What's So Funny?

Darcy Michael returns to What's So Funny? as a star. Well, he's on a prime time network sitcom in Canada. Close enough. He talks about playing Gordon on CTV's Spun Out, his thoughts on playing to 17,000 people in an arena, and covering his legs in ink.

Denise Jones has come a long way since playing King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar in grade seven. Now she's a Vancouver TheatreSports League vet who can be seen in the upcoming movie Preggoland. She talks about washing away her Kiss makeup with tears, spending 4.5 months improvising on the high seas, and losing her Newfie accent. Thanks to a Chicago improv instructor for putting her in the right frame of mind before doing this show.

Garrett Clark may sound like an Aussie, but he's really one of us. He just lived down there in his formative years. Plus the accent helps him pick up chicks. Clark talks about being a teenager on TV and what it feels like to be cancelled at such a tender age, opening for name comics south of the border, and discusses the safety of flying. We also welcome a new voice to the show: Colleen Brow. She lends a touch of class to the proceedings.

Chris Gordon never can say goodbye, no, no, no, no. This is the episode that won't end, try as it might. Make a drinking game out of it: take a chug each time it's about to end. You'll pass out before it really does. If you manage to stay sober, though, you'll enjoy it as we sit through a band with an over-eager dream machine playing right behind us and get thrown out of the lobby of a Vancouver hotel.

Gerry Swallow returns to the evening zoo. In town working on a movie, the triple threat brainstorms a how-to book on screenwriting, discusses his upcoming novel, and mulls over a standup comeback. It's been 15 years since he sold his first screeplay and said goodbye to the stage, so he's due.

Alicia Tobin is no good with numbers or names, but she's got a way with words, which she uses doing standup comedy and writing a humourous health blog. She opens up about her heartbreak and her jerk of an ex, growing up in Montreal, her dislike of wolf spiders, winning a Macho Man contest, her fear of earthquakes, and love of superstitions.

Wes Barker is a stunt magician, whatever that is. He explains in this episode. Doesn't do any tricks, though, which is fine because magic doesn't really translate over the airwaves. But he talks about the importance of comedy in his act, naked stooges, assistants passing out, breaking records, and couch surfing.

Ryan Lachance has been performing standup for 12 years so it's time we had him on the show. Lachance talks about the challenges of performing with cerebral palsy from a wheelchair, what gave him the nerve to get up on stage that first time (spoiler alert: a woman), getting into it with noisy crowds, and making out with Billy Connolly.

Graeme Duffy is not only one of the top improvisers in Vancouver, he's an actor and, it turns out, a fellow alumnus of Oak Bay high school. We bond over that and Duffy talks about kissing Colin Mochrie on the lips twice, being a bad waiter, Lev Kuleshov, and we see how he stacks up in the list of things improvisers should do besides improvising.

Iliza Shlesinger can't get enough of us. Or maybe it's the other way around. This is her third visit to the program. Run out of topics? Never. The woman's got an opinion on everything. We talked about her dating life, Judaism, hipsterism, and lots more all crammed into one tight super-cute 40-minute episode.