What:
WinterPride Comedy Night
When:
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.
Where: MY
Millennium Place
Tickets:
$35
By Nicole
Fitzgerald
Who knew
working as a switchboard operator for CityTV in Toronto would later lead to the
Canada’s Best Female Comedian award at the 2007 Canadian Comedy Awards as well
as becoming at top-10 finalist for NBC’s Last Comic Standing television show?
Debra
DiGiovanni’s witty storytelling was lost between “I’ll connect you” and “what
department please?”, when suddenly she found herself giving public tours of the
station. Only instead of the dry lines penned in her employee handbook, her own
performance started unleashing itself on visitors. People started laughing. She
was a comedienne.
“The number
one fear people have is speaking in front of an audience, and when it’s not,
you like it immediately,” DiGiovanni said.
DiGiovanni
will headline WinterPride Queerly Canadian Comedy Show on Wednesday, Feb. 6
from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Telus Whistler Conference Centre.
WinterPride,
running from Feb. 3 to 10, revolutionizes the traditional gay ski week format
with sporting, culinary, health, and wellness, and entertainment events all
week long. People from all walks of life – straight, gay and lesbian alike –
are invited to celebrate this colourful festival.
Highlights
are the snowball party, mountain top gala, après and spa parties, and Comedy
Night – always a local favourite.
“We get to
be the real queens of comedy,” DiGiovanni said. “What’s so nice about (doing
gay shows) is the diversity of it. Nothing is ever too specific when you have a
broad audience from all walks of life… It’s like minded people, not in the
narrow minded way, who really make you feel welcome, so the show has a tendency
to be more fun with lots of energy.”
DiGiovanni
is never short on charisma. Her playful but sharp-edged show has earned reviews
that have praised her as one of the best-developed comics working today.
Toronto’s
Now Magazine raved: “Debra DiGiovanni is the best stand up to see after a messy
break up.”
She was
also awarded as one of the top three Comedy Performance of the Year.
Over her
eight years holding a mic, she has also won the Tim Sims Comedy Encouragement
Award and Canadian Comedy Award for Best Newcomer, among other accolades. She
toured with Canadian comedy king Russell Peters and has performed at the Just
For Laughs festival in Montreal, CTV’s Comedy Now, CBC radio, and most recently
Last Comic Standing.
“That was
surreal experiment,” she said of the reality television show that films ten
comedians duking it out with their best rubber chicken jokes to become the Last
Comic Standing.
“It was a
lovely opportunity to perform comedy in that huge spectrum. Every once in a
while, you are saying to yourself I am on a reality show, right. It’s all very
wonderful, and then you are being told, today you are wearing a jester
costume;’ now I can laugh about it, but in the moment I wasn’t.”
The 24-7
experience was fast and furious, and finally, two weeks later, she was able to
breathe a sigh of relief, just in time to win Canada’s Best Female Comedian at
the 2007 Canadian Comedy Awards.
“It was
really nice, now I know it sounds corny. It was really nice to be voted amongst
my peers and getting kudos among people (in the business).”
It’s this
down-to-earth, sincerity that makes DiGiovanni’s stand up so well rounded and
far-reaching. It’s the personal stories in her hilarity that everyone can
relate to.
“I’m very
honest,” she said of her comedy. “It’s very personal. I think all comedy is
personal. Some people tell jokes. Mine are things that have happened to me, or
in remnants of the joke there is truth. Comedy is obviously the truth
multiplied a thousand times.”
Her
long-time friend and fellow comedian Darcy Michael will open for this
anticipated night of over the top Queerly Canadian comedy. He also brings a
personal touch to his edgy delivery and is best known for his tales of “life as
an undercover fag” riffing on his same-sex marriage, and tales about being an
“accidental parent”.
“Comedy is
a tough genre to reach a diverse audience, but we feel these two individuals
will create a magic that will transcend generations, lifestyles and genre,”
said WinterPride organizers.
Tickets are
$35.
To learn
more about WinterPride events, visit www.gaywhistler.com.