Tim Collins / News staff
Todd Ness has wanted to be a stand-up comedian for as long ago as he can remember but he had the good fortune (or rotten luck, depending upon your perspective) to have been born into a well-adjusted middle class home. He never experienced poverty, hunger, domestic violence or abuse; the very struggles that have fuelled the comedic geniuses of past generations.
So how does someone find humour in a comfortable life and the constant support of family and friends? They make stuff up, that’s how. Ness has become adept at making things up–inventing things to complain about where no complaints are warranted.
“I just sort of look around and find ways of being outraged and claim that I’m victimized by everyday things around me. If you don’t have real troubles, you create them,” said Ness.
And that’s why it’s funny.
So funny, in fact, that Ness has excelled in the world of stand-up comedy, earning acknowledgments like the 2014 Yuk Yuks Chase Your Butterfly Contest. He started playing clubs in Calgary but since then has taken his middle class angst to a variety of venues, including New York’s Broadway Comedy Club. He’s appeared on the YYC Comedy Festival and CBC’s Laugh Out Loud.
“I started doing stand-up as soon as I turned 18 (seven years ago). I was the guy who was waiting for my 18th birthday so I could play clubs while all my friends were waiting to get into the bars to drink,” recalled Mess.
“It’s just something I knew that I always wanted to do…comedy…not drink.”
Ness is bringing his act to Revelstoke on September 21 when he’ll take the stage at the Revelstoke Arts Centre along with Brett Forte, also from Calgary who will join Mess with his own brand of humour; a style that’s loaded with movement and barely contained testosterone. The whole thing will be overseen by Revelstoke’s own Katie Burrell, a comic who’s earned her own comedic chops in the past seven years playing clubs in Vancouver and elsewhere, including a regular gig at Big Eddy pub.
“This is going to be a really great night. These guys are both really funny, and I’m sure their going to kill up there,” said Burrell.
Tickets for the night of comedy are $25 and are available at revelstokeartscouncil.bigcartel.com.