What's So Funny?

Graham Chittenden takes time from his only day off on the Just For Laughs Comedy Tour to be with us. The Brantford, Ontario, native drops some analogies and whines about his hometown, interviewing Sarah Silverman, and not writing himself a recurring role on Mr. Dee.

Ewan Currie returns. The rocker was in town for one day, with a concert that night, but still made time for us. He tells us the comedy origins of The Sheepdogs' latest album, Future Nostalgia. He also talks about his musical theatre career in high school, hobnobbing with the country's mayors, his ideas for podcasts, his love/hate relationship with journalists, and getting photographed with the most hated man in Canada. Rock on!

Melanie Rose has been performing standup comedy for nine years, but we let her on the show anyway under the 10-year rule providing she avoids eye contact. In this episode, Rose talks about homelessness, mental health, bank robbers, farm living, the big city, and red theatres, among other things.

Dylan Rhymer returns to What's So Funny? after being MIA for a couple years. Never short on opinion or stories, he gets right to it in this episode. We learn about the origin of his now-gone mutton chops. He spills his guts on the breakup of his marriage and a UK tour from hell. He gives us the low-down on performing comedy with his dingly-dangly bits in full view. And there's even a bit of politics thrown in for good measure since this was recorded the day before the federal general election.

Robyn Edwards finally gets a shot on What's So Funny? Her OutTV costars on Morgan Brayton and Other People have all had their turn. Could it be we saved the best for last? You be the judge. We talk about her other TV role as an FBI agent on a big, American show. We talk about her ultra-religious upbringing. We talk about her coming out. And we talk about the complaints she gets from customers she has served. We have a grand old time, that's for sure. This episode brought to you by Frozen Pizza.

Mark Friebe and Sheila Sharma last visited us a loooong nine years ago. They drove in from the Giggle Dam out in Port Coquitlam to tell us about the fire that nearly destroyed them, the challenges of doing politically incorrect sketches, and Sheila sings all 66 books of the Bible in 43 seconds. Not bad for an atheist!

Andy Cañete speaks real good English for a South American. We talk about how that's possible and what it's like to live under the thumb of a dictator, even one whose name sounds like a nice glass of wine or a wooden puppet boy. He also tells a good story about giving the silent treatment to Jennifer Beals and talks about his best friend, Senor Fantastico.

Lauren McGibbon isn't the son of a tree-dwelling monkey but she does tell us about her family's violent history. The improviser also tells us about her mad research skillz when it comes to acting in scenes, her brief standup career, her brief flight attendant career, and mom's brief career as a dancer on TV variety shows in the '70s.

Ian Boothby and David Dedrick are busy guys. Not only do they do what they do when not podcasting, they also co-host three (count 'em!) podcasts. Okay, one of them is finished now but lives on in the ether. The mothership is Sneaky Dragon, the catch-all free-ranging and fun conversation. Then there's Compleatly Beatles, which they dissect every Beatles album and song. And also Totally Tintin, about, you guessed it, that charming Belgian comic book. We talk about all of the above and more.

Janice Bannister makes her second appearance on What's So Funny? – both without regular host Guy MacPherson. She must be getting a complex! This time she talks to Colleen Brow about her many-faceted career, from writing to producing to teaching to speaking to performing.