Review: Slam Dunk, and The Merry Janes of Comedy

Margins are tighter now for comedy producers, who have to plan around reduced capacity numbers. I feel a great sense of belonging and purpose that my loud outfits and corresponding laugh have made the cut, especially at Comedy Bar where tickets are currently sold in blocks of two. It has highlighted how few of my friends are willing to risk it all to laugh in a dark basement.....but my designer handbag is grateful for the space.

Cabaret Space

This particular week producer, writer, host and quiet weirdo Everardo Ramirez had arranged for me to attend his alternative comedy showcase Slam Dunk. It felt like the unofficial return of alternative comedy in the Cabaret space, the smaller of the two rooms at Comedy Bar.

I am always so curious when a name appears on a lineup I do not recognize. Conrad Osei was one such name. Osei presented well researched facts and findings about the sandwich he has accused of giving him stomach problems. He had a powerpoint presentation that was very well coordinated; he did not break the satirical presenter tone needed to pull this sort of bonkers project management off. It was made all the more hilarious by the fractions of the crowd who were a healthy amount of annoyed with it. It was the first time I was immersed in the absurdity of this style in months. I was howling in the back with a few other comics who were in on the joke.

Every show since live comedy’s return has had thrilling moments of reunion. The familiar cast of characters in infinite, albeit smaller, combinations. One such reunion tonight was when Rena Taylor took the stage. Taylor is an exciting hybrid performer, a transplant who came up in the Montreal sketch scene. Her foundation has been delightfully uninfluenced by Toronto. She is also so talented at impressions and characterization. If they were not hilarious I would be frightened as they seem to possess her entirely.

Tonight Taylor was doing stand up but the aforementioned characters are always hiding in the proverbial bushes. It was a very entertaining, sardonic set that took on the constant fear that weighs on everyone lately. Taylor’s material about men and the dominance and dynamics of rape culture was unflinching in its honesty. Experimental yet focused, I found myself laughing hard but referencing this sort of inequality is always a hard sell some people in the audience clearly wanted their laughter served on a platter with a non reflective surface.

I stated earlier Everardo Ramirez is weird. A good, necessary weird that stokes the fire that allows alt comedy to singe on the fringes of a scene. I could not, as a journalist, make claims of this nature without proof.

He had advertised a “celebrity guest” would appear, and then a video screen came down to reveal a shotty, yet meticulous video of Ramirez’s eyes mashed up with Jimmy Fallon’s face. “Jimmy” proceeded to tell nonsensical stories and yell catch phrases while the on stage Ramirez became increasingly annoyed. Alt comedy is always generally more about satire of the current popular culture. Ramirez didn’t let the bit get to the point of being abrasive, an important line to learn.

Main Space

There was room at 10pm show in the Comedy Bar main space so I was able to slip in to see The Merry Janes of Comedy. Cassie Cao was mid set and full charm. She is a comedian who has a very introspective style, as if she is slightly uncomfortable every place else but the stage. Her material about the gym and vanity demonstrated the sort of complexity and mischief that is entirely her own. No one could ever steal her jokes because there is so much of who she is contained in them.

There are some comics who just don’t bomb. Even if the crowd is not entirely with them they have the skill to play to the fraction that gets them. Tamara Shevon is one such comic. During quarantine she did not allow her skills to atrophy by hosting an Instagram live show twice weekly called “Quarantea”. It served to unite the Toronto scene, reminded people who they were and was the closest thing we had to stirring the pot with each other - during what Shevon had dubbed “the free smoke summer”.

Shevon did not undergo the re-learning curve other comics did. Tonight was no different. There was a magnetism on stage to her. Never the slightest bit nervous and never bored either. Her material about going to the cottage is a choose your own adventure joke about fun relatability or power balance and privilege. It’s clean and ever evolving, and that’s a skill entirely her own; each performance is nuanced.

Rhiannon Archer closed out the evening. It baffles me why she does not have a larger following. She is the funny friend we wish we all had. Someone who can talk about life because their life is full and they examine it. Motherhood and the general hypocritical hilarity of the upper middle class expectations to be reserved and mentally together made for a really polished set. She is present on stage, something I always appreciate from comics who I know are good enough at their craft to go on autopilot. Tell a mom you know to follow Rhiannon Archer.

On nights like these I don’t see the plexi glass or the barriers on stage. I can abandon that heavy, ever present fear in my heart and just laugh in and at the dark for a while.

Slam Dunk and The Merry Janes of Comedy took place Friday, September 18, 2020 at Comedy Bar.

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