Comedian Alex Mackenzie performs on a stage in Kelowna during his Hungry for Laughs comedy tour.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Facebook/ @cbayford

The stand-up comedy scene in Kamloops and the Okanagan is thriving and evolving due in part to the influence of social media and developments that happened during the COVID pandemic. 

“During COVID a lot of people created their personas and acts online and were able to basically start selling theatres out immediately because they built a following that was large enough to take on the road,” stand-up comic, and founder of Kelowna-based Train Wreck Comedy, Rob Balsdon said.

“It has changed how the game works entirely.”

Recent industry trends are helping comedians engage with their fans and sell out theatres, while also helping consumers find their specific brand of humour.

Balsdon has been a stand-up comic for over two decades and has performed in every province in the country. He opened Train Wreck Comedy in Kelowna in 2010 and watched the industry evolve. 

“You used to have to grind in theatres for years, I’m talking 10 years before you’d even start headlining a show let alone think about selling out theatres and now if you can get enough followers on Instagram, you can sell out an 800 seat theatre," he said. 

When he moved to Kelowna in 2006, Balsdon worked with Okanagan-based comedy legend Herb Dixon who would sell out theatres advertising on the radio. Facebook appeared shortly after that opening an avenue for cheaper and easier ways to advertise.

As a promoter for the comedy scene in the Okanagan, Balsdon gives out information to the public ahead of the performances describing who the comic is, their credits, a bit about their style and often a video clip, so consumers can research a comedian before committing to a ticket.

For this reason, he said the no refund policy on tickets is stronger than before.

“People are able to find the comics of their choice, so if you’re an LGTBQ member you can find comedians that play to that angle, or if you want a female comic you can search out females that inspire you and find your niche.

“It’s a lot easier now. You used to go to a comedy club and were sort of forced to watch whoever was there that weekend.”

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There are not so savoury parts of the internet’s influence in the comedy industry.

Last month, American comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who is known for his roast comedy and the live comedy podcast Kill Tony, performed at a Donald Trump rally where he made racist jokes including one comparing Puerto Rico to an island of floating garbage.

“It’s a great example of not necessarily being a funny line but he didn’t do it for that, he did it so we’d all talk about it, he did it for internet views," Balsdon said.

“Half the people who saw that were going to be outraged and the other half are going to like him, buy tickets to his next show and keep talking about him on the internet. That’s just a new way of doing business in this industry and I don’t think for a second it wasn’t intentional.”

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One trend that hasn’t changed is the code of conduct comedians follow.

Comedians have the luxury of saying things on stage that can’t be said in regular life and pushing the boundaries of what is appropriate is part of comedy, but there is a code of conduct for comedians that hasn’t changed over the years.

“I think the goal at the end of the day should still always be to make it funny, that’s your job, that’s what you’re there to do,” Balsdon said. “If you can’t make it funny, don’t talk about politics just for the sake of sharing your opinion like, that’s not what comedy is.

“You don’t have free reign to go out there and make fun of cultures or political views or be sexist unless you’re being funny about it. If you’re doing it for other reasons maybe comedy isn’t for you.”

Balsdon said the comedy industry in the Okanagan is currently thriving and Train Wreck Comedy has a lineup of famous comedians performing in the Okanagan this month including the host of CBC radio’s The Debaters, Steve Patterson.

A comedian from Prince George, Alex Mackenzie has been doing shows in Kamloops for almost a decade. He is currently on his Hungry for Laughs tour and performed in Kelowna and Vernon last week.

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This month Mackenzie's tour is stopping at the tournament capital on his for the third year in a row.

He engages with his fans on social media as he tours, posting clips of his performances and details on upcoming stops and it's helping to grow his audiences.

“Certain comics have been using social media for a long time,” he said. “It started with YouTube but it accelerated over COVID when TikTok started to explode. You had to start putting clips out, putting jokes online and get a following."

He said much like the Okanagan, the comedy scene in Kamloops is also thriving and continuing to grow.

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“Next to Prince George, Kamloops is my biggest supporter,” he said. “People show up in large numbers every time I’m there. It’s the only show this year where we added a second show because our first sold out. We’ve sold more tickets than last year, sales are increasing, Kamloops is awesome.”

Stand-up comedy started in the United States when comic lecturers toured the country in the 1800s, and then became a staple of vaudeville entertainment in the early 1900s, according to Britannica. 

The acts were commonly performed by teams, but in time solo comedic performers like Bob Hope emerged to create the classic stand-up style that was popular entertainment into the era of television.

In the 1950s, old gag jokes were replaced with satirical sketches on politics and popular culture. New comedians created improve-style bits that poked fun at the conformist era, and by the 1970s some comedians, like George Carlin and Richard Pryor, were delivering more free-form, hard-edged material.

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Comedy clubs started opening and the observational style of comedy emerged with comedians like Jerry Seinfeld creating humour out of everyday life.

Television shows including The Tonight Show helped boost the industry and support more experimentation with comedic material, including stand-up parody.

In the 1980s, the industry boomed in part because of a growing number of comedy clubs and the arrival of cable television.

Balsdon said today there is a wide range of stand-up comedy styles to choose from including one liners, observational comedy, political satire and dirty jokes. 

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