What's So Funny?

Ed Hill joins us for the third time, this time smelling of Korean BBQ. We get to the bottom of his anglo-sounding name and talk about his upcoming album recording – also coincidentally his third. And he shares with us his favourite street joke – also coincidentally the only one he knows.

Colin Heath is a clown. No, that's not a knock on the guy. He's a professional who has toured with Cirque du Soleil all over the world and is currently at Bacio Rosso in Vancouver. He's also a playwright, artist, actor, and has even done standup comedy... once. Not only that, but he went to junior high school with our host (not that Heath remembers that).

Brittany Lyseng is our first guest of 2019, the start of our 15th year doing this thing. Wow. The Calgary-born-reared-based standup talks about the ups and downs of the business... the elevator and escalator business, that is. We also talk about her favourite teacher and why she won't be invited to perform at her high school (go Ghosts!). Oh yes, and comedy. We talk about that, too.

Dave Nystrom returns to the What's So Funny? studios 14 years after his first appearance. A year after that, he up and moved to Hollywood, California, USA. For the past few years he's been living in Calgary, Alberta, CA, raising a horde of children and doing standup there and across the country. He tells tales of his years in LaLaLand and reminisces about his early days starting out in Vancouver.

Harry Doupe comes bearing gifts, but that's not the reason we always invite him back around Christmas time. Who better to recap the year than the veteran writer/standup? He's got opinions and stories to keep us going for years. This episode is no exception.

Steve Bays is back, and like always with the musician, it's epic. That is, if you define 'epic' by length. We always have so much to talk about when he comes by. We talk about the BC Ferries, his recent visit to New York City, talking to Seth Meyers, being complimented by Noel Gallagher, and he shows off his amazing array of accents.

Melanie Rose, the comedian not the porn star, returns to the show 100 pounds less than her first visit. She talks about her gangster grandma, felonious fathers (both step- and biological) and criminal ex-consort. We also talk about the perils of being an older standup in the community. And more!

He Fangzhou, or Fangzhou He depending on how you roll, is our guest all the way from... Toronto. The Chinese national came here to study math but somehow got sidetracked into standup comedy. He's love to have the kind of career here that Canadian Mark Roswell (aka Dashan) has in China. But He tells us there's an advantage to a Canadian in China over a Chinese in Canada.

Kevin Kent accosted my beautiful bald head at Bacio Rosso, and yet I still invited him to guest with us. He's an improviser and drag queen from a cabin in the wilds of New Mexico who has run away to join the circus. Kind of. He tells us his life story, from Albuquerque to Chicago to Seattle and now Vancouver, for a couple months, anyway. We recorded this on Grey Cup Sunday, which was news to him.

Kevvy returns. In this episode, the front man for the band Fake Shark comes decked out in Vancouver Grizzlies gear. We talk a bit about the glory of the Grizzlies before moving on to his latest efforts as the foremost comedy album producer in all the land. He also talks about doing standup (of sorts) in high school, his love of Adam Sandler, and his Dave Chappelle tattoo (among others).

Ari Matti comes to us all the way from Tallinn, Estonia. Well, he was in town anyway. He's in Vancouver working on his English standup skills. Ari tells us all about the burgeoning standup scene in Estonia, his first time on stage there (where he went over an hour), failing school in Poland, and his love of pork, cabbage and potatoes.

Brent Butt is back after a six year absence. The Canadian superstar talks about apples in Saskatchewan, his experience as a bad wedding singer, practicing standup with a screwdriver, his love of language, the etymology of 'gangbusters' and 'trivia', and falling asleep with David Cassidy posters on his wall.

Barry Greenfeld has been doing comedy since Sam Tonning was one year old. Yet he remembers virtually none of his career, except the broad strokes. Play a drinking game this episode: Every time Barry forgets something, take a sip. By the end of the episode, you'll be as drunk as he was... Nah, he wasn't drunk. That's the beauty of Barry. He just seems that way all the time.

Travis Bernhardt is a magician and improviser, in that order. He started practicing magic the year this show went on the air, back in 2004. And look at him now! In this episode, he talks about starting out on the street, how magic helped with his battle with depression, and why he's a darling of the Fringe circuit.

Ivan Decker is back less than a year after his last appearance with us. This marks appearance number six for the up-and-coming standup superstar. The Jerry Seinfeld of Canada is how we're now describing him. In this extendo episode, Decker talks dinosaurs (natch), his soon-to-be-released Netflix special, opening for celebrity comics, comedy criticism, getting into comedy clubs in Los Angeles, how to get in and out of a set on stage, and more!

Shawn Farquhar is a tricky guy. That's his job! The world-renown magician pays us a second visit in between stops around the world. Actually, he'll be home in the Greater Vancouver area for a few months, thanks to two different upcoming shows. We talk about Jethro Bodine, optimism in the face of a car in his living room, and being shown a card trick by a homeless man moments before recording this episode. We also tell magician jokes!

Chris Griffin, the human being not the cartoon character, makes his What's So Funny? debut. The Calgary-born, Vancouver-residing standup comic talks about dancing topless, getting tags from Tom Papa, his online presence or lack thereof, and getting in trouble in high school.

Wes Barker magically appears for the third time on the program. Our sound is a little wonky but you'll get over it. Wes talks about doing magic without an assistant, explains the beauty of making excuses, performs both a nasty prank and a real trick, and talks about hell gigs.

Colleen Brow returns to talk about her new one-woman show and we give her a pep talk. She fills us in on her goings-on since she last was with us and we talk about her days doing standup comedy and why she eventually had her fill of performing it. Bonus: she explains to us what a uterus is!

Steve Allen and Laura Accili run the longest-running weekly comedy show in Vancouver. As of air time, 11 years and six months at the Kino Café. Guest host Sam Tonning talks to the two about memorable shows over the years, they play some clips, and talk comedy. We start the show with a snippet of "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" by the more famous Steve Allen, but our Steve Allen is still alive.