Bi-weekly stand-up workshop promotes feedback and friendship
Erinn White started Comedy Church in 2015. The stand-up comedy workshop — which runs at The Making-Box, yes, every other Sunday — celebrated its two-year anniversary on Oct. 15.
Will Wellington: How do you think Comedy Church has lasted two years?
Erinn White: Part of it is the work that we do — I do think we help each other develop better material and better performances. But part of it is that friendships form through it, and people look forward to seeing each other.
WW: Could you describe the actual format of the workshop?
EW: So first, we do work to create a welcoming, comfortable, and respectful environment for people — we start off with that message, and then invite people up to the stage to perform. Then we basically throw it open to people to add on to jokes or make suggestions or ask questions. We try to set the stage for it to be as constructive as possible. And over time we’ve all evolved. It’s really interesting to see how the feedback part works, now that we’ve all gotten a bit more comfortable with each other and also about critiquing comedy.
WW: So what does good comedy feedback look like?
EW: Sometimes the best feedback is not necessarily the most prescriptive. The best feedback, at least for me, is something that makes me think about my work differently or makes me consider how someone with a different perspective might interpret my work. Sometimes you have to hear that something isn’t working, and I’d rather hear that from supportive fellow comedians than from a roomful of people at a show (laughter).
WW: How would you say the Guelph comedy scene has changed since you started Comedy Church?
EW: Two years ago, there were maybe a handful of stand-up comics in the city, and now I think that we can be proud that we’ve probably quadrupled that number. We’ve got great diversity in the stand-up comics in our city compared to some other scenes in smaller towns. We’re just operating on a higher level now. We’re really making Guelph a comedy city.
Photo courtesy of Kate Ethier/Comedy Church