IGNACE -- How did a nice Newfoundland girl get into standup comedy?
“It’s an interesting story, I guess,” Lisa Baker said from her home in Edmonton.
Baker will be in Northwestern Ontario next week for shows in Ignace, Sioux Lookout, Thunder Bay and Nipigon through Lakehead company Campfire Comedy.
“I started in Newfoundland,” she said, continuing her standup origin story. “We didn't have any comedy club. So I literally answered an ad in a newspaper.
“You know that was a while ago because there were newspapers and it was, like, in the classified section. You remember that?”
The ad said little other than that “somebody was looking for standup comedians,” she recalled.
“I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if it was going to be some kind of scam. It turned out to be a gentleman who was trying to start a booking agency.
“Now, at the time I had no idea what that was either. But basically he was trying to put together a pool of comedians that he could, I guess, train to be able to make money off of them.”
It wasn’t a great experience, but it was enough to get her in the game. That was about 20 years ago.
She moved to Alberta 11 years ago and now calls it home base for a standup business that takes her across Canada and has included three albums (so far).
Baker described her comedy as “observational” material about relationships, children, family, dating – “all those kinds of stuff that most people can relate to. And it's from the female perspective, of course.
“But it's nice because everybody can kind of find something in there that's relatable to them.”
Baker’s Newfoundland lilt and lively wit have been featured on the CBC’s LOL and The Debaters.
She’ll take the stage Jan. 17 at Clooch’s Bar & Grill in Ignace, Jan. 18 at the Legion in Sioux Lookout, Jan. 19 at the Nipigon Legion and Jan. 20 at the Brew Pub in Thunder Bay. Tickets are available at campfirecomedy.ca or at the venues.
