COMEDY RECORDS is the Sun Records of standup! The Interscope of Improv! …And as soon as I think of a third comparison that fits, I’ll go on record right here in TIA and proclaim Comedy Records the that of Sketch!
Yes folks, Comedy Records is Canada’s only full-service independent comedy record label, and yet another reason why Toronto (Canada’s comedy capital) is indeed pretty friggin’ awesome.
I’ve mentioned this many a time, but it Lubas my Goy right up when I see movers and shakers in Canadian comedy working to pave new roads and create new content. Doing it themselves. Making the big plays, goin’ into O.T. It’s all in check with the Canadian comedy paradox: what we m’eh lack in infrastructure, audience, and revenue, we more than make up fer in opportunity. Not opportunities to make money or be famous or anything – but to create our own inroads and experiment and create! And yes, even foster an audience! Canadian comedy in 2014 still remains in many ways an open frontier. All this to say, that Comedy Records (founded by T.O-based comic and former radio host Barry Taylor, and a crew of young Canadian comics you should know) is about building on that frontier. Standup, improv, sketch. These days, the list of who’s-whom in Cancom (not a typo, I’m calling Canadian comedy that to save time!) is recording and releasing record on the CR label.
This year alone, my own former roommate, the Canadian Comedy Award winning Sandra Battaglini has joined the ranks of DJ Demers, Ladystache, Hunter Collins, Fraser Young, Arthur Simeon, Mark DeBonis… how long ya got?
Which brings us to their latest release – and the point of this piece (it all has a point!) Ladies and gentlemen, STEVE PATTERSON!
You may know him as the long-running host of CBC’s ‘The Debaters’. He was named ‘Best Male Standup’ at the Canadian Comedy Awards in 2011 AND again in 2013.
When he’s not hosting hit radio, or headlining on standup stages across Canada, Patterson has been busy touring his first one-man show ‘THIS IS NOT DEBATABLE’ – and needless to say, it was a hit too. How needless to say? Well, he joined forces with Comedy Records and recorded the whole thing live this past October in Toronto.
The resulting record is around 90 minutes of honed gold from one of Canada’s top touring comics, and a host whose affable charm, and one-two punchline delivery of rapid fire wit and relatability has made him a household voice on Canadian radio. And yes, he does have a voice for radio.
Patterson seems to have that unique ability to take insightful observational jabs at the world around him – politics, pop culture, punditry. While also saying the things the average Canadian might be thinking, but couldn’t quite tackle head-on or put into words. I mean, that is our job as comedians. Just so happens, he’s damn good at it. He can make you laugh out loud, staying undeniably likeable, and still straddling that line between ‘clean’ and ‘corporate’ (hard industry jive in the comedy world), while pulling no punches and fearing no risks. No easy feat. But for him it just seems to come naturally. Or at least it looks that way. the hallmarks of a well-practiced pro.
On ‘The Debaters‘, he’s much more than just a moderator. He’s a host who, dare I say, just might be the best bet we Canadians would have at the helm of our own late night television show here in the Great White North. You know, should we ever go down that road again. I mean, why DON’T we have another late show?
(Aside from the mock live one I do at Toronto’s Comedy Bar of course)
I’ve always said we should, and who would be better to fill the desk than Steve Patterson? WHO, I ask you!?
It seems downright… un-debatable! But I guess that’s neither here nor there for now.
And anways, don’t just take my word for it.
STEVE PATTERSON: THIS IS NOT DEBATABLE is out now on itunes, and at www.comedyrecords.ca
For all things Patterson, Debaters & more – well, you can just surf right on over to www.stevepatterson.ca
