I remember when comedian Louie Anderson made his Just For
Laughs debut exactly 30 years ago. He was the closing act for the festival’s
opening gala – which was hosted by Andrea Martin – at the St. Denis Theatre.
Anderson’s routine that dealt with his family, especially his grumpy father and
mild-mannered, overfeeding mother, won over the audience very easily.
However, Anderson’s killer set wasn’t the only thing the
audience remembered that night in July of 1986. They also remembered when the
theatre’s air conditioning system was deliberately shut down for a visual act:
a Spanish performer named Pep Bou, who did an act with soap bubbles; and the
air conditioning was turned off, so that it wouldn’t interfere with his bubble
act. As a result, everyone in the theatre sweltered in the heat, to say the
least.
“I remembered that show. Everybody in the theatre was hot,
but in the end, it was a good show,” recalled Anderson during a recent phone
interview. “That was a special moment in time for me; it was something that you
just can’t explain to anyone. It reminded me of the time when I performed in
Las Vegas, and the power went out in the venue, so I did the entire show with a
flashlight. Situations like these bring audiences together, and they really
support you when that happens.”
Since that “hot” performance at the 1986 festival, Anderson
has toured consistently, appeared in a number of movies such as “Coming To
America”, has written three best selling books such as “Dear Dad” and “Goodbye
Jumbo, Hello Cruel World”, created and starred in his own animated TV series
during the 90s called “Life with Louie”, and is now up for an Emmy nomination
for supporting actor in a comedy series for his role in the offbeat FX series
“Buckets”.
And now, exactly 30 years since his festival debut, Anderson
returns to Just For Laughs with three solo shows as part of the OFF-JFL series,
and as part of the line-up of the David Cross gala.
A native of Minnesota, and one of 11 children, Anderson
originally worked as a social worker, and decided to embark upon stand-up
comedy on a dare. “I was at a club with a friend of mine and he dared me to go
onstage. I felt I had to, because the comics who performed there that night
weren’t quite funny. I liked it, and as I continued to do more stand-up, and
everyone I knew came to see me perform. Shortly after that, I got signed up
with an agent and 37 years later, I’m still performing,” he said.
Anderson mined his comedy material from growing up in
Minnesota with his large family, which included his mother who liked to pile on
the sweet potatoes every dinner time, and his loud, impatient, gruff father.
“When you’re one of 11 children, the comedy sort of comes naturally,” he said.
“I took all those elements from my upbringing – and believe me, it was not an
easy life – and put a little razzle dazzle to it so it can be more palatable.”
He also enjoys the fact that his family-related material has
found so much common ground with his audiences; it even goes as far as the
widespread popularity of “Life with Louie”, which is even broadcast in Turkey,
Romania and Poland. “People tell me that when they see me perform on stage, or
watched my cartoon series, they say that the mother and father characters
resemble their parents,” he said. “It’s like you hit the middle ground, where
the majority of people can agree upon, and that’s a great thing for me.”
And that family element has played into his Emmy-nominated
role of Christine Buckets (and he does wear a dress, wig and make-up for it) in
“Buckets”. “My mom was the prototype for Christine Buckets. That role was a
great opportunity for me, and I give my mom a lot of credit for the performance
I deliver in that role,” he said. “She was a funny person, and I got my sense
of humour from her. I’m sure she would be proud of the role and my very first
Emmy nomination as a result of it.”
With a career that has risen like the temperature inside the
St. Denis Theatre during that gala 30 years go, Anderson has also been grateful
to Just For Laughs for accelerating that career. “Just For Laughs has always
been good to me, and Andy (Nulman) always made sure I came back to perform at
the festival numerous times,” he said. “Right now, there are comedy festivals
all over the world, but it was Just For Laughs in Montreal that started the
trend of the comedy festival that we know now; before 1986, it was something
that many people didn’t know about before. It’s a fun festival to be at.”
For more information – or to purchase tickets for any Just
For Laughs show – go to www.hahaha.com.
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