Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
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Guilt-free punchlines
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The biggest news in the comedy world right now is the Riyadh Comedy Festival, an attempt by the Saudi royal family to rebrand the country as a cultural destination while whitewashing its history of human-right abuses and straight-up journalist murder and dismemberment.
The list of comedians who have traded their morals for a massive paycheque is filled with names both predictable and disappointing, with a good number of them taking to social media and podcasts to blather on about how “free” they were to talk about anything (other than, you know, the very specific things they were in no uncertain terms contractually forbidden to talk about) and how refreshing it was to learn that authoritarian petrostates also have KFC and malls.
What’s particularly galling is the number of participating comics for whom the paycheque — rumoured to be between US$375,000 and $1 million, depending on the performer — would merely be a blip in their already staggering wealth.
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But some of the names are less well-known — guys (and it’s 95 per cent guys, for obvious reasons) who would play a small soft-seat venue here, not the arena.
We’ve written before about the strange new forces driving standup comedy these days, with comedians who don’t have so much as a website, let alone a Netflix special, selling out two nights at the casino based only on crowdwork they post on TikTok.
What makes some comics pop on Reels and others languish in obscurity remains a mystery to me, but I do hope the fact that he hasn’t cracked a million followers yet won’t keep people from going to see Gary Gulman when he plays the Park on Oct. 16.
The Boston-born standup is man after my own heart. He’s a lover of words — many of his jokes work largely because of the relish he takes in finding le mot juste — but he also isn’t afraid to go deeper. His special on Crave, The Great Depresh, delves into his severe depression, with standup portions interspersed with footage of his mother, his girlfriend and his offstage life.
Not only has he penned some material that is endlessly re-listenable — watch his bit on abbreviating the 50 states here — but I can’t imagine him twisting himself into relativistic knots to justify performing for a brutal regime.
The struggle to separate the artist from the art is an ongoing one, and at this particular time, I will take the laughs wherever I can get them. But I’d be lying if I said it won’t feel extra nice to not have a sheen of guilt accompany the punchlines.
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Jill Wilson
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