Building a love of laughter in tough pandemic times

Valentine’s Day weekend will bring a mix of love and laughter as the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre will feature a night of comedy. 

But the man behind its development says Yellowknife has come a long way in growing a scene of funny people despite the pandemic era making it challenging to find reasons to laugh. 

Martin Rehak will again host the sold-out The Ever Late Show: Love Edition along with musician and co-host jD. The set, built around a late-night talk show theme, has become one that Yellowknife audiences look forward to since the emergence of Covid-19. 

Saturday's show will put the spotlight on comedians Skye Plowman, Loren McGinnis and Jade Halcyon.

Wessam Bou-Saleh, as a "co-co-host," will provide variety sketch acts and Wesley Hardisty will be on hand to share his violin talent.

“We are trying to grow a comedy scene and I think with Yellowknife being such a small town, I am surprised there are so many artists and musicians and people wanting to try out comedy,” Rehak said. “It is especially true that in a blue-collar mining town and government town that it is amazing how much creativity there is here." 

Since 2019, Rehak has been part of the NACC mentorship program that tries to help Northern performing artists develop their talents toward a career. His love of the comedy scene stretches back to 2014 when he first fell in love with making audiences laugh by attending open mic nights at a comedy club in Toronto.

Having a taste of doing live shows led to a continued desire to get involved in stand-up when he moved to Yellowknife a little over a year later. It was then that he performed at the Snowking's Winter Festival with four other comedians, including McGinnis. 

“There is a small niche and community of comedians and it is slowly growing and gathering interest,” Rehak said. “Since some of our more recent shows, some people have come up to say, ‘I thought of doing stand-up and would like to give it a try if you’re ever looking for someone.'

“With the comedy scene there are people who are eager but the opportunities are so few, so what I am doing is directly or inadvertently trying to develop the craft and progress. We are creating opportunities to get other comedians on the stage.“

Ever Late Show

Other long-standing comedians in Yellowknife seem to agree.

McGinnis, an active stand-up comedian over much of the last decade, said the benefit of a late night show format is that it brings to fruition Rehak's vision of comedy as a multi-dimensional performance.

It also brings members of the community together through comedy in a way that hasn't been done in recent memory, he added.

"I'm just doing stand-up but his is a real production and it is performed as a late show with different dimensions, with music and sketch and stand-up, and that is all Martin," McGinnis said, giving a nod also to Rehak's partner Courtney McKiel, who assists with production. "There have been some opportunities, but the comedy scene here hasn't had a person or a thing to organize itself around."

McGinnis explained that Rehak's multi-dimensional approach – including film production – has made it easier for comedians to reorient themselves during the pandemic.

To his surprise, this worked early in the pandemic last year when Rehak organized his first Straight Outta Yellowknife virtual comedy show through the business production company Absurd Turd Media.

From the basement of Western Arctic Moving Pictures, Rehak organized a comedy show with a handful of comedians online.

"All of comedians were at home and I had honestly been skeptical because I was only in my kitchen with an iPhone," McGinnis said. "Strictly online, you don't get to hear people laugh at your jokes – or not laugh – and you don't have that energy exchange.

"But it turned out to be beautiful and unforgettable. It was in the early days of pandemic and I left with the sense that Martin had seen right away that we need to figure out how to be together and gather as a community and laugh under these circumstances."

Plowman agreed that Rehak's work has been very pivotal in the comedy scene.

"Martin, through both the Ever Late Show, and his 'Straight Outta Yellowknife' Zoom comedy shows has been a game changer for local comics to get in front of audiences," she said. "There had been so few opportunities previously for people to try out new material. Having regular chances to perform has been a way for comedians, and people who might want to try it out, to really find find a voice on stage."

Plowman said she has gained notoriety through her performances as an emcee for Boolesque and Rainbow Cabaret, but the Covid-19 pandemic made shows involving burlesque almost impossible.

"Stand-up, however, can work well, not only with a small audience, but also on camera for any number of people to watch from home," she said. "I know it would be easy to say laughter will pull us through these dark times but, honestly, we in Yellowknife should look at the opportunity to see a live comedy show, in what might be the only open theatre in the country, as a real testament to how lucky we are."

Rehak also has a busy life outside the mentorship program. He currently has three jobs that include preparing the Snowking’s castle, work as an expediter for  Blachford Lake Lodge and doing art therapy sessions with clients at the Yellowknife Women’s Society at the Arnica Inn.