See Part 2 of the series hereThere were roughly 700 people parked in the seats of the Vogue Theatre last Friday night. It was an impressive turnout for the first Simply Dope Summer Comedy Extravaganza, considering the nights talent: L.A.-based comic Brent Morin, Torontos Dave Merheje and two local acts, Ivan Decker and Dino Archie, who organized and emceed the nights proceedings.
Never heard of them? Few people outside comedy circles have. Archie, a California native who moved to Vancouver three years ago, readily admits, Nobody knows us. Were not draws yet.
It certainly helped that the Donnelly Group, who partnered with Archie on the event, had the marketing muscle to attract a larger audience. But marketing isnt everything, and the crowded house made clear what Archie has known all along: Vancouver is hungry for quality standup comedy, whether the comics are established names or not.
Theres no reason that comedy shouldnt be booming here, Archie says. This is a great market to tap into. People are looking for something to do and they like comedy but they just dont know theres a scene here.
The city is brimming with talented comics who, without the prospect of ever landing a sitcom or HBO special while living here, perform purely for the love of the craft. Compared to New York, L.A. or even Toronto, Vancouver is a minor blip on the comedy circuit. Canadian comedy industry insiders rarely trek out west to see whats happening, and industry types in major U.S. markets have too much in their own front yards to even consider thinking about a mid-size Canadian city.
Part of what makes us unique is were isolated from everywhere else, so weve created our own supportive vibe, says Dan Quinn, a 19-year standup veteran and founder of the successful Snowed in Comedy Tour, which sold out the Vogue in February. It becomes so much more about the art because the ability to make a living is so much harder that theyre not just going to gig to gig doing the same show all the time. Youre playing all these little rooms trying to be as funny as you can.
These little rooms, such as Kitsilanos Corduroy, Displace Hashary (also in Kits), Kino Cafe on Cambie and Havana Theatre on Commercial Drive, among others, allow comics to develop their craft and experiment because HBO executives arent sitting in the audience.
Its a great town if you want to work on the craft of standup, says comic Graham Clark, host of the long-running Laugh Gallery comedy room at Havana, frequent contributor to CBCs The Debaters and co-host of the popular comedy podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself. Its not a town where therere agents in the audience. No ones going to get discovered in Vancouver. You have to go to other cities for that to happen. The strength here is you can get up all the time, as much stage time as you want, in front of a variety of audiences. Its a great training ground.
Archie left L.A. for this very reason. Hes 30 years old, ambitious and lacking the pained awkwardness and introversion that plagues so many of his peers. Still, he found it difficult to get decent stage time back home. In Vancouver, hes able to perform two or three times a night, every night of the week.
After Archies big night at the Vogue, a few hundred more people now know his name. Its not enough to land him a sitcom deal, but that was never the point anyway. The night was designed to get his adopted city excited about comedy again.
I wanted to bring that to the city, he says. Theres great writers and great comics [here] but I wanted to bring that fire that can bring people outside the comedy world excited about it.
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