On January 31 The Comedy Network presented a night of stand-up comedy at the legendary Toronto speak-easy The Rivoli featuring a slew of some of Canada’s best viral comedic superstars. Hosted by Toronto-based comedienne Amanda Brooke Perrin – the winner of The Comedy Network’s “Best Summer Job EVER” competition – the “Canada’s Top YouTube Comedians” showcase brought down the house with a great variety of comedic styles that were all as contemporary and cutting edge as they were flat out hilarious.
A patron of the Toronto comedy scene – or The Babooshka, as she later put it – Perrin warmed up the crowd with a laugh-out-loud routine that was arguably better than some of the evening’s marquee acts. Completely adept to improvisation, self-deprecation, and witty insights, Perrin’s introductory set – and her various chimes in between sets – was absolute gold and set the tone for the rest of the night. Oddly enough, some of her best moments came during the mishaps and technical difficulties involving the videos being shown by the performers as they – rather unwillingly – gave her the space to improvise and make light of the situation. “It’s scary when stuff like that happens,” she later commented. “But thankfully the crowd was forgiving. Thank you, alcohol!”
Opening the showcase with a blistering set of raucous – yet oddly insightful – comedy, local YouTube comedic guru Andy Warski kicked things off in the best way possible. Walking the fine line between degenerative depravity and brilliant social satire, Warski’s set screamed with shades of Louis CK and had the audience laughing and gasping at once. Finishing off with a trailer for his upcoming self-produced feature-length superhero spoof Darkfist, Warski’s set was one of the highlights of the night and was a sign of things to come from the ranting internet comic. “I actually just finished my first full-on half-hour special last week,” he later mentioned to Cadence. “There’ll be another of entirely new material later in the year – all of it just as offensive.”
Next up was Jasmeet – aka JusReign – the architect of the hugely popular “S–t White Guys Say to Brown Guys” viral meme. Part of the larger trend of “S–t [insert type of person here] Says” memes, the video has become incredibly popular, grabbing well over a million views on YouTube and counting. If there was any doubt over the video’s popularity, JusReign silenced those doubts with the large crowd he drew for his set as it seemed the majority of the capacity-filled crowd had come to see JusReign live. Bringing to the stage his own particular brand of racially-infused satire, JusReign’s set harked to the comedic standard set by fellow Indo-Canadian comic Russell Peters and was just as funny. Later in the evening, JusReign remarked to Cadence, “Yeah, these guys claiming to be The Comedy Network, if I wanted to do the show tonight and I was like, ‘Why would I not want to?’ But I definitely think I’ll be doing more of the live stuff now, to go with the videos – it was a lot of fun.”
Rounding out the first half of the show was a “set” by Furious Pete, competitive eater extraordinaire. I say “set” because his time wasn’t so much a typical stand-up set as much as it was an illustration of the crazed world of competitive eating. Following a brief preamble and introduction to the sport of kings he has become so accustomed to, the Furious one devoured a hotdog and hamburger in mere seconds – literally making each disappear in a blink of an eye. He followed this with a video treatment of his various escapades at competitions and in his own life, taking on pizza-sized hamburgers, table-sized racks of ribs and – quite literally – piles upon piles of fast food. Comedy it certainly wasn’t, but Furious Pete’s time on stage was cringe-inducing hilarious and one of the high notes of the night, nonetheless.
Kicking off the second half of the night following a brief intermission was Lilly Singh, aka IISuperwomanII. As the only female member of the showcase – excluding host Amanda Brooke Perrin – Singh kept to her moniker and held her own with an uproarious set that dismantled the discourses of youth culture and racial incongruence – and Siri’s place in it all. Showcasing not only her stand-up prowess, but a hilarious medley of her online work as well, Singh’s set was definitely one of the most well-received of the night. She later commented on how she became part of The Comedy Network’s showcase: “It was funny; I actually received a message from [The Comedy Network] through my YouTube account asking me to be part of the show. And I just assumed it was part of some huge scam. But I thought, ‘Oh well, why not?’ But it wasn’t a scam, obviously; which is cool.”
Next up was the popular internet comedian Andrew Hunt. Kicking off his set with a painfully hilarious audition reel for a children’s show gone wrong, Hunt’s comedic fusion of naivety and rapier wit went over incredibly well with the crowd. Capturing the light-hearted hilarity of his YouTube rants and monologues, Hunt’s set delivered serious laughs before segueing into a blisteringly hilarious video where he offered to break up with your significant other through song. The evening was host to some great footage, but Hunt’s wonderful break-up service ad was without a doubt the best of the night.
The final set of the night belonged to the widely popular YouTube comic Fluffee. Known for his hilarious stoner-comedy videos, Fluffee used his set as an opportunity to introduce the crowd to his rather well-known series where he plays quite possibly the most lovable drug dealer outside of James Franco in “Pineapple Express.” Boasting some impressive production, Fluffee’s videos garnered a whole lot of laughs and were a great end to a fine evening of comedy.
While they were no doubt out of their respective elements, the various comedians of The Comedy Network’s “Canada’s Top YouTube Comedians” showcase delivered a fine evening of comedy, illustrating a variety of comedic styles and genres; and when Cadence had the chance to briefly speak to Andrew Hunt, he highlighted the importance of this point. “The beautiful thing about a show like this is the fact that it really does act like a bridge between the online world and the world of live comedy. There are a lot of different types of comedy out there, so it’s cool to have a show like this that showcases it.” Lily Singh had similar notes of praise for the showcase. “Yeah, it’s a great way to cross that bridge and just expand your material to a wider audience.”
Andy Warski’s motivations for participating, however, were a little different. “I just had nothing to do on a Tuesday night, so I thought, ‘Eh, why not?’”
To check out videos by Canada’s Top YouTube Comedians check out the links below:
For Andy Warski click here.
For Jasmeet/JusReign click here.
For Furious Pete click here.
For Lily Singh click here.
For Andrew Hunt click here.
For Fluffee click here.
And if you want to see more hilarious live stand-up featuring Amanda Brooke Perrin, she hosts Comedy at Lou Dawgs – 589 King St. W. – on the last Thursday of every month.
