The colour of funny

International zingers abound at the
Comedy in Colours show

THE PERSIAN VERSION: Ali Mohammadi

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

“We share the same name,” says Iranian-Canadian comic Ali Mohammadi of his Pakistani-Canadian colleague, Ali Hassan. “Our countries share a border—but I’m not sure you want to!”

That’s a quick taste of the flavour of the gags that will be hurled around at the Comedy In Colours show this week, which Hassan is hosting, prior to a gig in Amman, Jordan. Culture-specific bills aren’t uncommon in comedy—the Irish show, the Italian, Arabic and Caribbean ones—but the multicultural mish-mash is a bit harder to come by. This one is particularly promising.

“We’re lucky to have a wide array of ethnic comics, there were no repeats of ethnicity required,” says Hassan, “and also, that was our top list of people, and everybody we asked was free on that date.

“Another important thing was we wanted to focus locally, focus on Montreal talent,” adds Mohammadi. “Everyone on the bill is from here.”

The spread is remarkable. Along with Hassan and Mohammadi, you’ve got Jamaica’s Andrew Searles and Canadian Comedy Award nominee DeAnne Smith (whose family name could pass for ethnic, at least in this town). You’ve got young Filipino Paul Baluyot and Congolese Eddy King, the latter better known on the French side of things. “English isn’t his strong language,” says Mohammadi, “but you get captivated by the way he tells a story.”

DESI LIKE CRAZY: Ali Hassan

There’s Eman, a Palestinian veteran of NYC’s Arab-American Comedy Festival and the Axis of Evil show in Ottawa, and also Danny Tirado, an actor as well, slated to star alongside noted thespian and intellectual Stephen Baldwin in a forthcoming movie. “He’s truly an ethnic comic,” says Hassan. “The first thing I ever saw him do on stage was—he’s Peruvian-Polish, his girlfriend is Iraqi-Japanese, so he did an impersonation what their child would be: a vodka-drinking, Army-saluting, salsa-dancing… oh, I’m trying to remember the rest. His jokes are incredible, totally pushing the story of his life to the limits.”

Finally, there’s the veteran of the bunch, Italian laughmeister Franco Taddeo, who often doubles as promoter for charity events. “I remember him telling me, the first time he booked me, that as far as he was concerned, the future of comedy is ethnic, as cultures start to mix more and people from different backgrounds get together and have children.”

Hassan and Mohammadi confirm that while the comedians will be taking shots at the particulars of their own communities, a fair amount of cross-border sniper fire is planned as well.

“What I’ve discovered about comedy is, the minute you’ve established that you can laugh at yourself, people will be willing to laugh with you and go with you when you poke fun at others,” says Hassan. “If I make fun of myself, or my mom telling me something, right off the bat, then we go on a little trip together. If somebody just comes out and starts hurting people of other cultures, it’s a little bit off-putting.”

Mohammadi summarizes succinctly, “You have to come with something that they’ll know is true.”