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Alberta acts to get audience in stitches

Neither Donald Trump nor Canada’s cultural differences are off limits for two Alberta comedians looking to get Okotokians in stitches this weekend.
Fort Saskatchewan comedian Sean Lecomber will entertain audiences, along with comedian Lisa Baker, at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Saskatchewan comedian Sean Lecomber will entertain audiences, along with comedian Lisa Baker, at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Neither Donald Trump nor Canada’s cultural differences are off limits for two Alberta comedians looking to get Okotokians in stitches this weekend.

Lisa Baker, of Devon, and Sean Lecomber, of Fort Saskatchewan, are up next for the Rotary Performing Arts Centre’s ongoing Yuk Yuks on Tour shows. The comedians will entertain on Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening the show is Newfoundland born and raised Baker who has a knack for warming up her audience in seconds.

“As a comic in Newfoundland you rely solely on your joke-telling ability and your writing,” she said. “With me as a Newfoundlander living in Alberta a part of that goes out the window. When they realize you’re a Newfy they instantly like you.”

The cultural differences play a large role in Baker’s show – appealing to both westerners and easterners, she said.

“I really spend a lot of time talking about being a Newfy in Alberta,” she said. “The mainlanders, that’s what we call them, love it because they know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Topics Baker covers that many people seem to relate to include her experience as a single parent and working in the trades. Baker was working in the trades when she decided to give stand-up a try.

“I’ve always been funny my whole life,” she said. “My dad would love for me to tell jokes to his friends. They would tell me jokes and they would love for me to repeat them.”

Baker recalls using the drapes in her home’s big picture window as a child to perform for family and friends.

Despite her natural ability, it wasn’t until she was 28 that she pursued it seriously.

“I grew up on an island where it didn’t seem possible,” she said. “There was no comedy clubs, Yuk Yuks on Tour. There was no real venue for it.”

Baker began going to karaoke events in bars to do stand-up, and around that time Yuk Yuks on Tour came to Newfoundland and she was signed on two months later.

Her focus remained on working in the trades until she got laid off and began pursuing comedy full time.

“I said, ‘Just give me as much work as you can find,’” she said. “My career has been on this upward trajectory. I’m not skyrocketing, but every little bit I’m ahead.”

Many hours are spent on the road for Baker, traveling to communities both large and small.

“When I go on gigs I’ve driven 12 hours to do an hour of comedy,” she said. “Half way through that drive I will look at myself and say, ‘This is not what normal people do.’ There’s something about it that keeps me going.”

Lecomber is also hooked. In 2007, he won the Yuk Yuks Great Canadian Laugh Off in Edmonton, Just for Laughs Homeground Competition and was a finalist in the Last Comic Standing Canadian auditions.

Lecomber’s comedy can be heard on CBC Radio’s The Best of So You Think You’re Funny and he’s been featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno’s Pass the Mic segment.

“My show is kind of all over the map,” said Lecomber. “There’s a lot of autobiographical stuff and current events stuff and politics and weird and strange material. I try to keep it a mix of things so there’s a little something for everybody in there.”

Lecomber began performing about 15 years ago – initially with trepidation.

“After I watched a lot of amateur nights, seeing how bad people were gave me confidence,” he said. “I started off with a lot of social commentary, darker material and edgier stuff which worked in the bars. I tried to transfer that material to the clubs and it didn’t work. I thought, let’s try something a little more relatable.”

Some of his material includes his experiences being a husband and father – something his audience can relate to.

“What you learn in comedy is you better have a lot of relatable material or else the road is going to eat you alive,” he said. “If it’s autobiographical it’s original. It’s hard for people to duplicate a five minute long story or something that actually happened to you. I try to make everything based on story.”

One of the hottest topics for Lecomber lately is United States President Donald Trump.

“Pretty much everywhere I go I would say 80 per cent of them would have voted for Trump,” he said. “If you’re doing Trump jokes in Edmonton or Vegreville there tends to be a lot of pushback, which makes it more exciting to do that material. I did a show in Edmonton and there was probably eight people in the audience with Make America Great Again hats.”

Tickets to see Yuk Yuks on Tour cost $22.50 and can be purchased at the Okotoks Art Gallery, by calling 403-938-3204 or at okotoks.ca

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