Just For Laughs Roadshow

I went with a friend to see the Just For Laughs roadshow tonight. These shows have four acts: an opener/emcee plus three other comics. Of the four I usually like two of them and dislike the other two because their jokes don't speak to me. Tonight, I laughed and laughed at all four of the comics. My belly is sore from all that laughing!

Each performer had a different style. The opener/emcee was Canadian Tim Nutt (unbelievably, the JFL site has his name spelled incorrectly - hmph!!) and he was very, very funny. He has a down-to-earth style of telling stories (which happen to be funny - my favourite type of joke) which really appeals to me. It's clear that he's just a regular guy; he didn't dress up in a suit or anything but just wore jeans and a sweatshirt. I really liked his act and would love to see him do an entire show himself. He was just that funny.

The second comedian, Orny Adams, had a very energetic, dramatic, fast-talking style. I didn't like it at first but I warmed up to it at the end because some of his stories were funny. While I liked all four performers, this one was my least favourite just because it took me so long to warm up to him.

Ryan Hamilton, the third comedian, was hilarious. His style was understated and a bit deprecating. He mostly talked about his romantic life - which normally I don't like, but his delivery made it funny - and what it would be like to have a kid's views and reactions as an adult. He was able to convey his humour not just through his voice but the way he positioned himself. He was very gifted at standing in just the right way so that he didn't even really need to speak; the audience could see the funny just in the turn of his head and position of his hands and feet. If I could see him perform an entire show by himself, I'd definitely be there.

Last up was Ralph Harris who is apparently sort of famous. I didn't love his humour as much as Ryan Hamilton's, maybe because the last guy had been so funny. Most of his humour focused on his relationship with his girlfriend and how he ended up somewhat emasculated as a result. Again, this isn't my favourite humour genre because I don't find that much of it is all that true or realistic but this guy was able to convey how it was true for him, which made it sort of funny. I didn't laugh as hard at his stories as I had earlier but I still laughed.

This show definitely made up for the last one and both my friend and I had a great time. I wish Ian had been able to come with me tonight because this was one of the funniest shows I've seen in the comedy series. It was the last night of curling, though, and he didn't want to miss that. I hope next year's comedy shows are this funny.