Helping keep LIVE comedy thrive amidst COVID-19 lockdowns, The Secret Show! takes place every Tuesday evening at 9:00 PM in Ontario. It features a lineup of comedians entertaining audiences in a safe speakeasy location. Kyle created Renegade Comedy in 2018 and since then, he has been running professional comedy shows in Comedy Clubs and Theaters throughout Canada. We had the opportunity to speak to the award-winning comedian about the initiative and the comedy circuit.
Thank you for granting the interview. Congratulations on your career to date. How did you get into stand-up comedy?
I’ve wanted to be a comedian since before I had memory. When I was 5, I used to have a diary called, “My Life As the Next Jim Carrey” where I would write little scenes that I thought would be funny in a movie. I was 12 years old for my first stand-up set. It did not go well but I didn’t lose hope. At 13, I joined my grade 8 improv team. Then I joined my high school improv team the following year. I became the team captain of my high school improv team then started working for a professional improv company at 16 making $100 a gig. This gave me my confidence back so, still at the age of 16, I tried my hand at stand-up again. I immediately took off winning festivals and playing some of the biggest clubs in the country. I continued doing stand-up but when I turned 20, I got cast as a lead role on a TV show called, “Blood and Fury” on American Heroes Channel. Around the same time, I also got accepted into one of the top comedy clubs in Toronto, The Corner Comedy Club which said that I could do 3 shows a night 7 nights a week plus The Corner ended up giving me my own night of the week with a door deal so I could make extra money. So the TV show paid my rent for the year and I would have a stage every night to do my stand-up. This was my dream. But at that time, I had to make a decision because I was in university and had a girlfriend. I would have to move from Pickering, Ontario to Toronto. I would have to drop out of school with one semester left and break up with my girlfriend. But the owner and founder of The Corner Comedy Club, Joe Tuccitto took me aside and said, “If you can’t move 30 minutes from Pickering to Toronto. Then how are you going to move from Toronto to New York or LA one day?” His advice was both sobering and exactly what I needed to hear. Joe always had my back. When my feet hit the ground of Toronto, I started doing 20 shows a week and the rest is history.
Of all art and entertainment forms, comedy must be one the most daunting but rewarding. Is making people laugh difficult, and do good comedians need to naturally have a sense of humor and timing?
Comedians are a different breed. Comedy isn’t daunting to us, we crave the attention. Normal life is daunting to a comedian. The laugh gives us a high and we chase that high. Making people laugh isn’t difficult but making people laugh with original material is what makes things difficult. Anyone can go up there with premises that have been done Ad nauseam. It is difficult to be naked up there and expose yourself in such a venerable way, moving past all your fear and still make that funny. But vulnerability and truth are where the real comedic gold exists. I do believe that every good comedian is a natural in some sense. Their friends have always said they are the funny ones. That being said, stand-up is much harder and more technical than making your friends laugh. The audience doesn’t know you so there is no immediate rapport when you walk on stage for the first time. You need to realize every aspect of yourself and then make those aspects funny. It is easier to look outward than inward which is why 46.508 billion light-years of the universe are observable yet 80% of Earth’s oceans remain unexplored. A natural sense of humor and timing is excellent but applying that to your own original essence is what takes time. But believe me, it’s well worth it.
You’re the winner of the Durham Comedy Festival and the Finalist for festivals such as The Border City Comedy Festival, The Beaver and Bacon Comedy Festival, Comedy Wonder Fest, Brampton’s Funniest Comic and Go Yuk Yourself Comedy Contest. What has been your proudest career achievement so far, and why?
Being interviewed by CTV news for my stand-up was really cool. But so far, getting signed to the biggest stand-up talent agency in Canada, Yuk Yuks and Funny Business INC. has been a career milestone. This honor means I am now one of Canada’s top stand-up comedians. After signing and proving myself on the big stage, I have gained respect from the top comedians in this country. Respect and reputation are huge in comedy so that was a big moment for me. I was especially proud when the head of Yuk Yuks told me that I am the best comedian in Canada for my age bracket. That gave me a big dorky smile.
Please tell us more about the recently launched The Secret Show! and how you came up with the idea.
The Secret Show is a speakeasy comedy show that is part of my comedy company, “Renegade Comedy”. I have been producing shows under that name since 2018 and have toured Renegade across the country several times performing in sold-out theatres, casinos, and comedy clubs. But that all ground to a halt when COVID hit. My last tour was February 2020, so I just got back in time before the first lockdown. I came up with the idea of having “The Secret Show” when live entertainment ceased to exist in Ontario, Canada. Comedians need a live audience to hone their craft. Online comedy shows are like rations to a starving person. Stand-ups need live audiences. With months off in between gigs, many comedians asked themselves that dark question during the lockdown, “Am I even funny anymore?” So when our local government gave the OK for citizens to have gatherings of up to 10 people outside – I acted quickly and turned my own backyard into a comedy club. What surprised me more is that we have been sold out every week for 12 weeks straight. The COVID lockdowns saved lives but we all made sacrifices that greatly affected our mental health. The Secret Show gave not just the comedians hope but the audience as well. A glimmer of normalcy in an uncertain time. Comedians got to finally do live comedy again and audiences got to laugh about how messed up the world was. Everybody needed it. And it was done in a safe way where people were distanced and it was outside. Now in Ontario, we are allowed to have 30 people gather inside so I am moving the show to the legendary music venue “The Bovine Sex Club”. Our first show is Thursday, August 26, and after that our weekly residency starts on August 31 and will be every Tuesday at The Bovine.
What projects should we look forward to seeing you involved in?
I am in talks of having my own stand-up show at Yuk Yuks Toronto every week. That is one of the biggest comedy clubs in North America. To be considered for this is incredible. They don’t do that sort of thing for anyone so it’s crazy that I get to do it. It should be every Wednesday so look out for it!
Where will we find out more information about you and the Secret Show?
Instagram. Everything I do is posted on my Instagram. I have a small following of about 40k so I am very active on that platform. On Instagram, you can buy tickets to my shows, watch my original sketches, listen to my weekly podcast, watch my stand-up special – just about everything! I produce all of my content myself so views and likes make the infuriating hours of editing and recording much more bearable. If you want to check out my stuff, my handle is @kyleluceycomedy!
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