The King of Crowd Work’s grandma used to heckle him
Stand-up comedian Jeff Leeson, known as the King of Crowd Work, recorded his special My Grandma Used To Heckle Me at Guelph Little Theatre on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The day marked a milestone in Leeson’s comedy career, which spans an impressive 17 years for a man who is only 30. The day also marked a milestone in Guelph’s comedy history since this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first stand-up comedy taping to take place here in the Royal City.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Best choice I could have ever made, best crowd I have ever seen…”[/pullquote]Leeson chose to record his special in Guelph, rather than his hometown of London, due to his positive experiences performing in shows produced by The Making-Box. Founded by Jay Reid and Ric Mattingley, The Making-Box has created a thriving comedy scene in Guelph that frequently attracts big names in stand-up, improv, and storytelling. Leeson’s show made it clear that The Making-Box is also great at bringing out audiences, since Guelph Little Theatre—which isn’t so little with its capacity of 250—felt packed.
After the show, Leeson spoke to The Ontarion about how he felt about performing in Guelph.
“Best choice I could have ever made, best crowd I have ever seen, and the response was incredible—I mean just incredible. […] My hometown of London was represented well in the crowd too so I can’t forget to mention how much I appreciate everyone coming all the way from London to see me, it meant the world to me,” said Leeson.
Opening for Leeson were his close friends Josh Elijah, Al Val, and Liam Kelly. Elijah’s set conjured up vivid images of awkward family dinners, dinosaurs, and a naughty homemade Christmas present. Although Val won over a few ladies in the audience simply by walking onstage, his set was a great mix of act-outs, phallic wordplay, and guitar skills. Lastly, Kelly shared his musings about manscaping and orgasmic names.
Following the opening acts, the audience was so pumped that Leeson received a standing ovation as soon as he walked onstage. A moment that left Leeson overwhelmed.
“I truly was not expecting the reaction and response, especially when I first walked out. It was breathtaking and overwhelming,” said Leeson.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A lot of comedians kill … but Leeson is the only one who does it with the precision of a trained sniper.[/pullquote]Leeson is a unique talent because the majority of his performance is based on crowd work, which means that he talks to audience members and then improvises humorous material based on the information he learns. During the taping, he moved from one audience member to the next and then returned to those he had spoken to—expertly remembering their names, professions, and the jokes he’d made when he had spoken to them earlier.
For this to work well, it was essential that audience members were organized strategically, which The Making-Box’s volunteer ushers executed with finesse.
The ease with which Leeson improvises is remarkable and at times it is easy to overlook the skill required. Something Leeson reminded the audience of with his finale: a lightning-fast round of improv that revisited virtually every audience member he had spoken to through the show, referenced what they had chatted about, and built on his previous jokes. A lot of comedians kill at this type of improv, but Leeson is the only one who does it with the precision of a trained sniper.