Martha, Martha, Martha!

On Thursday night’s Mobtreal’s Comedy Corner segment on CKUT’s “Upstage”  I chatted about Martha Chaves, and I decided that I really wanted to check her out!

Friday night’s early show at The Comedy Nest was attended by a large group of people supporting The Weekend To End Women’s Cancers taking place this August 24th and 25th in Montreal. Many people in the audience made a special trip to The Nest just to see Martha Perform. The night was hosted by the skinny tie wearing Paul Baluyot who was all smiles and had some great stories such as his observation of the French label on his box of Rice Krispies, “How can French change the sound of my food?!”

Mike Paterson

Up first was Mike Paterson, prepping for his JFL shows in the intimacy of the Forum’s third – floor Comedy Nest. He was loud and bubbly, opening with a bit about his mullet saying, “When you look at me sideways it looks like I’m going really fast!” which was not only hilarious, but very true! He effortlessly jumped back and forth between French and English, performed a rap song, and walked us through what things would have been like if the French Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet would have won “Pope Idol”. Mike made a great use of the stage and was very engaging with both his booming voice and his theatrical body language. You can catch him on The 19th at Cabaret du Mile End for the Couscous Comedy Show, 20th FREE SHOW (French) on the Lotto Quebec Stage, and July 23rd The Bilingual Show at Astral.

Jon Bennett

Second up was Jon Bennett, who has been getting great reviews for his Zoofest Show Pretending Things are a Cock, which is running until July 17th at Katacombes. He used his magical Australian voice power to seduce the audience into closing their eyes. When everyone’s eyes were sufficiently closed, he said, “Okay now open your eyes, thats what it feels like to be blind,” which was a definite surprise to all of us! He read a few quirky poems from his very legitimate leather – bound journal, and started his “Love Poem” with “When I first had sex I tried to put my balls in.” The audience was kept on the edge of their seats with his fast paced and colorful magic mushroom stories, and tales of sibling rivalry.

Martha Chaves

It was finally Martha Time! Just browsing my notes on her set had me chuckling. Random words like: 24 hour rental Latin cougar and Happy Birthday cleaning song. I was entertained by her puckered “talking out of the ass of a chicken” face during her bit about the differences between France – French and Quebec – French. Originally from Nicaragua, she talks about looking like “Maria from Mexico” and her love for Canada, a place where she can tell Stevie Herpes to go fuck off. I think I almost fell off my stool when she talked about not trusting Rob Ford because of his transparent eyebrows. And Martha, we don’t think you are the Kmart version of JLO! The honesty and confidence in her performance is a clear testament to why she has had success in comedy across many different platforms, lending her voice to radio, starring in several films and having two of her own national television comedy specials.

Paul Baluyot

The night ended with Paul giving away tickets to the As seen on TV  series of shows which brings some great acts through the doors of The Nest. All in all, a great energy in the room with lots of laughs, a cause, and a fuck-ton of talent!