Grindstone Comedy Festival running July 6-10 is bigger and better than ever
Featuring more than 50 performers in 23 separate shows, this year's fest is headlined by Tik Tok star Che Durena, This Hour Has 22 Minutes writer Sophie Buddle and oddball polymath Garrett Jamieson.
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Three times the size as last year, the annual Grindstone Comedy Festival is set to hit multiple Old Strathcona stages, running Wednesday through Sunday next week.
Featuring more than 50 performers in 23 separate shows, the third iteration of the fest in four years is headlined by Tik Tok star Che Durena, This Hour Has 22 Minutes writer Sophie Buddle and oddball polymath Garrett Jamieson.
Festival producer Jocelyn Anselmo takes us through the three stand-up comedians up top on the posters.
Going in alphabetical order, we start with Buddle, originally out of Ottawa.
“She’s just so funny and does a lot of really relatable comedy to millennial girls like me,” says 28-year-old Anslemo of the comedian, who won the 2020 Juno for her comedy album A Little Bit of Buddle.
“I also think it’s amazing to have a female headliner,” Anselmo notes of the eternally boy-heavy comedy zeitgeist.
Buddle headlines the Howl & Roar outdoor stage 7 p.m. Friday on an all-female lineup, including Christia Walkinshaw, Erika Ehler and Brittany Lyseng. She’s also in sets 7 p.m. Thursday and 7 p.m. Saturday at the same venue just outside the Grindstone Theatre.
“He’s a little brash,” Anselmo says next of headliner Durena, “but he does it in a good way. We first met him coming through doing a rental show here at Grindstone.
“He’s one I was really pushing for.”
One of Durena’s standup routines, for example, tells the story of how he hooked up with a tourist when he was working in Mexico. When her husband showed up in the hotel room, Durena pretended to be a housekeeper who couldn’t speak English, and the punchline involves a used condom in his pocket.
“I’ve had people ask if it’s ok for kids to come to the shows,” says Anselmo. “Grindstone is an all-ages venue,” she laughs. “I’m like, they might learn something? But I think it’s really the discretion of the parent.
“Donavan (Workun) said there was a five-year-old kid in the front row of one of the Jason Kenney’s Hot Boy Summer shows, and he was like, ‘Why are you here?’”
Durena headlines the 9 p.m. Friday Howl & Roar stage with Erika Ehler, Will Hannigan and Andrew Crone, as well as the 7 p.m. Saturday set there with Buddle, Crone and Siobhan Theobald.
Workun is also all over the full schedule you can find at grindstonecomedyfest.com.
Anselmo gets to the last of the three headliners, Winnipegger Jamieson.
“He’s so interesting because he does stand-up, he does improv, he does a lot of sketch things. His videos he sent to us, we were just like, ‘What is happening?’ He’s in Iceland just doing one-liner jokes in front of a field of cows and then standing in front of a little business cut to another joke,” shares Anselmo. “So he’s very deadpan. Not crude, it’s just funny. It’s like he just made the stupidest joke. But how he delivered it was really good.”
Jamieson’s showcase spots on the outdoor stage are 9 p.m. Thursday and Saturday. Norm Macdonald once said of the comedian, “You’re very funny, Garrett. Hope to see more of you soon.”
The festival’s full schedule lists all 23 acts on the outdoor stage and inside at Grindstone Theatre (10019 81 Ave.), over at Campus Saint-Jean (8406 Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury) and at Grindstone Studio (9562 82 Ave.) where two of the $75 comedy workshops are being presented.
Second City’s Kirsten Rasmussen is doing a solo sketch workshop 2 p.m. Saturday at Grindstone Theatre; Workin’ Moms’ Ryan Belleville is teaching the art of stand-up at the same time at Grindstone Studio, and Hot Boy Summer and (Thunder)CATS writers Byron Martin and Simon Abbott are doing a musical improv workshop 1 p.m Sunday, also at Grindstone Studio.
With a cast of nine, the Andrew Lloyd Webber parody (Thunder)CATS plays 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Campus Saint-Jean.
Its co-writer Martin, also artistic director of the festival and Grindstone, marvels at the scale of what the venue’s team is hoping to accomplish through the weekend — he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s kind of crazy. Our budget tripled this year flying people in.
“But whatever. We’re super ambitious. It’s probably what got us here,” laughs the 32-year-old.
As a performer, Martin is also a regular in The 11 O’Clock Number, which will guest star Belleville for two shows — 9 p.m. Thursday and Saturday — at Campus Saint-Jean.
Asked if Calgary-born Belleville can sing, Martin laughs, “When we have stand-ups or TV actors come through and improvise a musical with us, you’re kind of like, I think they’ll be able to do it? But we’ll do one rehearsal and it should be fun!”
Another familiar face at the festival is Edmonton ex-pat Kevin Gillese, who now lives in Atlanta with his wife and Archer star Amber Nash — also performing at the festival.
“He’s got so much wisdom, I can’t wait to catch up. He’s been running Dad’s Garage in Atlanta for 10 years.
“He was the artistic director of Rapid Fire when I was there. He was actually the one who kicked me out,” Byron laughs, but notes Gillese reached out when Grindstone got going, an early act of encouragement.
“We are in this for the long game,” says Martin when asked if it feels a bit like his team is perhaps building a new Fringe from scratch. “I’m somebody who was an actor originally, and getting to help build an economy of comedy and improv and theatre is exciting.
“We talk a lot about that in terms of, we’re not in this to make any money — we want to create projects that are sustainable and have an impact on the arts and culture and quality of life in Edmonton.”
That this is happening thanks to Grindstone is without question.
The full calendar of tickets is at grindstonecomedyfest.com, shows priced individually from $18-$33, with venue bundles from $39.20 to $53.11.
PREVIEW
Grindstone Comedy Festival
Where: Grindstone Theatre (10019 81 Ave.), Campus Saint-Jean (8406 Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury) and Grindstone Studio (9562 82 Ave.)
When: July 6-10
Tickets: $18-$75
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