After eight years of working on her craft, it’s all paying off for Sophie Buddle. This summer the local standup – who’s only 22 years old – is filming a TV pilot, recording her first comedy album and shooting a televised set at Montreal’s Just For Laughs: All Access. We hit the Breka Bakery & Cafe on Davie Street to speak to the comic about her friendship with Reggie Watts, women in comedy and MMA.
You have a lot going for you right now.
This is my third year at Just for Laughs, but my first nationally televised eight-minute set. It will be on CraveTV. I am pretty excited, so I should figure out what jokes I am going to pull out. I don't know what outfit I am wearing yet either, which is the most important thing.
You were killing it in your opening slot for Reggie Watts in April. That must have been a tough gig to land.
Reggie Watts came to town last year and Dino Archie opened for him. He also had a great set. … Dino is the greatest, he’s the first comic to ever bring me on the road.
Whatever you did opening for Reggie Watts worked nicely.
Thanks a lot. I was so stoned. Reggie is a friend of mine whom I stayed with when I went down to Los Angeles. Obviously, Reggie cannot bring anything over the border with him. I took a couple of cookies with me because I figured Reggie would have his girlfriend and an entourage with him. Reggie ate his cookie before the show and said: "Aren't you going to eat one?" I am not going to say "no" because I have to be "cool." So I had a cookie, but I never do that before shows. Maybe I'll get high for my JFL taping?
… It is easy to be unsettled around [Reggie]; he is cool and easy to talk to, but he still makes people nervous. The only time I was nervous and didn't handle it that well was when I met Louis C.K. at The [Comedy] Mix. I was headlining an amateur night and the manager informed us all that Louis C.K. was dropping in to do a spot because he had his big stadium show the following evening. Louis is the greatest and I have been obsessed with him since I started in comedy. Louis walked in with an expensive watch, looking so cool. He looks so schlubby in his specials, so I thought he was going to have a more approachable feel. I tensed up as soon as I saw him, you know when you try to be overly casual? Louis C.K. was shaking people's hands, so, trying to be funny I said, "Louis, is it?" And then I went blank. It may have been the worst moment of my whole life. It was devastating because Louis watched everybody's set and would talk to the comic after, except after mine. Louis went on before me and then left to do another show before I went up.
Comedy is one of the more underrated professions. Very few know that it takes a long time to hone the craft before they are consistently good on stage.
Definitely. Everybody knows what they think is funny and everybody makes their friends laugh, so they naturally think, "I could do that," and they probably could. I feel that anyone could learn it. The hardest part is getting a feel for stand-up structure.
Tell us about the TV pilot.
My roommate and I are filming a show called Barely Legal that we have been working on for a year-and-a-half. The taping was on July 14 at the Slice of Life Gallery, and we are going to try to sell that episode as a pilot.
As well as Louis C.K., Reggie Watts and Dino Archie, who else inspires you as a comic?
My favourite is Jermaine Fowler. I saw him once at The Meltdown (at Nerdist Theatre) a while ago in L.A. and he blew my mind. The first comedy special I ever saw was Ellen.
Ellen helped to pave the way for women in comedy. Is standup more of a challenge for women?
My roommate and I speak a lot about being women in comedy. I find that the actual job is not any harder, regardless of gender. Everything offstage [in the industry] is more difficult for a woman.
A few male comics have accused female standups of going straight to their genitals for material.
I don't talk about my vagina and neither does my roommate. But I feel that we should. My roommate had an idea for a joke and said, "I worry that I have too many jokes about boys, sex and dating.” I have a lot of jokes about the same subjects.
The male perspective has historically dominated standup. My justification is that if we [as women] have material about an oft-covered topic, it can be good for feminism because it is [still] a fresh point of view.
I was watching a documentary recently that maintains that it has been difficult to continue to rally for feminism because the mainstream point of view is feminist. Feminism no longer seems like an underground force that we need to overcome.
… The fight for women’s rights has become more subtle. People think of old [first-wave] feminism as the right to vote or to not allow husbands to beat their wives. Our fight does not seem to have as much weight, comparatively. It's funny to me how men's rights activists came out of the woodwork as soon as a female candidate was in the running for [US president].
Men's rights activists have little ground to stand on in the eyes of many.
Battered women have places to go, but there are no shelters for male victims of physical abuse. The statistics are almost the same for how many men get violently attacked by their wives as they are for women hit by their men.
There is a massive difference in threat when a woman attacks a man, generally speaking. That is the strongest argument against the transgendered MMA fighter Fallon Fox, who has been (mostly) dominating women in the sport.
I got into MMA about three years ago, and I love it. Female MMA is growing more than women in comedy.
… There was that “do-nothing bitch” speech that came from Ronda Rousey but should have come from Beyoncé. I felt so empowered after I heard her say that. Rousey should be proud of her career. I think that she is going to come back.
Rousey did come back and it did not go well for her against Amanda Nunes.
Well, Nunes is the greatest.
I don't think anyone is taking the belt from Nunes for a while.
“Buff” has never been considered a hot body type for women, but there is nothing cooler than a buff woman. Fit and slim have always been considered hot, but big biceps on a woman is hot now. So many women are trying to slim down and get toned, but nobody ever wants to get strong. A woman feeling strong and like she can defend herself, thus not feeling scared all of the time, is good for feminism.
