The artistic director of this year’s Guelph Comedy Festival says laughter is a shared experience and comedy is a positive way to bring people together.
“It seems like now, more than ever, that is something we need to focus on,” said Jay Reid, co-founder of The Making-Box and this year’s festival artistic director.
Five days of events are planned as part of the festival, which begins Oct. 18 with a Fest Timers show, a play on First Timers.
“You will see throughout the lineup we have stand-up comedy, improv, sketch comedy and we also have one act I am particularly excited about called Songbuster. They do a fully-improvised musical,” said Reid.
The Songbuster act is part of the festival’s gala show Oct. 19 at Guelph Youth Music Centre.
When scouting talent, the organizers are looking for funny, but also comedians who showcase diversity through a positive lens.
“It’s top priority for us to have a wide range of interesting perspectives on stage. You will see on the lineup we aim to have a lineup on stage representing a lot of unique voices and perspectives,” said Reid.
Also important, said Reid, is a focus on showcasing local talent.
“We have local comedians on every single show throughout the festival. These are folks that are amazingly talented,” he said.
The festival’s reputation has been growing in recent years, said Reid, as has the Guelph comedy scene in general.
“It makes it easier and easier to book talent over the last couple of years,” said Reid.
Although he is listed as artistic director for this year’s festival, Reid notes that booking acts is a collaborative process involving the festival organizers.
“We all take suggestions and watch a lot of comedy and we bring in the folks that we are excited to showcase to Guelph,” said Reid.
On Saturday, Oct. 21, three venues will host shows as part of the festival’s Comedy Block Party — The Making-Box, Red Brick and Cornerstone.
The Red Brick will feature two blocks of stand-up comedy Saturday, with Hoodu Hersi and Joe Vu starting at 7 p.m. and Courtney Gilmour and Marito Lopez going on at 8:30 p.m.
At the Making-Box on Saturday, Fake Cops starts at 8 p.m., the Dame Judy Dench troupe goes on at 9:30 p.m. and the evening will finish with a Late-Night Mash-Up involving many of the featured comedians.
Hersi and Vu will also do their sets later at Cornerstone starting at 8:30 p.m. and Gilmour and Lopez will do theirs beginning at 10 p.m., the staggered sets will allow people more choices to see in the shows they don't want to miss.
The smaller venues don’t attract huge headlining acts, said Reid, but that’s not necessarily the point of the festival.
“We don’t really attract massive names that the average person would know, however it’s not uncommon for the festival to catch rising stars,” he said.
Comedians featured in years past have gone on to gigs on U.S. Talk shows, broadway, Just for Laughs comedy festival and NBC’s Last Comic Standing.
On Oct. 22, a family-friendly improv workshop and show will be held at Guelph Public Library’s main branch, geared toward families and young people.
