Comedy Fest mega shows should bring mega laughs

It’s funny business as usual for the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, which continues to yuk it up while sad trombones drone for its more famous counterparts.

Winnipeg’s laugh-fest enters its 23rd year when it takes place April 30-May 5 with a shiny new theme — All That Glitters is 24K Comedy Gold.

Meanwhile, Montreal’s bigger-budget Just for Laughs festival earlier this month cancelled its 2024 event after entering bankruptcy.

The only real change for the Winnipeg’s joke jamboree in 2024 is in semantics: what were once evening galas have become “mega shows,” five in number, taking place May 2-4 at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

They remain themed events, which will have comedians from across Canada shoehorning their bits to fit the occasions.

The opener, for instance, is titled Your Next Act, and has actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee — who has gone from Korean corner-store owner in CBC’s Kim’s Convenience to a player in two science-fiction universes: the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender — as host.

Other mega-show hosts include the May 3 pairing of Ann Pornel of The Great Canadian Baking Show and rapper Maestro Fresh Wes, who will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the Juno Awards on Sunday. Two shows on May 4 will bring DJ Demers, star and creator of CBC sitcom One More Time, and Canadian actress Lauren Ash of the NBC series Superstore to the Burt stage.

The Gas Station Arts Centre, which is undergoing renovations that will include new seats later in the summer, will be a beehive of activity during the spring festival.

Among shows at the River-and-Osborne venue include The War Comic (May 4), which has Ontario comedian Pete Zedlacher recalling his year on the road performing for Canadian Armed Forces personnel in war zones. Five dollars from each ticket will go toward to the Southern Chiefs’ Organization First Nations Veterans’ Program.

The Debaters returns to Jubilee Place (May 3 and 4) for live tapings of the popular CBC Radio One program.

One of the comedians performing, Kathleen McGee, will also be the guest of honour at the festival’s roast (May 4). She has been undergoing cancer treatments since being diagnosed last May, but that won’t prevent the likes of Debaters’ host Steve Patterson, Winnipeg’s Lara Rae and Montreal’s Derek Seguin from skewering the Edmontonian — and dodging zingers aimed back at them — for the entertainment of the crowd.

Also returning is Laughing with the Stars (May 1). The festival has enlisted former Bombers kicker and radio personality Troy Westwood, Crash Test Dummies drummer Mitch Dorge, CBC Manitoba radio host Marcy Markusa and former Free Press editor Brad Oswald, who wrote about the comedy festival during his nearly 30 years with the paper, among others, to try their hand at the mic.

Rumor’s Comedy Club, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024, is bringing in seven comics for festival week: Dan Duvall, Clare Belford, Faris Hytiaa, DeAnne Smith, Ola Dada, Tanyalee Davis and Hisham Kelati.

Individual tickets range in price from $25 to $45 while mega show tickets sell for $51.25 at winnipegcomedyfestival.com.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca