Jeremy Piven, Bubbles added to comedy festival

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Divide and conquer is Park Ranger Donovan Workun’s advice for intrepid audience members looking to conquer the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival at Assiniboine Park this summer.

“Come early, plan your route and send one-third of your group to save spots for chairs, one-third for liquor and one-third for food,” he says.

“Split up, conquer and regroup.”

Workun isn’t really a parkie, he just plays one on stage as host of the travelling Canadian outdoor comedy festival, which returns to Winnipeg for a second year from July 18 to 20.

Organizers have announced the addition of an afternoon show on Sunday, July 20, featuring a contrasting lineup of Jeremy Piven (Entourage) and the Trailer Park Boys, with musical stylings from Bubbles and the Shitrockers (the character’s fictional band and the subject of the 2024 movie, Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties).

Previously announced headliners include Bert Kreischer, Whitney Cummings and Ms. Pat on July 18; John Mulaney and Jim Gaffigan on July 19; and Theo Von, Dusty Slay and Laura Peek on July 20.

Great Outdoors launched in Edmonton in 2021 and has since expanded to Winnipeg, Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver and Spokane, Wash.

Workun — a veteran Alberta-based improviser who has appeared at Just For Laughs and on Whose Line Is It Anyway? — has performed at the festival since its inception, becoming the event’s khaki-clad ambassador in recent years.

He keeps other seasonal gigs as the lederhosen-clad host of Edmonton’s Oktoberfest and as Santa Claus at the Banff Springs Hotel.

“My secret to a career is to have a good costume and a positive attitude,” he says.

As a comedic park ranger, Workun warms up the crowd with his sidekick Rudy, a rude raccoon puppet.

“I’m his support human, let’s get that straight,” he says. “(We) go through the audience and do like a Hinterland Who’s Who, and Rudy says stuff that I have to apologize for.”

While Workun won’t be at Assiniboine Park this year due to a scheduling overlap, he enjoyed the opportunity to ring in the city’s inaugural festival in 2024.

“They were like, ‘Do you want to go to Halifax or do you want to go to Winnipeg?’ And in a heartbeat I said Winnipeg. Everything is scaled perfectly — your hockey arena is the right size and you’re not trying to be a bigger city. Winnipeg is this perfect little gem,” he says.

More than 20,000 people attended over three days of the first local Great Outdoors festival, staged in front of the Lyric Theatre.

General admission, VIP tickets and weekend passes for the 2025 edition are available at greatoutdoorscomedyfestival.com.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com