What's So Funny?

Ewan Currie returns. The rocker was in town for one day, with a concert that night, but still made time for us. He tells us the comedy origins of The Sheepdogs' latest album, Future Nostalgia. He also talks about his musical theatre career in high school, hobnobbing with the country's mayors, his ideas for podcasts, his love/hate relationship with journalists, and getting photographed with the most hated man in Canada. Rock on!

Melanie Rose has been performing standup comedy for nine years, but we let her on the show anyway under the 10-year rule providing she avoids eye contact. In this episode, Rose talks about homelessness, mental health, bank robbers, farm living, the big city, and red theatres, among other things.

Dylan Rhymer returns to What's So Funny? after being MIA for a couple years. Never short on opinion or stories, he gets right to it in this episode. We learn about the origin of his now-gone mutton chops. He spills his guts on the breakup of his marriage and a UK tour from hell. He gives us the low-down on performing comedy with his dingly-dangly bits in full view. And there's even a bit of politics thrown in for good measure since this was recorded the day before the federal general election.

Robyn Edwards finally gets a shot on What's So Funny? Her OutTV costars on Morgan Brayton and Other People have all had their turn. Could it be we saved the best for last? You be the judge. We talk about her other TV role as an FBI agent on a big, American show. We talk about her ultra-religious upbringing. We talk about her coming out. And we talk about the complaints she gets from customers she has served. We have a grand old time, that's for sure. This episode brought to you by Frozen Pizza.

Mark Friebe and Sheila Sharma last visited us a loooong nine years ago. They drove in from the Giggle Dam out in Port Coquitlam to tell us about the fire that nearly destroyed them, the challenges of doing politically incorrect sketches, and Sheila sings all 66 books of the Bible in 43 seconds. Not bad for an atheist!

Andy Cañete speaks real good English for a South American. We talk about how that's possible and what it's like to live under the thumb of a dictator, even one whose name sounds like a nice glass of wine or a wooden puppet boy. He also tells a good story about giving the silent treatment to Jennifer Beals and talks about his best friend, Senor Fantastico.

Lauren McGibbon isn't the son of a tree-dwelling monkey but she does tell us about her family's violent history. The improviser also tells us about her mad research skillz when it comes to acting in scenes, her brief standup career, her brief flight attendant career, and mom's brief career as a dancer on TV variety shows in the '70s.

Ian Boothby and David Dedrick are busy guys. Not only do they do what they do when not podcasting, they also co-host three (count 'em!) podcasts. Okay, one of them is finished now but lives on in the ether. The mothership is Sneaky Dragon, the catch-all free-ranging and fun conversation. Then there's Compleatly Beatles, which they dissect every Beatles album and song. And also Totally Tintin, about, you guessed it, that charming Belgian comic book. We talk about all of the above and more.

Janice Bannister makes her second appearance on What's So Funny? – both without regular host Guy MacPherson. She must be getting a complex! This time she talks to Colleen Brow about her many-faceted career, from writing to producing to teaching to speaking to performing.

Fatima Dhowre is the first What's So Funny? guest who's been to Somalia, not once but dozens of times. We go into quite a bit of detail about that lawless land. We also talk about her having more in common with white guys than black because she lacks that urban quality the rest of her family possesses, her love of roasts, how she got over her obsession with video games, Bill Cosby as an early influence, and she reveals her hidden talent.

Marcus Ryan joins us in the Roving Studio for his fourth appearance on the show. The Aussie explains the crazy insects and reptiles of his home and native land, discusses his one-man Edmonton Fringe show called Love Me Tinder, complains about the unrelenting heat of Vancouver summers, regales us with a harrowing tale of hitchhiking in Ucluelet, makes the case for why Burning Man is awesome, and has second thoughts about merchandising.

Ron Josol performs all over the world. Or at least many places in the world. He joins in the Roving Studio, or Comedy Cab (aka my car), for a far-ranging conversation that covers performing in Haiti, the Philippines, and the US, as well as being adaptable enough to eat duck embryos, being there when Russell Peters hit it big, and the effect a family tragedy had on his life.

Matt Bilinski makes his What's So Funny? debut five years after first appearing on the program as Matt Billon. In fact, he lived his first 36 years as Matt Billon. So why the change? He explains. Along the way, he tells us how he took down a criminal, tells us how he spurned Hollywood in his younger years, and regales us with tales of life on the road with the king of Canadian comedy, Mike MacDonald.

Jesse Joyce wrote many of your favourite jokes from the Comedy Central Roasts. And he tells us some of them. He also talks about trying to sneak hand jobs in an Irish convent, gives his theory on the Canadian superiority/inferiority complex, and lists his favourite unsung comedy heroes, which include some Canadians (I had to point that out).

Kathleen McGee has been living in Vancouver for one year... and loving it! Now, if she could just get it to secede from Canada. McGee talks about her troubles getting back into the US, as well as being a rugby playing theatre nerd, lady jails, political correctness, and feminist bloggers. It's fun! It's emotional! And she's available for children's parties!

Steve Bays is the lead singer for Mounties, Hot Hot Heat, and Fur Trade but one of his first bands, Pilot Light, gets most mention in this episode. Steve is a regular guest on the show and we always seem to break new length records with him. This one is no exception as it clocks in at over two hours. But we think you can handle it. We discuss the do's and don't's of interviewing rock stars, drinking junky beer in Zurich, gruesome stage injuries, being Jew-ish, getting homesick in Tokyo, and the end of civilization. And more, of course.

Dan Quinn makes his quinquennial appearance on What's So Funny? (at least as far as our records are concerned). In this episode, Quinn reveals who's the moodiest participant in the Snowed In Comedy Tour, rails against amateurs running comedy rooms, talks about closing out an evening at Luna Lounge after Marc Maron, Janeane Garofalo, and Dave Chappelle, and tells us what it was like to perform on an all-Dutch show in Amsterdam. This episode brought to you by the word 'Abominable.'

Mark B. Hughes and Jason Kryska love to push buttons. They love and perform (and love to perform) comedy that tilts towards the dark side. But their backstories couldn't be more different. Kryska has lived a button-down life and married for 18 years; Hughes overcame a heroin and cocaine addiction that landed him ten years in the slammer. Hughes has performed comedy in the nude; Kryska doesn't even like seeing himself nude. This episode brought to you by the Seven Deadly Sins.

Chad Daniels is a regular visitor to Vancouver, but a first-time visitor to What's So Funny? The Minnesotan is a touring headliner, does the late-night talk shows yet still lives in tiny Fergus Falls, three hours outside of Minneapolis. What gives? He tells us why. We also discuss being a loveable asshole, counting down to popping his kid in the face, getting attacked on stage, unfair comparisons to Louis C.K., and how a sprained ankle changed the course of his career. The episode brought to you by Communication.

Sean Lecomber buckles up for a trip in the roving What's So Funny? studio. He calls it Driving Miss Podcast. I like it. In this one, the Edmonton comic talks about t-shirts in swimming pools, self-confidence, squelching baby hecklers, the correct pronunciation of 'flaccid', Tisdale's slogan, Christian athletes, and sanctified abortions. This episode is loaded with fair points.