It’s a dream of Garret DeLaurier’s to see the comedy community in Moose Jaw flourish, and he’s determined to do it one show at a time if that’s what it takes.
It’s why DeLaurier formed Moose Jam Comedy, and why he started booking comedy shows here in the city about a year ago.
He feels there is a gap here in Moose Jaw, especially compared to what's going on in other cities in the province. There are comics and fans of comedy in Moose Jaw, but it can be pricey and inconvenient to travel for shows and open mic nights.
“There's a community in Saskatoon that has open mics and they have shows. . . and in Regina there's a lot of improv and like pass-the-hat type of comedy,” said DeLaurier. "And I just wanted to have that kind of localized here in Moose Jaw too."
DeLaurier has already brought three shows to smaller venues in Moose Jaw, featuring comedians like Eric Johnston and Moose Jaw-born Kanin Kuntz. The turnout so far has been good, and DeLaurier is sure that with more thorough advertising, he’ll see more faces.
Now, he’s branching out for a bigger crowd — the Mae Wilson Theatre — and is bringing back a familiar face, Tim Nutt, who performed at Mitsu Sweet Cafe in June.
Joining Nutt will be comedian He Fangzhou, who uses his experience of Chinese and Canadian culture to deliver hilariously deadpan observations on both, and DeLaurier himself — who’s got a whole set of jokes that Moose Javians will appreciate.
“I am writing a lot of content that has a lot of Moose Jaw jokes, a lot of insider stuff, jokes where if I were in Calgary I wouldn't be going with that material,” revealed DeLaurier.
The show at the Mae Wilson will be a clean show, meaning there won’t be a slew of profanity or explicit content, although that doesn’t always mean there won’t be provocative topics on the table.
DeLaurier hopes that a bigger show such as this one will light the spark for Moose Jaw, and help him to build a bigger comedy scene here.
“I would like to build something where I can have larger comedians come, people like Jim Gaffigan or Brian Regan or Jeff Foxworthy,” said DeLaurier. “And as we've progressed, we've gotten more and more people coming out, so it's definitely been a slow build.”
He’s even ankle-deep in the process of organizing a weekly open mic series here in the city, ideally with enough support to plan two nights, one for an older audience and one that can accommodate comics of all ages.
“I’d like to be able to provide an opportunity for people in Saskatchewan that are interested in this type of stuff, because there's a lot of stuff in Moose Jaw, and in Saskatchewan, to do with music or theater, but there's not too much with comedy,” said DeLaurier.
DeLaurier believes that Moose Jaw’s funny bone is already well developed, and all that’s left is to put the city on the map as a comedy central worth noticing.
“I'd just like to put Saskatchewan on the map for comedians to book around,” said DeLaurier. “It’s still very new to Moose Jaw, so I hope that we can get some butts in the seats and keep this thing going a little bit longer.”
He welcomes any interest and encourages any aspiring Moose Jaw comedians to keep an eye out for upcoming open mic nights from Moose Jam Comedy and to grab some tickets for the upcoming show at the Mae Wilson on Oct. 25.
Tickets are available either on the Cultural Centre’s website, or through the Box officer in person or at 1 (306) 693-4700.
