Judge K. Trevor Wilson Offers Sage Advice to Competing Comics on ROAST BATTLE CANADA

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede ROAST BATTLE CANADA judge K. Trevor Wilson knows all about the scorching heat of hurling comedic insults back and forth on stage, having been a contestant himself on the American version of the show. So now, with ROAST BATTLE CANADA debuting Monday, Oct. 11 at 10:30 p.m. ET on CTV Comedy Channel, Wilson was asked, which is easier, competing or judging? “Oh, it’s SO MUCH easier to be a judge,” said Wilson with a big laugh. He’s joined on the ROAST BATTLE CANADA judging panel by Russell Peters and Sabrina Jalees, with Ennis Esmer hosting. “I get to sit, I’m not standing, I’m in my cushy chair, and I get to tell people if it was crap or not,” continued Wilson, who also is well known to comedy audiences for his role as Squirrely Dan on Crave’s LETTERKENNY. “Plus, I get to see a lot of my buddies who have been cutting their teeth in this business for a long time finally get a chance to show Canada, and hopefully the world, what they’re capable of doing. So I get to be almost like a proud papa, watching these little comedy babies grow.” Each episode of ROAST BATTLE CANADA features two standoffs between a pair of hungry comics using original material to take verbal shots at each other. It’s not a tournament, which makes it more like the U.K. version, rather than the U.S. version. The judges declare a winner in each battle, and also pick the “joke of the night.” Comically speaking, ROAST BATTLE CANADA is definitely not a safe zone. “Comedy comes in all forms, and different people have different tastes, but this show does a very good job of telling you what it’s going to be,” Wilson said. “And if it’s not your thing, that’s fine. But if this is something you think you might like, then you also understand that everyone in the show is a willing participant. They walked into this knowing that they’re going to take their lumps, knowing that they’re going to get burned, so you don’t have to be offended on anyone’s behalf. Because nobody got offended while making this show. So just go out and enjoy it.” Wilson obviously has a lot of advice that he could give to the ROAST BATTLE CANADA participants, but it basically boils down to two main things: 1) Be relatable. “You have to remember that not everyone in these battles is a household name, so you have to find quick, concise, clear ways to explain your premise, to set up the idea behind the joke you’re about to make,” Wilson said. “The audience has to know what you’re talking about. Sometimes people bring a lot of ‘inside baseball,’ you know, industry stuff, behind-the-scenes stuff, things that we might know from being in the business, or around the comedy scene, but you’re going to lose your laugh, and you’re going to lose your crowd, if too much of what you’re saying isn’t common knowledge.” 2) Be prepared. “If you go back into past ROAST BATTLE seasons, you can see that sometimes the competitors almost sneak in a second joke in a round, if they have a quick retort or a snappy comeback,” Wilson said. “But when it comes to the actual tit-for-tat, joke-for-joke aspect of it, as judges we’re looking to see a well-written, well-crafted joke. We’re looking for the technique and the skill that goes into putting together a proper roast set. So you don’t want to be making it up. If you happen to luck out and pull a million-dollar line out of your butt, out of nowhere, well, that’s a wonderful day, and you thank your lucky stars. But don’t count on that happening every round of every battle, because you’re going to get beat by someone who showed up prepared.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv