huge laugh in Saskatchewan ... Somebody would say, 'Why would you make fun of that?' You say 'Well, anything that keeps it, the focus, on the evils of society, the good and bad of society, is good.' I mean through jokes you bring the thing back to attention, right, even though it's a negative connotation," said Hughes.

Kuster explained that, "I like poking fun just at the stereotypes that people have about Native people ... but the way I do it, I don't try and do it condescendingly or anything like that. I try and do it with laughter, with humor. And most people get it."

Not wanting to pigeon-hole himself, Kuster said he does lie to use material based on regular everyday stuff, or from his reporting experiences.

Anyone can apply to the talent search online at www.funnyfest.com. All you need is five minutes of original material.

Media personnel and local celebrities will judge the performers on sticking to the time, their style, coherency, originality and the audience's reaction. Every week, two winners out of six to eight performers will head on into the final competition. At the final, the top two competitors will earn a spot in the comedy festival and the third place finishers will earn a wild card spot.