Comedy has been described as the only honest art form.
It’s also lonely work; when you die as a stand-up comedian, you die alone and in the spotlight.
Perhaps it’s why we’re drawn to comedic performances and why, when the lights come up and the show is over, we leave the theatre smiling, with our souls just a little bit lighter for having seen someone take up the mike and risk a little of their own souls, just to make us laugh.
Darren Millar, the co-producer of Ratfish Comedy knows all about that risk. For the past seven years he has taken to the stage as part of the only long-term open mike comedy club offering open mike opportunities to new comics in Greater Victoria.
“You have to be a little masochistic to be a comic, for sure,” laughed Millar.
“When you’re up there and you eat it (that’s comedy slang for not generating a laugh- also known as “dying”), it’s horrible, but when it goes well … it’s just amazing. It’s addictive and you need to get back out there and make people laugh again and again.”
Now Millar is bringing the comedy experience to the Peninsula for a night of laughs at the McTavish Academy of Art, 1720 McTavish Road. It’s billed as the Summer Daze Comedy Show and will feature Millar as the MC, introducing a host of talented comics to the stage
Jason Lamb, a regular host at Hecklers Comedy Nights and the host/producer of the popular Punk Show, will appear as will the talented and prolific joke writer, Mikey Dubs.
They will be joined by the ever-acerbic Steve McMath, fresh back from the Tall Tree Music Festival and the unique comedy stylings of Chelsea Lou, who has appeared on CBC’s ‘Laugh Out Loud’.
“We realized that there really wasn’t much opportunity for people on the peninsula to see great comedy in their own neighbourhoods and we were determined to change that,” said Millar adding that, if the event is the success he anticipates it will be, Ratfish will be bringing regular shows out to the region.
“I can see four or five shows a year happening, for sure,” he said.
Tickets are $15 each or $25 for two, and $45 for four and are available at the door at the McTavish Academy of Art or on-line at mctavishacademy.ca/summer-daze-comedy-show .
The show takes place on Friday, August 11 at 7 pm and Millar guarantees a night of laughter.
It’s a hard offer to resist.
