It’s a cold Thursday night in November at Toronto’s Comedy Bar and the girl working its ticket wicket can barely be seen. Her small space is overwhelmed with helium balloons marked “Happy Birthday.” Gary Rideout, Jr., co-owner of the Bloor Street and Dovercourt Road space, walks over to her from the bar with a smile.
“Did you even try to book the night off?” he asks, to which she replies with a shrug and a “No”, with a clear indication that she’s happy to be right where she is.
At the bar tonight is a performance called “The Great Canadian Burlesque”, just one of the 90 or so sketch, stand-up and improv shows that run at the club every month. In just over three short years, Rideout, Jr. and his co-owner, James Elksnitis, have established their room as a premiere destination for comedy in a city featuring heavyweights like Yuk Yuk’s, Absolute Comedy and the Second City.
For Rideout, Jr., 33, a glut of this type of venue existed in Toronto and he took it upon himself to change that.
“I was producing comedy shows already in a number of venues around the city and most other venues had priorities ahead of being a comedy space,” says Rideout, Jr. “There were bands first or dance parties first and on the off-nights, you were allowed to do comedy. I didn’t think there was a space dedicated to comedy where anyone could produce a show, especially people who knew how to produce a show at a reasonable rate.”
After scouting locations for over a year, Rideout, Jr. settled into once was an old pool hall in the Bloorcourt area. With the location established, it then became a matter of actually getting down to business and that wasn’t always easy.
“There were so many stumbling blocks that it was ridiculous,” explains Rideout, Jr. “First of all, not having any money to start with and then having to borrow money and then having to learn every aspect of running the business when you don’t know anything about those things.”
Thanks to what Rideout, Jr. calls a “strong comedy community” in Toronto, early struggles have turned into a solid reputation for the space both within the city and abroad and it is now known for a quick, sharp-witted clientele.
Since its inception, Comedy Bar has seen appearances from such internationally renowned performers as Maria Bamford, Tim Meadows, Todd Glass and Jim Jeffries.
Toronto’s Eddie Della Siepe, a stand-up who has performed at Massey Hall and is a regular on MuchMusic’s Video on Trial, explains the appeal of Comedy Bar for performers.
“A small room like this is awesome because it’s intimate. You can really feel the energy and subtlety is taken differently here than in a bigger room,” says Della Siepe, 30, a Yuk Yuk’s veteran. “With a venue like this at Comedy Bar, which is maybe 50-100 (people) and even smaller sometimes, (the audience) can really see the subtleties and nuances of your act, which makes it a lot more fun.”
Paul Kingston supervised the bar at Second City’s Toronto location for nearly eight years and saw even Toronto’s comedy titans take notice of Rideout, Jr.’s upstart.
“I’d say probably the biggest competition for Second City (right now) is Comedy Bar, which has been a fast growing bar,” says Kingston.
Kingston thinks that Second City’s decision to begin to employ a younger cast was in part due to the emergence of Comedy Bar and its ability to attract a hipper, smarter audience.
“With the new shows coming out, they’ve downgraded their cast to be a younger and younger cast,” says Kingston. “It’s been a conscious decision to bring in a younger cast and, as a result, they’ve been pulling in a much younger audience. It’s become, not necessarily more politically charged, but opinionated.”
For his part, Rideout, Jr. believes there’s room for everybody in Toronto.
“I get along with all of those guys. There’s no animosity,” says Rideout, Jr. of his competition. “We’re all doing our own thing and there’s room for everyone. Audiences are going to all of them. I think animosity comes from weakness. If places weren’t doing well, they’d find somebody to point the finger at and blame.”
Even with that being said, Della Siepe feels that the independent spirit felt at a place like Comedy Bar makes it stand out amongst its rivals.
“When you do (Comedy Bar), you feel like you’re in comedy, like you’re a part of a scene,” says Della Siepe. “People are comedy savvy, they’re scene guys and they know what’s going on. It makes you sharper, I feel, so it’s just a lot of fun.”
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