PREVIEW
What: The Canadaland Guide to Canada Book Tour
Where: Upstairs Cabaret, 15 Bastion Square
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $15 at Ticketzone.com
Jesse Brown is many things, but a standup comic he is not.
The journalist doesn’t have a reputation for on-stage skewering — not yet, at least — which is partly why he decided to stage a comedy-based multi-media tour to support his new book, The Canadaland Guide to Canada. If you’re going to take on all comers, which Brown does on Canadaland, you might as well jump into the deep end of the pool and see if you can tread water.
“The idea of a book tour came up, and I thought: ‘Do I really want to read from this book at a whole bunch of bookstores?’ It’s such a visual book — I wanted to do something a bit more interesting,” Brown said. “Before I knew it, we were developing a full comedic performance with music and video and guests.”
The controversial host of the popular Canadaland podcast and crowdfunded news site of the same name is known for his media and cultural critiques, the majority of which pertain to Canadians.
Brown started Canadaland in 2013, and has become a polarizing figure in Canada, mostly because of his irreverent critiques and smart-ass attitude. Media criticism existed before Brown, but it was rarely done in such a gloves-off manner.
The Globe and Mail and CBC — sacred cows to some — are familiar targets for Brown and his reporters, which has made him something of a bad boy in Ontario. But he is not without credentials. He earned his journalistic credibility by helping to break the story of the Jian Ghomeshi scandal, and is credited with being the first to report on the CBC Radio host’s split from the public broadcaster.
Canadaland became a news-breaking player in online media almost immediately, and now subsists on a funded-by-the-public model, with 3,034 patrons contributing $15,082 a month. The amount changes almost daily as new readers are added. But some devotees drop out, too, lambasting Brown as they exit.
To his credit, Brown will occasionally post their angry letters, including one from a former supporter who called Brown “very smug,” “self-satisfied” and a “pompous d---.”
Politics, media and, to a lesser degree, pop culture are the basis of Canadaland’s content. When Brown put together his book promo tour, with help from Toronto theatre director Michael Wheeler, he didn’t deviate from his formula. Brown sees the tour as an opportunity to educate as well as entertain.
“When you’re doing comedy about Canada, no one knows what you’re talking about.
“Canadians will get a joke about Richard Nixon way before they get a joke about Lester Pearson. You actually have to educate people.”
He calls the book a “collection of jokes and shocking information about Canada,” but also describes it as “accidentally educational.” The tour to support The Canadaland Guide to Canada, which stops Friday in Victoria, debuted on May 6 in Toronto before 700 fans. “It was terrifying for me, because I’ve never really done anything like that,” Brown said.
“I do a lot of public speaking — how hard could it be to get up there and try to be funny for an hour? But as any comedian will tell you, everything is easier than comedy.”
His book differs from his podcast, his podcast differs from his written work and his written work differs from his book tour. Canadaland might be a work in progress on all fronts, Brown said, but the content never loses its relevance.
That’s because Canada and its many machinations — from Justin Bieber to Justin Trudeau — is an amorphous entity, forever ripe for mocking.
“Canadaland is tongue-in-cheek,” Brown said, “but it doesn’t mean we’re not serious.”
