Toronto's Try-Racial Pushing Envelope While Shredding Stereotypes

In an era when words, misinformation, disinformation and social media can cause deep divisions between people, Toronto comedic trio Try-Racial are attempting to build community by tearing down walls.

"I think that's what we wanted to go for when we first started talking about Try-Racial," member Derek Kalala says. "We have a black guy, we have a brown guy and we have a white guy. We use those racial relations to set up a lot of our sketches. I think being able to point out and laugh at some of the absurdities of some of the stereotypes that exist in society is something we really wanted to tackle with the three-man Try-Racial approach."

"Comedy can pack a very powerful message and people have their ears open when they are laughing," fellow member John Taylor adds. "I think there's a lot of scolding and extreme thinking in our society these days which firmly roots people in their positions. This is bad in my opinion because it negates learning from each other."

None of the three are strangers to sketch comedy. Although Kalala emerged from honing his stand-up skills for a few years, Taylor and Vivek Strikanthan were part of a '90s sitcom sketch comedy show Schoolin' Around. One night the large ensemble for Schoolin' Around were short one member and Kalala filled in. When the show's run concluded the trio splintered off to create Try-Racial.

"When we decided to start this idea of a 'racial' comedy troupe, we realized we were aligned in a lot of similar ways, and we were pretty lucky to have each other," Strikanthan says.

"Try-Racial wouldn't have happened if it wasn't natural and organic," Taylor says. "We don't pull any punches with our sketches so I'm very grateful to have such strong chemistry amongst our troupe. It feels like the three of us are hanging out while performing. There just happens to be an audience and bright lights on us."

In terms of formulating ideas, Kalala says the difference between being part of a group after coming from years of stand-up has been interesting.

"A lot of the toughest parts are coming to an agreement on what everyone might find is funny or scheduling rehearsals," he says. "In terms of performing when doing stand-up you definitely buildup to the laughs differently. I'm a lot more animated on stage. That comes from the sketch background now that I have that."

Those ideas though still go through a rigorous process to make sure they walk a tightrope being edgy without being offensive.

"For me personally, writing is my favorite pastime," Taylor says. "Some sketches come together quickly, and I can write through a stream of consciousness. Having said that; god dayum it can be hard to bring concepts to life and make them work in a way that is both funny and edgy, without crossing lines. We're in a time of comedy where there isn't a lot of people going near the subjects that we are. In order for our material to work we have to listen to each other. It creates a space for a lot of really interesting conversations where we learn from each others' experiences."

"With racial humor I think it's very easy to come up with idea, but it's also very hard to straddle the line between funny/not funny, not offensive/offensive," Strikanthan says. "We're really conscious about what kind of jokes or premises we write and come up with, but it's a give and take situation. We have a certain privilege in being a mixed-race troupe, to be able to talk about things that some other troupes can't talk about.

"I think the great thing about our group is we understand what our niche is. When you see a troupe with an on-the-nose name like Try-Racial, you know what you're getting, so the ideas just flow much easier when you have that boundary to write within."

The trio are looking forward to performing at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Kalala says fans should expect the group to "stay true to our Try-Racial approach" while offering "racial comedic commentary that we've become known for." Meanwhile all three agree that the community for BIPOC comedians have grown steadily in the last four or five years.

"You've got Crunchy Tigers Comedy, Hinprov, Don Valley Girls, West 2 West, Calling Mockery, Tallboyz and those are just the ones I've personally seen," Strikanthan says. "When I first started out, I could probably count on one hand the amount of BIPOC people I remembered in the whole of the Toronto sketch comedy scene, and now we've got so many. It's honestly a beautiful thing."

"Comedy helps us learn from and about each other," Taylor says. "Sameness makes everything vanilla and boring... and that's coming from a vanilla white guy."

Try-Racial performs at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival on March 10 and 11.
For ticket and schedule info visit torontosketchfest.com