What's So Funny?

Ari Matti comes to us all the way from Tallinn, Estonia. Well, he was in town anyway. He's in Vancouver working on his English standup skills. Ari tells us all about the burgeoning standup scene in Estonia, his first time on stage there (where he went over an hour), failing school in Poland, and his love of pork, cabbage and potatoes.

Brent Butt is back after a six year absence. The Canadian superstar talks about apples in Saskatchewan, his experience as a bad wedding singer, practicing standup with a screwdriver, his love of language, the etymology of 'gangbusters' and 'trivia', and falling asleep with David Cassidy posters on his wall.

Barry Greenfeld has been doing comedy since Sam Tonning was one year old. Yet he remembers virtually none of his career, except the broad strokes. Play a drinking game this episode: Every time Barry forgets something, take a sip. By the end of the episode, you'll be as drunk as he was... Nah, he wasn't drunk. That's the beauty of Barry. He just seems that way all the time.

Travis Bernhardt is a magician and improviser, in that order. He started practicing magic the year this show went on the air, back in 2004. And look at him now! In this episode, he talks about starting out on the street, how magic helped with his battle with depression, and why he's a darling of the Fringe circuit.

Ivan Decker is back less than a year after his last appearance with us. This marks appearance number six for the up-and-coming standup superstar. The Jerry Seinfeld of Canada is how we're now describing him. In this extendo episode, Decker talks dinosaurs (natch), his soon-to-be-released Netflix special, opening for celebrity comics, comedy criticism, getting into comedy clubs in Los Angeles, how to get in and out of a set on stage, and more!

Shawn Farquhar is a tricky guy. That's his job! The world-renown magician pays us a second visit in between stops around the world. Actually, he'll be home in the Greater Vancouver area for a few months, thanks to two different upcoming shows. We talk about Jethro Bodine, optimism in the face of a car in his living room, and being shown a card trick by a homeless man moments before recording this episode. We also tell magician jokes!

Chris Griffin, the human being not the cartoon character, makes his What's So Funny? debut. The Calgary-born, Vancouver-residing standup comic talks about dancing topless, getting tags from Tom Papa, his online presence or lack thereof, and getting in trouble in high school.

Wes Barker magically appears for the third time on the program. Our sound is a little wonky but you'll get over it. Wes talks about doing magic without an assistant, explains the beauty of making excuses, performs both a nasty prank and a real trick, and talks about hell gigs.

Colleen Brow returns to talk about her new one-woman show and we give her a pep talk. She fills us in on her goings-on since she last was with us and we talk about her days doing standup comedy and why she eventually had her fill of performing it. Bonus: she explains to us what a uterus is!

Steve Allen and Laura Accili run the longest-running weekly comedy show in Vancouver. As of air time, 11 years and six months at the Kino Café. Guest host Sam Tonning talks to the two about memorable shows over the years, they play some clips, and talk comedy. We start the show with a snippet of "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" by the more famous Steve Allen, but our Steve Allen is still alive.