Winnipeg Comedy: History in the Making Part 2
Winnipeg’s comedy scene has been growing exponentially in recent years, with home-grown talent like Paul Rabliauskas, Aisha Alfa, and Jordan Welwood making waves.
Yes, local comics are getting noticed nationally and internationally, and there appears to be no slowing down. Winnipeg comedians have been representing our hilarious city at major comedy festivals across North America, and some have even made the transition into television sitcoms.
This week, Winnipeg’s best comedy club, Rumor’s, continues our look at the history of comedy in Winnipeg. We’ll show you who’s on the come-up, where they came from, and we’ll show you where you can catch the next big name in Winnipeg stand-up comedy.
Winnipeg’s on-going history of hilarity
Last week we took a deep-dive into the beginnings of Winnipeg’s comedy history. This week, we see just how far we’ve come with a look at the last 40 years of funny in Winnipeg.
The 90s: Clearing the path
There was already a solid core of Winnipeg comedians when the city entered the 1990s. By this time established Winnipeg comics like Bruce Clark and Irwin Barker had forged something of a path to success in the Manitoba capital. Barker made his television debut on the CBC stand-up series Comics! in 1995, while Clark appeared on the Tonight Show starring Jay Leno a couple years earlier in 1993.
The hard work and success of the previous pioneering generation led to an influx of youthful performers such as Dean Jenkinson, Big Daddy Tazz, and Dan Licoppe.
“The comedy scene in Winnipeg was smaller than it is now in terms of number of people performing,” says Licoppe, “but for a time when I started there were three full time comedy clubs in Winnipeg.” Of those three, only Rumor’s remains.
“Those were really the only places to perform stand-up at the time, as this was before the comedians started running their own comedy rooms.”
With three comedy clubs, fewer comedians, and seasoned mentors to draw from, upstarts like Licoppe were able to build strong acts that took them places. “Winnipeg audiences were authentic,” says Licoppe. “If you consistently did well with Rumor’s audiences, that was a pretty strong indication that your act was solid.”
The 2000s: A new hope
It takes a fair amount of time for a comedian to get really good, so the 90s crop of Winnipeg comedians didn’t really hit full stride until the 2000s.
After nearly a decade of growth, Dean Jenkinson came into his own in the new millennium, becoming a contributing writer for the hit CBC series This Hour Has 22 Minutes in 2007, and delivered a half-hour stand-up special on CTV’s Comedy Now in 2008.
Licoppe saw his hard work pay off in the 2000s as well. In the front half of the decade, Dan made his debut at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival and on CBC’s The Debaters. Then, in 2007 Licoppe made recurring appearances on season five of NBC’s Last Comic Standing performing as Mel Silverback, a character he’d developed in his formative years.
“I made the choice to only audition in character, knowing that the result would be extreme — I’d either completely bomb, or I’d crush — but either way I would get on the air,” says Licoppe of his tryout for Last Comic Standing. Silverback (aka, Licoppe) would go on to the Last Comic Standing semi-finals, putting him in a group that consisted of big names like Gerry Dee, Doug Benson, Deb Digiovanni, and Amy Schumer.
Winnipeg was establishing itself as one of the funniest cities in Canada, and in 2002 the Winnipeg Comedy Festival was launched bringing national attention to Winnipeg’s comedy community. Rumor’s Comedy Club is the host of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival Club Series where you can see the best names in comedy from all over the world in an intimate club setting.
Meanwhile, the local comedy scene in Winnipeg was building. Winnipeg comedy veteran and former Rumor’s emcee Jason Beck pioneered DIY comedy shows in Winnipeg with his regular events at the Winnipeg Press Club. It was around this time, too, that Winnipeg’s Godfather of Comedy, John B. Duff, co-founder of the Oddblock Comedy Festival, emerged as a force for hilarity, and as a guiding hand for future generations.
The 2000s also saw the inception of Rumor’s Funniest Person with a Day Job competition, a contest for amateur comedians that still runs to this day. Many of the best comedians in Winnipeg got their first comedy club stage experience by competing in this time-honored tournament of laughs.
The 2010s: on the verge of something special
After a few years of grinding it out in the local comedy circuit, local chef, John B. Duff began running several important Winnipeg comedy events, establishing himself as a stalwart presence in the Winnipeg comedy scene. Perhaps the most important Winnipeg comedy show around this time was Comedy at the Cavern, in the now defunct Cavern Cabaret in the Osborne Village.
A Sunday night open mic, Comedy at the Cavern gave stage time to many of Winnipeg’s current crop of comics, allowing them to hone their craft and take their act to new heights.
Many of the comics that came around during this time learned how to produce their own shows, creating fertile ground for the new wave of Winnipeg stand-ups. Comics like Mike Green, Jared Story, Ben Walker, Tim Gray, Dana Smith, and many, many more began producing weekly, monthly, and quarterly shows where comics could get reliable practice time, and comedy fans in Winnipeg could get reliable laughs in addition to the seven shows a week here at Rumor’s.
The result has been a coming of age in Winnipeg comedy, the fruits of which are just now being born.
Meanwhile, a young man from Niverville named Matt Falk was forging his own path. A clean comedian by trade, Falk made inroads in his Mennonite community before breaking out into a more mainstream act. Falk's prolific writing and mild outrage has made him a crowd favorite everywhere he goes. He released his first album, Apple Pie & Scars in 2013, and in 2019 he recorded his first Dry Bar special, The Best Joke in The Entire World.
The 2020s: reaping what we’ve sewn
This decade has so far been the result of all the ground work laid out in the previous decades of Winnipeg comedy. Once timid performers have gone from open mics at the Cavern, to regular performers here at Rumor’s, and on to starring in television series’ and televised comedy galas.
Winnipeg comedian Paul Rabliauskas has arrived as one of Canada’s most lovable stand-ups. His frank yet self-depricating take on race relations in Canada have made Rabliauskas one of the most important voices on the Canadian comedy scene.
Paul has become a mainstay at all the major comedy festivals in Canada, and in 2022 CTV green-lighted Rabliauskas’ semi-autobiographical sitcom, Acting Good, whose second season airs in September of 2023.
But, “Rabs” isn’t the only Winnipegger making noise. There are actually quite a few Winnipeg comedians on TV. Down in Los Angeles, Winnipeg ex-pat Aisha Alfa has gained attention not only for her stand-up comedy, but also for her acting abilities. Alfa has appeared in several televised series including Degrassi: The Next Generation, The Beaverton, Criminal Minds, and the new Peacock series Based on a True Story, starring Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco.
Still more Winnipeg comedians are helping to carry the Winnipeg mantle onward. Jordan Welwood recently made two appearances on The Comedy Network’s Roast Battle Canada, while Chad Anderson made his television debut with a televised gala at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival.
Mike Green, who has established himself as one of the most creative and innovative producers in Winnipeg, has even produced his own stand-up comedy television mini-series for FibeTV called Comedy Battle Royale in which teams of comedians compete against each other by writing jokes on the spot from topics drawn from a bucket.
There’s lots of great things on the horizon in Winnipeg comedy. Check out our article on Winnipeg comedians to watch to see who you should keep an ear out for.
More: How to become a comedian in Winnipeg
Winnipeg comedy events at Rumor’s
Pretty much every show at Rumor’s has a hilarious Winnipegger involved. Our emcees are all local funny people, and they can hold their own on stage alongside some of the best stand-up comedians in the business.
And our menu is top-notch, too. Try the nachos or come down for our Early Burg Special on Wednesdays where you’ll get a cheeseburger and fries along with your ticket.
Celebrating something? Rumor’s can host your gathering, be it a birthday, a non-traditional Manitoba wedding social, a community fundraiser,or a last-hurrah bachelor/bachelorette party.
So, come on down to Rumor’s. We’ve got world class laughs five nights a week.
“Rumor’s Comedy Club was my favorite place to perform, probably in the entire country. It was and is the best run comedy club in the country, with consistently great audiences.” - Dan Licoppe