Battle for the Crown of Comedy

Four comedians from across Canada will be fighting for the Crown of Comedy at the Laugh out Loud Sudbury Comedy festival, and Greater Sudbury's own Josh Charette will be one of them.

He will be competing at the Laugh Out Loud (LOL) Sudbury Comedy Festival when it kicks off at Shaughnessy's on May 26.

The self-proclaimed “class clown” first took to the stage while going to school in Ottawa. After watching amateur shows at Yuk Yuk's, he decided to try it out himself. He said the results were encouraging.

“(After the show,) people came up to me and told me I did a really good job,” he said.

Last year, Charette won the first-annual Great North Comedy Search at the LOL Sudbury Comedy Festival.

Until now, his longest set has been eight minutes. His performance at the LOL Festival will change that though.

“It's my first-ever 10 minute set,” Charette said. “There's five minutes I'm really proud of.”

Charette will compete against three other performers. One contestant, Nathan MacIntosh, taped his own Comedy Network special and won the “Funniest Comic With A Day Job” contest in 2007. He will also be up against Simon King and Dave Merheje for the Crown of Comedy.

Charette said he is nervous about being up against comedians who he said are more experienced at stand up comedy than he is.

“I'm kind of competing against people who are out of my league,” he said.

But Charette said he has a plan, and that's how the likes to feel before he gets on stage. He said there is a time and place to
be “spontaneously funny,” but he said it is hard to make people laugh for 10 minutes straight without some preparation.  

Unlike comedians who rant and give the audience unlimited opportunities to start cheering, Charette's style of comedy involves quick punch lines with definite funny parts.

“You have to worry about people laughing,” he said. “That's scary.”

He said his best material involves reversing clichés and talking about things people don't normally talk about. Being fresh and original is important to him, and after hearing a good joke, he thinks, “that's one less joke I can tell.”

Some of his comedic role models include Howie Mandel, Arj Barker and Daniel Tosh. He said watching them perform makes him “kind of jealous.”

The 21-year-old said he will likely continue being funny, but doesn't plan on making a full-time career out of it. He would like to continue doing it as a side job though. Next year, he plans to attend teacher's college.