JOHN HASTINGS headlining at Yuk Yuks Downtown (224 Richmond West), from tonight to Sunday (Thursday, January 2 to January 5), 8 pm, plus late shows Friday-Saturday 10:30 pm. $13-$22. 416-967-6425, yukyuks.com.
John Hastings knows how to deal with hecklers – even before they begin heckling.
At Yuk Yuk’s Downtown this time last year, a group of young guys had gathered in one area, and you could feel their energy change the room as they got increasingly liquored up. Hastings calmly included them in a couple of jokes and managed to diffuse the situation without seeming like a jerk.
“I remember that night,” he says, talking quickly and effortlessly at the NOW offices a few weeks before he returns to Yuk’s for another
headlining week. He’s also taping a CD this month with his pal Dylan Gott.
“I had a new bit and thought I’d use it and deal with the guys at the same time, so if it didn’t work I could mask it and get laughs,” he says. “That’s my England training.”
For the past year and a half he’s lived in London, where talking back to the comic is an art form, as is getting sloshed.
“Heckling’s a blood sport there,” says Hastings. “When I first moved there I was booed 30 seconds into an act. Once in Edinburgh a guy heckled me for 15 straight minutes, but I talked back to him. By the end, the entire audience was chanting the C word at him until he left. It was insane.”
Hastings, who was born in Ottawa and raised in Montreal, had been doing comedy for five years before he took the plunge and crossed the Atlantic.
“After five years I had the same credits as everyone else here,” he says. “There are 10 things you can do here. I wanted a change – and a challenge.”
Working in Britain has also given him access to other markets.
“In the last year I’ve performed in Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, Estonia and Finland,” he says. “You send your tape to a booker, same as here. But instead of Moose Jaw or Belleville, it’s Estonia. I went to an Icelandic fishing village of 200 people, and 35 came. They know about comedy because of the internet. They asked me if I knew Louis C.K.”
Living abroad has forced Hastings to adjust some of his material. He’s had to give up a few sure-fire Canadian jokes, like ones concerning the CN Tower and the hockey playoffs. These days, though, all he has to say is the name of our mayor and people know where he’s from.
“Ford’s given us an identity internationally for the first time ever, but at what cost, Glenn?” he says with mock seriousness.
What makes Hastings’s act so watchable is his firm, confident delivery and the polished nature of his jokes.
Chalk that up to theatre school training at Concordia.
“I’ll pick apart a sentence to make it funnier,” he says. “I’ll delete a preposition. Every fuck’ I use in a joke is put there intentionally.”
He tends to draw on his own life for jokes. Some of his new material – which he’s fine-tuning for an hour at this summer’s Edinburgh Festival – takes on his history of panic attacks. He’s also dealing with the fact that he’s been single for longer than ever before. Previous bits have dealt with his authoritarian father (who’s since mellowed out), who worked for the Liberal party in the 1980s and later in print media.
“I like comedy that’s about the person I’m watching,” he says. “That’s the great thing about my generation of Toronto comics. You know Alex Pavone’s dad’s name, or Dave Merheje’s four last girlfriends.”
One of the biggest differences between Canadian and British comics is that many UK performers make a decent living, even without TV or radio exposure.
“Things are changing here, though,” he says. “There was a time when you’d be praying that somebody would get sick so you could go to Kitchener and headline.”
Interview Clips
Hastings on initially trying to get work in London comedy clubs:
On some UK audience members literally shitting themselves laughing. And being heckled for being a ginger.
On hanging out with fellow Canadians in London:
On developing his voice, being influenced by Patton Oswalt, getting great advice from Ron Josol, competing with Josol to get to five sets a night first and how he loves talking about himself.
glenns@nowtoronto.com | @glennsumi
