Comedy is making a comeback to Sudbury, and it’s going to happen in the exact same place it did in the 1990s.
Yuk Yuk’s Sudbury is returning to the Radisson Hotel Sudbury, which used to house the permanent comedy club. The first show of the new series, featuring Mike Bullard, Laurie Elliot and George Westerholm, will be Sept. 22 at 8 p.m., in the Grand Paris ballroom at the Radisson Hotel on Ste. Anne Road.
The former stage of the comedy club is directly across from where the new stage will be, and the location hosts 150 seats. Each show will feature three professional comics from Yuk Yuk’s lineup.
There will also be a casual pub-style dinner menu and drinks available for every show.
Brian Band of North Power Marketing (representing Yuk Yuk’s Sudbury) said the pandemic has been hard on performers and clubs alike, and while many comics pivoted to virtual performances, “it's not the same as being at a live show when everyone's laughing.”
Band said he thinks that most people don’t have enough chances to laugh in their everyday life. “People don't laugh enough; we in society, we don't laugh enough,” he said. “This is an opportunity to come out and just let yourself go, get caught up in the laughter of others.”
Band said the monthly performance will also be a chance to support new and local comics. The press event to launch the new club events was a chance to speak with Lesley Lynn, local comedian who you just may find on the Yuk Yuk’s Sudbury Stage.
Lynn said that it is a tight-knit group of comedians in Sudbury , and this will be a chance to open themselves to new audiences, and new challenges.
For Lynn, her foray into comedy has been a way for her to process events in her life, to share stories and ideas with her community, and maybe, just maybe, get a few laughs.
She told Sudbury.com she’s looking forward to performing for a crowd who “actually paid money to be there.”
“The first time you get a laugh and the whole audience is in unison. It's weird and wonderful,” said Lynn of performing for large crowds. “Sometimes you do many, many dates that are just the same experience and this gives you the wind in your sails again.”
It’s events like this, said Band, that give comics a leg-up in the industry. After all, it worked for his brother, comedian Sean Collins.
“The best comics in the world. That's how they get started, just by wetting their feet, getting their foot in the door,” he said. “You get up and do five minutes and then you do 10 minutes and before you know what you're doing 20 minute sets and you get a following.”
Band knows that getting comedians from Sudbury, and those out of town will be easy, as many comics get tired of playing the same old venues. “They get tired of playing the same places. They love to travel and tell stories,” said Band. “If you were talking to some of the best comics. In North America, they'll tell you some of their best shows were in a small town.”
The shows at the Radisson will be happening on a monthly basis, and tickets are now on sale at yukyuks.com or at the Radisson Hotel’s front desk.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com
