Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Candy-cane comedy

Three-show comedy series unwrapped at North Pole Central at MY Millennium Place

What: Comedy series

When: Dec. 20-23

Where: MY Millennium Place

The Christmas Eve shopping mall obstacle course; the turkey dinner day-long production; and the embrace your relatives for the holiday season drama, sometimes comedy and even horror show: Christmas is an easy subject to find humour in, so much David C. Jones and company are hosting not one but three opportunities to share a chuckle about the holiday season.

Improvisational comedy is under the North Pole Central Christmas tree with three different shows from Tuesday, Dec. 20 to Friday, Dec. 23 at MY Millennium Place.

All three shows are comprised of different improvisation games, similar to the format of the hit television show, Whose Line Is It Anyways? Professional comedians act out spontaneous scenes spurred by audience suggestions.

"There is audience participation, but people don’t need to be afraid," Jones said. "We never drag anyone up on stage that doesn’t want to be there. We ask the crowd at large for input."

The audience is in good hands with highly-trained comedic professionals.

"We’ve been doing this for 15 years and not yet has anyone died or been sued," Jones said.

Jones won the Georgia Straight’s Best of Vancouver People’s Choice Award for Best Comedian two years running now and the Vancouver Sun listed Jones as one of the 20 best improvisers in Canada. He has won countless other awards, including the 2003 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Show, the 2002 Vancouver Sun’s People Choice Award for Best Street Show and the Jessie Richardson Award for Best Ensemble, just to name a few.

An actor, producer, writer, comedian and teacher, Jones spreads his spontaneous mayhem far and wide. He has performed for troops in Bosnia and for First Nations children in northern reserves in Canada.

"I’ve played every kind of audience," he said. "I’ve seen and done it all."

Reindeers, rooftops and eggnog are his next courses of action with the Whistler comedy series.

Twisted Christmas Tales Dec. 20-21 at 7:30 p.m. kicks the series off, warping all of your favourite Christmas classics such as Gift of the Magi and The Matchstick Girl into something the whole family can laugh about.

"If Scrooge was an accountant in the original story, what would it look like to tell a story where Scrooge is a rock star?" said Jones. "The characters meet the same ends except with a bit of silliness in between."

Other People’s Hilarious Holidays Dec. 22-23 at 7:30 p.m. opens up comical pokes to other holiday traditions celebrated around the world.

"Not once will you hear the word Christmas in this show," he said. "Canada is a multi-cultural society and the world is a very big world and sometimes people forget other people celebrate the holidays in other ways. If you are going to take the piss out of Christmas, then you might as well take it out of everything else."

The last show of the comedy series, Wrap This, segues from family fun to late-night adult humour Dec. 22-23 at 9:30 p.m.

"Course language, nudity, everything you need in a Christmas show," he said, changing his mind about the nudity afterwards.

Tickets for Twisted Christmas Tales and Other People’s Hilarious Holidays are $20 for adults and $16 for children. Wrap This tickets are $25 and include a beverage.

The comedy series is only one of many events taking place at North Pole Central, a two-week extravaganza of holiday festivities, Dec. 17-30, that is transforming MY Millennium Place, inside and out, into the North Pole.

Kids can welcome Santa aboard a fire truck with live music and activities. Afternoon craft days take place over the entire two weeks with the additional option of snow tubing in the morning. Holiday movies during the day are perfect for rainy days and the whole family can come out for photos with Santa. See page BLANK for more holiday listings.