Nikki Payne found her square hole in standup

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This article was published 01/04/2010 (5998 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ask Nikki Payne to describe her comedy style, and you’ll get a pretty direct and simple answer:

"I just hit the stage, and I do what I do," she says. "I aim for ridiculous and see how much people will let me get away with."

Well, all right, then. But surely there’s got to be more to it than that — after all, this product of a trailer-park upbringing in Nova Scotia (though not, as small-scale legend has it, the one that was home to Trailer Park Boys during its first season) has been named Canada’s top female standup three times and earned two Gemini Award nominations for her TV specials.

A fearless presence onstage, Payne often ventures into territory that might make some seasoned comics blush, combining a rapid-fire verbal frankness with a wild, wacky physicality to create an onstage persona that is all her own.

"I’m happy; I don’t want to half-ass it," she says of her hyper-energetic style. "I want to be in the moment, and I want to give people as much show as I’m capable of giving them."

Oh, and then there’s the lisp.

Payne also possesses a pronounced speech affectation that cannot be ignored; she has, shrewdly, figured out a way to use her lisp to comic advantage.

"Comedy is about being honest, and talking about what’s actually going on," she says. "It would be weird for me to stand onstage and not once acknowledge that I have a speech impediment.

"So yeah, it had to be addressed. And the practical side of acknowledging it is that comedy is a pretty competitive business, and it’s sometimes not good enough to just be funny. You also have to stand out, and this thing that a lot of people, at first glance, might think is a liability has actually turned out to be an asset."

During her first visit to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Payne will be part of The Edumacation Show (7:15 p.m., Wednesday, Pantages Playhouse Theatre), delivering a set that focuses on — not surprisingly — what it’s like to be the target of school bullies.

"Yes, I was a bit of a square peg," she says with a laugh. "And I’m still a square peg. So part of what I’m going to be talking about is the cyber-bullying that goes on. You go on Facebook, and you’ll find all kinds of stuff. Especially if you’re a public figure — there are going to be people who like you, and then there are going to be people who, out of nowhere, decide they’re going to make a "We Hate Nikki Payne" Facebook page… I’m sure it’s a bunch of 14-year-old girls who’ve seen me on MuchMusic and didn’t like what I said about their favourite musician, so they’re going to make damned sure I get called out for it…

"So I joined it. I’m a member. A while back, I suggested we get T-shirts."

In addition to appearing on CTV’s Comedy Now! and MuchMusic’s Video On Trial, Payne also created a unique one-woman show called My Big Fat Donated Kidney, which was inspired by her real-life experience donating said organ to her ailing father.

"First off, it wasn’t even a decision — my dad needed a kidney, I had one; decision made," she recalls. "It’s not like on ER, where it takes an hour; it’s a much slower process — they have you pee in every kind of cup imaginable, and they poke and prod you a lot before they actually allow you to give one (kidney) away.

"And that’s what the show’s about — it’s two human beings going through this amazing process. I’m not going to say it wasn’t traumatic, but I also can’t say that it wasn’t funny at times. It’s me and my family, and we are incredibly dysfunctional….There’s nothing that we do that doesn’t have this crazy, Jerry Springer-level drama to it."

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca