NEXT’s Comedy is Art Festival 2024 Preview

A star-studded showcase of Canadian comedy talent

Curated by liza paul, Tim Blair (TallBoyz) and Ellie Posadas (Tita Collective), this year’s edition of the Comedy is Art festival at the Theatre Centre is a star-studded showcase of Canadian comedy talent ready to fill that Just-for-Laughs-sized hole in your comedy schedule, headlined by Run the Burbs and Kim’s Convenience star Andrew Phung.

Here are our top picks from the festival’s lineup:

Andrew Phung (Photo Tim Nguyen)

Andrew Phung (Photo Tim Nguyen)

Andrew Phung and Friends: A Night of Improv

Fri., Oct. 25 at 7:30pm

Andrew Phung brings his improv comedy showcase ‘Andrew Phung and Friends’ to the Theatre Centre’s Comedy is Art festival.

The festival’s message—that comedy is worthy of support and funding, like any other form of performance art—is one that resonated personally, Phung says. “Comedy is art. Comedy changed my life. It was a low barrier art form I could access,” he says.

Read Phung’s full conversation about comedy, Run the Burbs and celebrating Canadian comedy talent from our Fall 2024 issue here.

Heat Wave Comedy

Thurs., Oct. 24, 7:30pm

Clif Knight hosts a special, festival edition of his regular stand-up showcase, featuring Bita Joudaki, Danish Anwar, Foad HP, Lou Laurence, and Nathan Hare.

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Bitty-Bat and ‘Gender? I Hardly Know Them’

Fri., Oct. 25, 9:30pm

Bitty-Bat promises “strange and hilarious” physical comedy, from “not quite a vampire, not quite a bat” Emily Jeffers, while ‘Gender? I Hardly Know Them’ is the top-tier queer sketch comedy duo Elena Belyea and Syd Campbell. Check it out immediately after ‘Andrew Phung and Friends’.

Tim Blair presents Diaspora Darlings and Hackett & Langdon

Sat., Oct. 26, 9:30pm

The hilarious Tim Blair (CBC’s TallBoyz) closes out the festival with a stacked sketch showcase: Diaspora Darlings is an all-African comedy group which includes fellow TallBoy Guled Abdi, and Hackett & Langdon is the elite double act of Brandon Hackett and the immeasurably funny Jonathan Langdon (Run the Burbs).

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