YORKTON - Another night of comedy is headed to Tapps Sports Lounge & Grill.
The March 23, event will be headlined by Saskatchewan’s own Joel Jeffrey, who has played several shows in Yorkton through the years.
“I used to be a radio DJ before I got into stand up,” Jeffrey, who was born and raised in Saskatoon told Yorkton This Week. “When I was living in Kelowna in 2008 working on a station out there, the station's producer happened to be a stand up comedian. I expressed interest in trying out comedy, so he got me on a Yuk Yuks stage for my very first set.
“I loved the experience and have been doing stand up ever since. I retired from radio seven years ago to go full time stand up.”
The move to the stage has worked as Jeffrey has played all over North America.
“I've performed on stages across Canada as well as a few in the United States,” he said.
As for career highlights he said, “early on in my career I got to open for the late legendary Canadian comedian Mike MacDonald at a comedy festival here in Saskatchewan.
“Then a few years ago, it was a blast opening for Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole on their live podcast tour before they split up.
“Also back in 2020, I became a published author after being discovered by a publishing company in Halifax (MacIntyre Purcell). They found me online and asked me to write a book called ‘The Great Saskatchewan Joke Book’ for them. I wrote it and it went on to become a number one best-seller in Saskatchewan and made the top 25 humour books on Amazon in Canada.”
So, why comedy as it is often referred to as a very hard sort of performance?
“It's hard if you're not funny,” offered Jeffrey. “If you are funny, it's a lot easier.”
Like many performers, Jeffrey has comedians he has appreciated through the years.
“I grew up loving Steven Wright, Mitch Hedberg, George Carlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Seinfeld,” he said.
“I love one-liners, but I also love observational humour and telling stories too. I'm like the love child of all of the above comedians.”
Given his interests as a comedian where does he find inspiration? What draws him to a ‘story-line’?
“It may sound obvious, but all of my material begins when something seems funny to me,” offered Jeffrey .“A few weeks ago, I was waiting to order in an extremely busy Tim Horton's drive thru line when an advertisement to apply for a Tim Horton's credit card popped up on their TV drive thru menu. The drive thru seemed like an odd place to tell someone to apply for a credit card. I was like ‘Are you telling me apply now with 18 cars behind me? I'm sure they wouldn't mind waiting while I fill out the paperwork.’
“The whole thing seemed funny to me so I wrote a bit about it. That's usually where it starts.”
