The Mogo Blog

The Best Comedy Shows in Vancouver for Your Buck

I don’t know if there’s something in the air lately, or what—maybe it’s because the Comedy Fest just happened, too—but there seems to be an overabundance of awesome and cheap comedy happening in Vancouver these days. I am always on a budget that screams “never do anything fun!” but when I do have a little bit of money, I’d prefer to laugh over most other forms of entertainment. With that in mind, here are some post-Comedy Fest laughs you can grab on the cheap. Have fun! 1. The Laugh Gallery – Monthly @ The Havana, www.eastvancomedy.com, $5 This long-time standup show is hosted by the most adorable, teddy bear like comedian around, Graham Clark. It’s back in a regular timeslot now—as part of the amazing East Van Comedy series at the Havana on Commercial Drive—after floating around for a while, and I for one couldn’t be happier. Come for the laughs, stay for the prizes, which Clark sources from local secondhand shops and which run the gamut from awesomely terrible to just-plain-awesome. Check the website for the next monthly installment. 2. VTSL’s Rookie Night – Every Sunday night @ The Improv

Louis CK takes on the middle men (a.k.a. The best $5 you've ever spent)

If you haven’t heard of Louis CK, you NEED to check him out. He’s hilarious (as you can check in the clip at the bottom of this article). But more importantly, this week he released one of his shows, Live at the Beacon Theater, for only $5. Instead of having a big production company set up, film and distribute his show, he decided to do it himself, all on his own, and then make it completely accessible – to everyone. This experiment, to cut out the middle man, has been a resounding success. CK posted an update on the download site, and here’s a little snippet: “The show went on sale at noon on Saturday, December 10th. 12 hours later, we had over 50,000 purchases and had earned $250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website. As of Today, we’ve sold over 110,000 copies for a total of over $500,000. Minus some money for PayPal charges etc, I have a profit around $200,000 (after taxes $75.58). This is less than I would have been paid by a large company to simply perform the show and let them sell it