What's So Funny?

Mayce Galoni remembered his date with What's So Funny? this time around. Maybe he just wanted to wait so he was the first guest of 2018. The young standup talks about his even younger self starting out as a barroom magician, relates some words of wisdom he was told by his comedy hero Doug Stanhope, and I tell him about sleeping in a convent in his hometown of Hamilton.

Relive 2017 with part two of our highlights from last year. Clips from our conversations with Chuck Byrn, Barry Crimmins, John Cullen, Ivan Decker, Harry Doupe, Shawn Farquhar, Diana Frances, Lori Gibbs, Ryan Gunther, James Kennedy, Colin Lamb, Darryl Lenox, Gavin Matts, Joel Plaskett, Brad Upton, Ron Vaudry, and Garry Yuill.

Clips from guests we had in 2017: Harris Anderson, Paul Anthony, Wes Barker, David Beckingham, Camilo the Magician, Andy Cañete, Randy Charach, Garrett Clark, Charlie Demers, Fred Ewanuick, Katharine Ferns, Shirley Gnome, Kevvy, Leland Klassen, Johnny Perrotta, Jon Reep, Christina Sicoli, Alex Sparling, and Oh Susanna.

Jon Reep's second visit to Vancouver resulted in his second appearance on What's So Funny? Coincidence? Yes. He's not really a hick, and not really from Hickory, but both claims are close enough to truth that he goes with it. He tells us about his terrible high school football team in North Carolina, his entry into standup, and how he got to play Opie in Mayberry.

Harry Doupe makes his annual year-end visit, this time on Christmas Eve! After opening presents, we talk about the year in comedy, from the deaths to the return of comedy to the Juno Awards to Netflix specials to the end of the Rick Mercer Report. And more!

Ivan Decker makes his triumphant return to the show three weeks after doing Conan, his first ever late night American talk show. Ivan takes us through the stages it took to get there, how he felt in the process, and reveals what O'Brien said to him immediately after. We play the set, too. All this plus the usual tangents.

Darryl Lenox and Garry Yuill have big plans for comedy, not only in this country but everywhere. It starts here, though, with their hoped-for acquisition of the Yuk Yuk's chain. The American standup veteran (Lenox) and Vancouver Yuk's franchise holder (Yuill) have teamed together to bring this pipe-dream into reality. It hasn't happened yet, but they explain what their plan is and how you can get involved. Plus we play a clip from Lenox's set on Conan a few years ago and Yuill relates what a top-notch babysitter I was.

Charlie Demers was last with us in 2010. Now he's authored even more books, released a brand new comedy album ('Fatherland' on 604 Records), and is the voice of Walter the Slug on Beat Bugs on Netflix. We talk about all of the above, plus anxiety, Humphrey Bogart, Herr Jordan, and steam & sauna rooms.

Gavin Matts was the big winner in the 2017 SiriusXM Top Comic competition. In this episode, we teach the youngster about Raymond Burr and Yvonne De Carlo, he explains how he got the nickname 'Subway,' he confesses his love of One Tree Hill and his dream of dying on Riverdale, he explains the therapeutic benefits of jigsaw puzzles, and puzzles over the ephemeral nature of standup. On top of all this, we play two tracks from his new album 'Premature' on 604 Records.

Paul Anthony returns! Every couple of years, it seems, Paul is our guest. In this episode, we start off by discussing the latest news, then we gossiped about Hugh Phukovsky and his urine gun, talked about the struggles of Talent Time, and re-enacted a Facebook Messenger conversation we had last year. And we ended things with a resurrected Funny or Not Funny? segment.