Smart Thoughts Abound in New Crave Original Stand-up Special GRAHAM KAY: STUPID JOKES

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Stand-up comedians always have to deal with the good and the bad. It kind of comes with the territory. But Graham Kay provided some insider insight on his unique job while talking about his new Crave Original Stand-up Special GRAHAM KAY: STUPID JOKES, which debuts Friday. Filmed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montréal, the special finds Kay weighing in hilariously on everything from his “immigrant” status as a Canadian living in the U.S., to his erotic memories of tracing paper, to the shockingly personal experience of getting a tailored suit, and much more. During an interview to set up the special, Kay was asked a simple question: Is there really any such thing as good audiences and bad audiences, or are all audiences basically the same and it’s up to the comedian? Kay’s detailed response was both fascinating and informative. “Without a doubt in my mind, 100%, and I will bet my life and my intelligence on it, with everything I’ve known in 12 years of devoting my life to it, there are bad crowds and good crowds,” Kay said. “I know as an audience member you’re like, ‘How could that be? How could one crowd be good, and the next be bad?’ But groups have personalities. Sometimes if you took people individually, they’d all be great audience members, but together as a unit on a certain day, they might not be good.” So what are the factors? “This is why comedy clubs are usually the most ideal places for stand-up, because they are set up specifically to make crowds good,” Kay explained. “The stage is lower. It’s not at the end of a long room, like a theatre, it’s in the middle of the room, on the sidewall, so you’re closer to the audience.” Kay said the sound system has to be crisp, with no echo or hissing. And you want the ceiling to be as low as possible, so the laughter bounces back down and you hear it more. “Also, very importantly, the lighting can’t be too bright on the audience, because laughter is an involuntary thing – it’s embarrassing, in a way,” he said. “So if the audience is too well lit, and other people see you laughing at an off-colour joke, you’d be more embarrassed. The comedian has to be well lit on stage, but you want everything else in the room, the paint, the way it’s decorated, to be very matte and monotone, so there are no distractions from the performer.” If you have all those things, with a good host, and the people aren’t wet and miserable because they had to line up in the rain, Kay said you’ve taken away many of the chances that it will be a bad audience. But still, some nights just work better than others. “Here’s the thing, we train ourselves as comedians to say the same thing, with the same inflection, and the same exact delivery, every night,” Kay said. “I’ve performed 10 times a week for 12 years. I know exactly what my material is and how I say it. And in New York where I live, or even in Toronto where I used to live, you can go and do a spot in one location, then you take a subway ride, and you do another spot in another location, and you’re doing the exact same thing, with the exact same inflection, and one show goes way better than the other. There’s a group dynamic with audiences. That’s a scientific fact.” So having made his position crystal clear on whether or not there are good and bad audiences – there are! – Kay was asked what his favourite crowd reaction is when he’s performing. “I love it when people can’t help themselves,” Kay said. “There are certain jokes I tell where people laugh pretty hard, but like, every fifth person REALLY gets it. And they’re keeled over, and can’t stop laughing, and they’re crying a little bit, and I’m going on to the next joke, but they’re still laughing at the last joke. And I’m like, ‘I GOT ‘EM!’ I love that feeling!” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv