Four months after his last appearance in the Lower Mainland, Chris Rock laid to rest any notion he’s past his comedic best-before date.

In comedy, timing is everything. So the decision to bring Lisa Lampanelli to our province in the wake of a complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal against comedian Guy Earle is truly funny. If this province can’t handle an outburst from a no-name comic in a restaurant, how on earth are we going to get through the full-on racial and sexual verbal assault that is Lisa Lampanelli in a packed theatre?

Like most working comics, Roman Danylo has had his fair share of gigs from hell. He’s had a hex put on him by a drunken club patron, he’s been spotlit by a heating light on a buffet, and had to perform as a follow-up to scantily clad dancers.

The irrepressible comic has had to lower his energy output a notch, but that hasn’t stopped him from cross-dressing for fun down at the mall

The sketch legends aren't getting any younger, but they have lost none of their cutting-edge wit, as they prove on their Live As We’ll Ever Be tour.

Raiders of the Lost Improv

Wanda Sykes is one of the funniest people in America—or at least she was in 2004, when Entertainment Weekly anointed her one of the top 25 comics in the U.S. But if her Friday appearance at the River Rock Show Theatre was an indication of her current place in the pantheon of comedic performers, she’s slipped a notch or 50.

Graham Clark, one of the rising talents in Vancouver's standup circuit and voted number two in the city in the Straight's 2007 best of issue, triumphed in the Yuk-Yuk's nationwide Laugh-Off on April 13.

In the age of hyphenated comedy, it’s hard to peg Darcy Michael. When he walks on-stage you think maybe he’ll be the plus-size comic who does material about his weight, like a John Pinette. Then he gets into his drug humour and you’re thinking he’s more like a lazy stoner comic along the lines of Doug Benson.

Still a comedy nerd’s wet dream, Sarah Silverman wants you to find other synonyms to describe her outrageous self.

Comedy can be powerful stuff. On the surface, sure, it’s lighthearted and fun. See, but that’s how they getcha. One minute you’re innocently laughing away at a standup comedian; before you know it your world-view has shifted slightly.

Ron James can’t go two minutes, it seems, without creating a perfect metaphor to drive his point home. The quintessentially Canadian comic is one of the great wordsmiths in the business. His shows are a tangent-laden journey through the country and its people, with stops for personal reminiscences and rants. In other words, buddy’s got a mouth on him and he knows how to use it.

Paul Provenza, Sarah Silverman, Comedy Death Ray, Ron James, Chris Rock, Greg Proops, and many more will be bringing the funny to stages this season.

The year 2008 is shaping up to be one of the heaviest comedy years on record in Vancouver. Of course, it’s got a slight advantage with an extra day.

Bullard has always divided people: he had legions of fans and detractors during his six years on the air.

At Yuk Yuk’s on Friday, February 8

The typical career arc of successful Canadian entertainers is to acquire some chops on anonymous projects in this country before heading south for work, recognition, and greenbacks, providing the rest of us with a chance to proudly shout “They’re Canadian!” whenever their mugs hit the screen.

You may not know about comedian Sugar Sammy just yet, but give him time. His easy and cool comedy persona wins converts wherever he goes–and he goes just about everywhere.

You’re shelling out all that dough for a cheap glass of champagne and party favours (whatever they are) anyway, you may as well get a chuckle out of it

The improv superstar returns to Vancouver to make "fast, furious, fucking funny improv"

Jay Leno on the writers strike, the standup circuit, and passing the torch to Conan O'Brien

The improv show, mixing the tense drama of 24 with the silliness of Santa, may be my favourite TheatreSports show yet.

You might not know the name now, but if Tom Papa has his way, you will do soon.The New York comic is almost famous, and working hard to get all the way there. He’s headlining the Just For Laughs Comedy Tour at the Orpheum Friday (November 16), is a regular correspondent on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, is in DreamWorks’s just-released Bee Movie, which stars his buddy Jerry Seinfeld, and will voice the lead in another animated feature by Rob Zombie, due out in the new year

Global ComedyFest At various venues from September 13 to 22

The Skinny and The Crawford Twins At the Waterfront Theatre on Saturday, August 18. No remaining performances

Merv Griffin's recent obit in Time magazine described him as someone who "perfected an authentic, unironic, people-friendly manner that was seemingly impervious to the winds of change". If you think that marks him as the last of a breed, you've obviously never seen It's Good to Know People, a regular live comedy show at Hennessey Dining Lounge on West Broadway. It's so sincere, it's positively alternative.

You know the 20th annual American Alliance for Theatre & Education Conference is a big deal when Stephen Harper deigns to offer a greeting. And it is. Held from July 31 to August 5 at the Westin Bayshore hotel, the Maryland-based conference for educators and artists features numerous speakers and seminars, one of which is a five-hour keynote workshop with improv guru Keith Johnstone on August 2.

At the River Rock Show Theatre on Saturday, June 23

A Vancouver TheatreSports League production. At the New Revue Stage on Granville Island on Friday, June 8. Continues weekly from Wednesday to Saturday

When you think of Martin Short, what comes to mind? His Saturday Night Live–era Nathan Thurm? SCTV's Jackie Rogers, Jr.? Ed Grimley of both SNL and SCTV? Primetime Glick's Jiminy Glick? Franck Eggelhoffer in Father of the Bride? Ned Nederlander in ¡Three Amigos!? Star of Broadway? Daytime talk-show host? You get the idea.

Big-name international comedians parade through Vancouver on a regular basis, but it's fair to say that none is bigger than a Canadian kid who a mere five years ago was playing the local clubs.Russell Peters made a decent living touring this country beginning in late 1994, five years after he first took the stage as an amateur. His comedy odyssey brought him to virtually every hick town on the map, with occasional forays into England and South Africa. "I've always equated comedy to boxi

One of the funniest guys in Canada might soon start getting the recognition he deserves. And he'll kill me for saying that.

You might think Vancouver comedian Graham Clark would avoid racetracks, given his allergy to horses. But Hastings Park is precisely where Clark chose to meet up with the Straight on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon. For the Alberta native, it's the perfect place to unwind after his visits to flea markets and yard sales in search of tacky prizes to give away at his weekly Wednesday-night comedy show, the Laugh Gallery, which takes place at Rime (1130 Commercial Drive).

Nowadays, in the age of cable TV and the Internet, there's really no need for a standup comic to swear off swearing and adult content. Back when the three major U.S. networks ruled, many comedians chose the clean route as the fast track to television. These days, anything goes.

On Saturday, April 28, at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts

Rick Mercer is an anomaly in Canadian show business: an entertainer whose sights aren't set on the bright lights and big cities of America. As one of Canadian television's most recognizable faces, he's content being this country's foremost political satirist.

Fans of reality television and standup comedy may know Alonzo Bodden as the runner-up in Season 2 of NBC's Last Comic Standing. What they may not know is that he was also the champion in Season 3. The network decided to cancel the series after its penultimate episode that year, leaving regular viewers in suspense.

At the River Rock Show Theatre on Friday, March 16

If you're as restless as a willow in a windstorm or as jumpy as a puppet on a string, for God's sake, get out of the house and see some comedy to quell that spring fever of yours. There hasn't been such an array of comedy legends coming to this town since…well, ever. We hope it lasts, but one never knows. So make hay while the sun shines.

At the River Rock Show Theatre on Friday, February 16

Alistair Cook, who, along with fellow Vancouver TheatreSports League player Ryan Beil, came up with the concept for the improv company's latest effort, chalks up his ambivalence toward the Bard to a “reading comprehension thing that makes it very, very slow for me to read Shakespeare”.

Little Stevie Harper’s ascension to power, nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea, Britney Spears’s crotch—yes indeed, it was a very good year for comedy.

At the Red Robinson Show Theatre, Coquitlam, on Friday, December 8

There’s a scene in the 2002 documentary Comedian in which Chris Rock raves about Bill Cosby and his ability, at this late stage of his career, to do a 150-minute standup set without intermission. Having just seen the man perform for 80 minutes—still a decent length for any aged comic—I’m not as impressed.

At the Orpheum on Friday, November 24

The last time Ron White was in town, he was a relative unknown. He was performing on the 2002 cross-country Just for Laughs tour along with Harland Williams, Emo Philips, Brent Butt, Mike Wilmot, and a singing group called Supergirly. Fastforward four years and the man’s a bona fide star, thanks largely to the Blue Collar Comedy tour and its DVDs.

So You Think You Can Improvise?

Gilbert Gottfried, a mainstay in standup for the past 25 years, performed at Vancouver's Funny Bone. He opened hilariously on Thursday with a wearily disquieted plea: “You came to see me, you saw me, get out."