rachid badouri

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July is here with all its humidity. It was disgusting outside yesterday, but that was the only thing I could complain about, really. In fact, the whole of Montreal should be squealing with glee right now because the world’s funniest festival is back in town!

Of course, I’m referring to the one and only Just For Laughs. In fact, JFL may be one of the only reasons why I’ve decided to stay in this city after school. (I may be slightly exaggerating because of all the free shows I get to see and review; but hey, bloody constructions everywhere, sheesh…)

JFL is celebrating its 34th birthday this year and as always, the schedule is jam-packed with hilarious comedians from all over the place. I’m excited to see such great comedians like Jimmy Carr, Cameron Esposito, Michelle Wolf, Aparna Nancherla… The list goes on.

But I’m particularly stoked about the Midnight Surprise, because no one knows who is gonna show up. Big-timers often go to these events before their big show to test out their material – and I wouldn’t mind accidentally bumping into David Cross, you know?

But today’s focus is The Ethnic Show; a spectacle that has a very interesting concept. The comedians who do their sets at this show are all “ethnic” – notwithstanding the fact that the word does not really mean what we expect it to mean.

The line-up is basically the set up for a joke: A Greek guy, an Italian guy, a Moroccan dude, a Jewish woman, a Lebanese guy, a Puerto Rican woman, and a Nigerian guy walk into a bar… I mean, the result is hilarious. And the comics seem to think so as well.

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Jessica Kirson doing the Jewish Grandmother face. Photo by Cem Ertekin.

Before the show I talked with Jessica Kirson, who told me that she was looking forward to performing. Thursday’s show wasn’t the first show of the festival, so Jessica was already pumped to be doing the show.

“It feels good to be on the show,” Jessica said. “I’m the Jew on the show, so I’m very proud of my heritage and everything. I love talking about it, it’s great!” Indeed, Jessica’s set had a lot of stories about old Jewish women, who apparently all have the same facial expressions and all sound like Fran Drescher. But you probably already knew about that stereotype, right?

My favourite part about her set, though, was her talking to herself. Apparently it’s a gimmick that she does. At random points during the show, she turns her back to the audience and “comforts” herself by saying weird things about oatmeal. It’s bizarre and great.

Oh by the way, before I forget, she wanted me to write that “Yannis Pappas is an asshole.” Yannis, the “token Greek” of the show echoed her sentiment (in case it’s not obvious, this was a joke).

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Yannis Pappas. Photo by Cem Ertekin.

Speaking of Yannis, he started off his set by saying that he has been to Laval and is pretty sure that it’s a Greek island. Everyone else laughed at that; but, to be honest, I’ve never been to Laval (because I never really needed to) so I didn’t get the joke. I laughed anyway, because everyone else was also laughing, and I really did not want to stand out.

To my chagrin, Yannis did not have any jokes about Turkish people. I suppose the entire Greeks vs. Turks trope doesn’t really exist in North America, so that’s understandable. Regardless, I managed to get him to admit that “Yoghurt was probably not a Greek invention.”

However, he also told me before the show, “I’ll give you guys yoghurt, if you guys give us baklava.” I’ll let him get away with that because he was a good sport and a funny guy on stage.

You know who’s really cool though? Rachid Badouri. That guy had its first major anglophone show at JFL last year. He was also one of the comedians on the Ethnic Show last year.

This year, they got him to host the Ethnic Show and he was psyched. “They finally trusted me,” he told the audience – amazed. He repeated the same material from last year; but he’s still funny. It’s all in the delivery, I guess.

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Nemr. Photo by Cem Ertekin.

In addition to Rachid, Yannis, and Jessica, the Ethnic Show also features Godfrey, Gina Brillon, Nemr, and Dom Irrera. Now, all of these people are absolutely amazing. Godfrey killed it with a joke about how he wished humans would have mating calls and acting out a very riveting mating ritual that takes place at a dance club. Nemr explained to us that, in Lebanon (and in Turkey, I might add), people light a matchstick to check for gas leakages.

Gina talked about her up-bringing in Bronx and how the guys there would try to hook up with anything, including a literal broom with boob. Dom was great as well, portraying the stereotypical Italian guy perfectly. I also didn’t know this, but apparently, he was Ernie Potts in the Hey Arnold! TV series.

Bottom line is, go see the Ethnic Show. It’s fun, it’s different. Most of the time comedians put some background jokes into their sets, but the Ethnic Show allows them to craft an entire set out of their identities. I could talk about it for hours upon hours, but the best way to understand it is to see it.

You can see the Ethnic Show between July 13-28 at Club Soda and Metropolis. For more information, check out hahaha.com. In addition, Yannis Pappas, Jessica Kirson, and Gina Brillon have their own shows as well. So be sure to check them out.

Gina Brillon appears on the featured image, taken by Cem Ertekin. 

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It all started with a diarrhea joke.

After hearing the all too familiar JFL warning telling the audience to put their phones on silent-mode and berating people who might not have seen a show in the past ten years, we were expecting Rachid Badouri to jump on the stage and immediately start pulling faces and telling stories about his father embarrassing him.

Instead, we heard his voice over the speakers as he declared to the audience that he would be replaced by his good friend Ronnie Chieng (with whom they’ve played the Ethnic Show), because he was preoccupied with diarrhea. That got quite a bit of laughs.

I saw Chieng earlier at the Ethnic Show and he was pretty funny there. Luckily, he used a completely different set – except for the bit where he tells the audience that anyone at anytime could convince him that he left his iron on. Nowadays, he apparently carries his iron around with him.

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See what I mean by pulling faces? Photo by Matthew Cope

One of his jokes got me thinking though. Apparently, he was going through his old photos from the 90s one day, and realized that he looked shit. He was surprised, “I was there in the 90s, and I didn’t think I looked shit!” His conclusion is that, we might not know it now, but right now all of us look completely shit, with our skinny jeans and whatnot.

After Chieng, however, Rachid “Rat-shit” Badouri took the stage with all his shiny glory. The Francosphere probably knows who he is, but as far as the Anglosphere is concerned, Badouri has existed only for the past six months. He warned us: “My English is not good, but do not forget, your French sucks.”

A French Canadian, born to Moroccan parents, and hailing from Laval; Badouri has a lot to say – mostly about his father. Growing up in Quebec as an Arab is difficult he says, and sadly, his father did not make his life any easier for him.

For instance, his father had a tendency to use words whose meanings he didn’t really know. So, often he would tell Badouri, “Shut up your face, you cameltoe.”

At the middle of his routine, he stopped for a second. Turns out, he forgot what his next line was supposed to be, and ran off the stage to go get his cheatsheet. He did it so candidly, however, that the audience could do nothing but to applaud.

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A happy Rachid Badouri in his natural environment. Photo by Matthew Cope.

Badouri’s strong suit is his face. Not quite on the same level as Jim Carrey, but boy can he twist and contort his face and eyes. His demented chicken impression is pretty remarkable.

His last joke was about the customs form that you need to fill as you enter Canada. Unlike other countries, Canada asks you whether or not you have ever been to a farm recently. As a former flight attendant, Badouri has always wondered what would happen to someone who said “yes” to that question. So one day, he decides to say yes. The officer at the customs looks at him and says “Come with me.” They take him to an abandoned runway, with a tree growing in the middle.

And then the officer says: “You see that tractor over there? It’s been there for 20 years, could you please move it?”

After that joke, and after the entire performance, Badouri got a standing ovation; and you could tell that he was so darn happy with it. It was his first time doing an hour-long set in English, he fills up every single seat at L’Astral, and gets a standing ovation. Honestly, he did deserve it.

Rachid Badouri was part of the Ethnic Show and did his hour-long English set on July 23 at L’Astral. While he has no more shows at Just for Laughs, he’s going to be on tour with his French set in the upcoming months. Check out his website for more information.

Photos are from Badouri’s performance at The Ethnic Show, courtesy of Matthew Cope and Just for Laughs.

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Just for Laugh’s Ethnic Show markets itself as “the most culturally diverse show of the Festival.” And yeah, that’s pretty much true. The seven comics I watched last night at Club Soda came from a variety of different ‘ethnic’ backgrounds and their sets made sure everyone got a good laugh.

Entering Club Soda with my friend, the one question that I had in mind was “What the hell does ethnic mean anyway?” If you have a look at the line-up, you’ll see that none of the comics are what you would call Anglo-Saxon.

Ethnic, in this sense, does not necessarily have to do with skin color. It’s these people’s experiences as belonging to a minority group in North America that has made them fit the label ‘ethnic.’ And they seemed to be okay with it.

At the very beginning of the show, the host Alonzo Bodden reminded the audience that they would be offending everyone equally. Now, in this day and age, it could be really difficult for comics to talk about sensitive issues like race and ethnicity. To be honest, I’d like to think that it should be. I’m not saying that we should be censoring what people can say; but a comic making jokes about racial or ethnic topics should be self-aware.

After all, when people think about ethnic comedy, what pops into their heads are stereotypes. But there is so much more to the “ethnic” experience than old, cliche stereotypes. If such jokes based on stereotypes haven’t gone stale yet, it’s about time that they did.

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Rachid Badouri

Luckily, you’ll find very little of that in the Ethnic Show and that’s what I really liked about it. Essentially, these comics are telling their own stories about snippets from their own lives. They just happen to be from a certain ethnicity and that happens to colour these stories.

For instance, Rachid Badouri has a bit about parent-teacher meetings. At its core, his story is about a little boy whose father does funny things without even knowing. But because his father is Moroccan, the story takes on a different aspect. Still, the joke isn’t funny because Badouri is doing accent jokes, it’s funny because of how ridiculous the situation is – AND his facial expressions.

I especially loved Bodden’s performance as the host. He really knew how to get the audience excited and involved. In fact, I daresay some of his jokes got more laughs than some of the other acts.

I’d also urge you to pay special attention to Frank Spadone and Gina Yashere. For some reason I could really empathize with Spadone’s jokes about his family. As for Yashere, I’m simply a sucker for the kind of sarcastic Londoner humour she delivers so well.

Ronnie Chieng’s routine was also pretty funny. He told a story based on his observations at the airport line and delivered it very loudly. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t laughing because he was just screaming, but because he was screaming at an imaginary Asian person at an imaginary airpot for eating BBQ pork at the passport line. The way he set up the story made it impossible not to laugh.

I found Dan Naturman’s act a bit drier than the others. I suppose I find the single-forty-year-old-hitting-on-women routine is getting a bit old. Don’t get me wrong, though – I still laughed at Naturman.

All these comics are hilarious in their own way and not just because they do ethnic comedy. I get the feeling that they have bits in their routines about ethnicity, mostly because the name of the show is the Ethnic Show.

In my opinion, the Ethnic Show is all about great comics telling their own stories, but with us putting the label ‘ethnic’ on it.

In between the acts, Bodden kept asking audiences what they were. I think the purpose of that was to push the audience outside of their North American mind-frame. I mean, what is a Canadian, anyway? Most Canadians come from one “old country” or another.

Maybe I’m over-analyzing a great comedy show, but I think the concept of race and ethnicity deserves being over-analyzed. The show got me thinking and maybe it will do the same for you. But even if you’re in it just for laughs (get it?) I promise that you’ll have a fantastic time. Definitely check the Ethnic Show out.

The Ethnic Show is running between July 8 and July 19, twice every night at Club Soda. Check out the Just for Laughs website for more information.