Northwest Comedy Fest
At the Vogue, Yuk Yuk’s, the Comedy MIX, and more from February 18 to 21

From Wednesday to Saturday last week, there was enough top-tier comedy in the city to last several months. I couldn’t hit every show of the Northwest Comedy Fest due to overlap, and could only catch portions of some, but there wasn’t a dud in the lot of them.

The first half of Hannibal Buress’s show at the Vogue on February 18 was some of the best comedy I’ve seen in a long time. The laconic Chicagoan was recently LASIK’d and mused on doing standup as a newly blind person with setups like “Do you ever smell…?” The bits on hockey, baseball, cycling, swimming, and soccer were fantastic, as was his irrational (but understandable) stated fear of being attacked by rabid Bill Cosby fans after taking the heat for dredging up the rape allegations on the once-beloved icon back in October.

Unfortunately, though, Buress spent too much of his 79-minute set with his DJ, doing overly rehearsed bits. It started out okay with a Comedy Minus One–type of situation where he emulated the rapper RiFF RAFF, filling in the odd words and phrases from his own recordings of his standup act. But it got to be too much with sampling various raps and commenting on the lyrics, culminating with his own gibberish composition, complete with three ballerinas. Standup comedy, of course, is rehearsed, but the illusion is that it’s in the moment, and the elongated chunk just made it more difficult to suspend one’s disbelief.

Todd Glass at Yuk Yuk’s also went the sound-effects route on Thursday, scrambling through his musical cues for a good portion of his 87 minutes on-stage, only it didn’t feel rehearsed at all. Rather, it felt like filler. But that’s part of his charm. He goes off on tangents and rants, trying to stay positive but unable to resist calling the objects of his scorn “dumb fucks”. He can get awfully judge-y and preachy, but his heart is always in the right place.

Moshe Kasher at the Biltmore on Friday had the packed audience eating out of his hand. He incorporated the crowd throughout, using his numerous interactions to get to his material on being an amazing lover (100 percent of the time he has an orgasm, he bragged), his deaf mother’s loud vibrator, and a breakup letter he wrote when he was 14.

It was a pleasure to finally see Jackie Kashian in action. The native of Wisconsin plowed through a great set ahead of headliner Maria Bamford at the Vogue on February 21, but I wanted more Kashian. The sold-out house loved her, too, but they were clearly there to see one of standup comedy’s favourite performers in Bamford. She didn’t disappoint them, either, as proven by the standing ovation. Known for her offbeat voices and characterizations, she makes her points about mental illness known without smacking us upside the head, but I’d still prefer to hear more of Bamford’s own voice.

Finally, John Mulaney at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts on the same Saturday night killed in his first visit to the city. Unlike most comedians who rail against spouses and their differences, the newlywed was all sunshine and lollipops, which was a refreshing change, even when he hinted that he’s far from the alpha in the relationship. And despite being one of the top young comics in America, he was self-deprecating in acknowledging how poorly his sitcom is doing, saying he and his wife recently bought a house “because we don’t know how the TV business works”. Largely an original voice, Mulaney did bits on Back to the Future and pot dealers that weren’t exactly groundbreaking, but were a small part of his 79 minutes.

Special shout-outs to the local openers, too. In front of Mulaney, Ivan Decker earned every one of his applause breaks without resorting to cheap gimmicks. The kid, who looked like he could be the headliner’s brother, is never less than impressive. If Canada had any kind of star system, he’d be Canada’s Mulaney. Kyle Bottom’s booming voice and sure-fire jokes won over the standing-room-only crowd at the Biltmore immediately on Friday. He also had the best introduction of a visiting comic I’ve ever heard, slighting Kasher’s credits with wicked indifference. Ross Dauk was on fire and on point ahead of Glass, talking about driveway basketball and horses on ecstacy, and telling a hilarious double-pronged story about street con men that didn’t go anywhere, but the journey was worth it. Chris Gordon (actually from Calgary) was his weird hilarious self, repeating, “You can do better than that. How you guys doing tonight?” over and over and over, before getting Siri to voice his jokes for him at the Biltmore the same night, in front of Rory Scovel.

With the festival now over, it’s not like you can rest. Not in this city, anyway. Comedy’s a year-round business here.