We asked comedian Katie Burrell to contribute something about that upcoming comedy show…

By Katie Burrell

So somebody says to me, “What’s the comedy scene like in Revelstoke?” And I’m like, my living room is pretty good, to be honest. I put on shows for myself in there most nights. Sometimes I set up a stool and rehearse old material that I’m sick of hearing myself say. Or I lean my phone against the fruit bowl and film myself working out some new choreo (usually I post it, chill. I wouldn’t keep that stuff from you guys). Last night I decided I should be the harmony in a country music duo, like the cute girl in gingham that just sings the hooks a little higher while flirtatiously smiling at the sun-kissed, tousled-hair lead male (the patriarchy is omnipresent in my living room). She doesn’t play an instrument but she taps her feet and coyly looks down at all the right times. Talk about chemistry. Most mornings I put house music on and pretend I’m in a club in the shower — it’s pure sex, 24/7, up in that basement suite.

But in June, after the third installation of the FUNNY SH#T! comedy series (named by Big Eddy Pub owner, John Ferguson), a talent manager reached out to me, as I had booked one of his clients, Kathleen McGee. She had told him how good-looking the Revelstoke crowd was – “fresh off a group orgasm.” Jake Hirsch, owner of Hirsch Entertainment Group, representing some of the biggest names in Canadian comedy (huge names), was like – we’ve got to scoop this Revelstoke audience, they sound hot. And I was like, Jake, trust me — they’re hot.

Tickets at toddness.com

A post shared by Todd Ness (@toddmness) on Aug 27, 2017 at 2:54pm PDT

This lead to a few phone calls and emails during which I pretended like I was a straight hustler, and Jake was like, ‘We’re stopping in Revelstoke every time comedy drives through on the T-1.’ (I’m exaggerating this story, I always do this. This is actually not really how it happened. Moving on. My dad says never let the truth get in the way of a good story.)

Either way, we’re getting regular comedy this year. We’ll keep the greasy pub shows rolling at the Eddy, and we’ve got our beloved annual Stoke FM Festival and we’ll get fancy-ass theatre shows at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre. In both places we will floor the comedians with our good looks, overall fitness and matching outfits (Blundstones, plaid, technical pants – unisex). They will leave and whisper to other comedians around the country in dimly-lit green rooms: “You have got to play Revelstoke – that town is cut.”

We’ll stress the bookers out and buy tickets last minute. We’ll criticize the performers after the show at the tables outside Dose, comedy aficionados, going to one to two shows per year. We’ll laugh and throw out applause breaks for local references, and we’ll surprise the visiting comics that we actually get cultural tropes and kind of have an idea of what’s going on in the outside world. It’s going to be a learning experience for everybody. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to give us a new reason to leave our houses every once in a while, but not actually have to talk to anyone.

On Sept. 21, we have our first comedians coming through brought to us by Jake Hirsch: headliner Todd Ness and feature Brett Forte.

Todd started performing in 2009 and won the 2014 Yuk Yuks Chase Your Butterfly Contest. He has performed at the YYC Comedy Festival and can be heard on CBC’s Laugh Out Loud on CBC Radio. Brett is a regular at Yuk Yuks in Calgary and can be seen performing all over the country. They’re both hilarious. Get tickets here.

I will host and be like ‘Kawakubo’ and tap the side of my nose and you will immediately break into raucous laughter and applause. Should be chill. See you there.