Stand-up comedians find their way to Shawville RA hall by Jonathan Crowe
The Equity, Dec. 3, 2003

SHAWVILLE — The good news is that three Yuk Yuk’s stand-up comedians were in town Saturday night to perform at a fundraiser for the Shawville RA.

The bad news? They had to come in on Hwy. 148 to do it.

“Is that a paved-over roller-coaster or what?” quipped headliner Pete Zedlacher. “And the curves — is that a highway or a luge run?”

And then there were the road signs.

“There aren’t any,” said opener and master of ceremonies, Ottawa-based comic Mike Beatty, who claimed that the fundraiser was “so you can buy a sign to the RA centre.”

There was an element of truth in this — Jason Laurans, another Ottawa-based comedian and the middle act in the program, did in fact get lost trying to find the RA hall.

A running gag throughout the evening was the amenities available in Shawville — or lack thereof. When the comedians discovered that there was no KFC or Tim Horton’s in town, Zedlacher announced that he was running for mayor on a platform of bringing Tim’s to Shawville.

Surprisingly shrewd local jokes were combined with well-worn routines as the audience of about 100 laughed at the comedians’ routines, much of which cannot be reprinted in a family newspaper.

Laurans’s set included material on the difference between French and Québécois accents, men sharing hotel rooms, and trying to get a 1981 K car started.

Zedlacher, a Toronto-based comic born in Wawa, Ont. who has had a television special, produced astonishing facial contortions during a dead-on Arnold Schwartzenegger impression.

Zedlacher performed in Shawville the last time Yuk Yuk’s came to town (for a fundraiser for the arena sound system).

He proudly bills himself as the first comic to entertain troops in Afghanistan. He drew applause when he talked about supporting the troops overseas.

He pointed out that while Canadian troops in Afghanistan had to wear green fatigues, the U.S. troops were wearing desert camouflage.

“Those pussies are hiding,” he said.

As with all good stand-up routines, interaction with the audience was a key part of the performance, whose victims included the owner of a 1985 Olds Delta 88 and a certain Equity reporter who couldn’t take a simple picture without someone cracking wise about it.

“Live is so much more interactive,” said Laurans after the performance. “There’s nothing like live for that. It’s jokes but there’s more than that.”

Note: This article has not been updated since its first publication. As a result, some of the facts referred to in the text may now be out of date.